Escambia River

The Escambia River is the lower part of a single river whose upper reach in Alabama is called the Conecuh River. Wikipedia gives a combined length of 258 miles. The name changes where Escambia Creek joins, just downstream of the Alabama–Florida line. From there the river flows south through Escambia and Santa Rosa counties to Escambia Bay, an arm of Pensacola Bay. The Northwest Florida Water Management District says the river runs about 54 miles from the state line to Escambia Bay and ranks it as Florida's fourth-largest river. Its drainage basin covers 4,200 square miles, and only 10 percent of that is in Florida. Upstream in Covington County, Alabama, the Conecuh is dammed at Gantt Dam and Point A Dam.

The Escambia River Wildlife Management Area covers more than 35,000 acres along 25 miles of the river, from CR 4 south to near Pensacola. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission manages it together with the water management district. Much of the river is bordered by floodplain forest, and water levels change a lot through the year depending on rainfall. The district runs recreation areas with launches at Mystic Springs, Bluff Springs, Cotton Lake, Bogia and Little Williams. Bluff Springs has two ramps suited to small boats. The single-lane ramp at Little Williams is steep and best suited to canoes, kayaks and small boats. On the Santa Rosa County side, vehicle access is at Quintette, Webb and Keyser landings.

The Escambia has the richest mix of native freshwater fish of any Florida river, with 85 species recorded. Its sport fish include spotted bass, largemouth bass, shadow bass, black crappie, chain pickerel and several kinds of sunfish.