11/5 - Too Long, Too Less

Well it's been some really beautiful fall weather.......and still the most popular month is JULY!

Why people want to come here and sweat in the stifling heat, I'll never know.

Now.....is the time of year to fish!

It was cool in the morning and oh so pleasant in the afternoon. I live for this time of year. I day dream about it all summer long. I'd like to be somewhere that's like this all the time.

Nick and I hit the water, with our little tiny "shcrimps". An acronym for shrimp and scrimping, combined. (they're obviously running tiny right now)

So small I was thinking....."where the hell did I put my #10 hooks??"

Float rig fishing ONLY, was our game. Looking for piles of Trout in the river, was the plan.

But there's that ole saying you can only do what the tide allows. So we tried variations on some of the same spots, just fishing out deeper rather than shallower. Outside a line of docks rather than up in them. But it produced Croakers and Yellowmouth Trout rather than our target fish...out sized Specks. And where I'd think this time of year the Trout would be stacked up, we'd catch (more like Nick) would catch one good sized fish. And that's all the spot would give up.

This certainly is'nt like "years past", in which we set our standards upon. Because what is fishing anyhow? Learning patterns, habitual traits, and following up on what you may have done days ago, that worked. Well, we'd find fish, alright but they'd be either "one or two" rather than a school, or they'd be "shorts".

And then we had to go get some more shrimp because we were running out, because of all the Mangrove Snappers that are still infesting every trout spot, rock pile, or dock piling. Right there is all the evidence I need to prove too me that the water temp just isn't cold enough down below yet. So when I read a 69-73 degree temp on my machine, it's really just a false reading. Because down below I'm sure it's warmer. Or is it that our livewell eating buddies are growing resistant to the clloer waters, compared to their southern cousins?

We fished all day long, and in my opinion not getting what I came for. Nick on the other hand was Mr. Lucky. He must have ate his Lucky Charms that morning before I met him at the bait shop. "Is that why it took him so long to get there, even though he lives 90 seconds away from B&M?"

There was times we'd drop anchor on a spot, I'd tell him "float your bait thru right there...the Trout should be 18-20 inches, no dinks" and he'd do it and catch one immediately! I'd try and come up with squatola or shorties! Then, he'd do it again. I told him,"see what a good fishing guide I am? I can tell ya everything there is to know about where they are and the size they'll be"....but I couldn't catch one myself!!!!! And this happened time and time again. And if I didn't know that I could be out here doing this all over again the next day, I would have been getting pissed.

Personally, I was keeping big Mangos and Croakers and yellowmouths so I could have something to eat, because it didn't look as if I was gonna catch any good sized Trout.....I was the small Trout guy all day, till the very end. While Nick had no trouble putting fish in the box up to 19 inchers. We didn't find any super studs, which was the days plan, and never even lucked into a Flounder or a Redfish.

I guess I did luck into a big Red on one spot. My float went down fast as it was 70 feet behind the boat, along a set of pilings. And before I could do a thing a very strong fish ran my float threw the pilings and got my line woven into ever barnacle encrusted pillar it could. I was like Larry Dalhberg on that TV show 'HUNT FOR BIG FISH'. I crouched, reared back, almost knocked Nick over, hit him in the head with my rod, and hung over the side of the boat, grunting and groaning.....doing all I could to reel, reel, reel, pull, pull, pull that ass-hander from out of the pilings. But it broke me off, before I knew what happened.

We ended up fishing all the way up to high tide in the late afternoon, being the died hards we are. Till hunger got the best of us and there was no current left. So Nick and I went to Capt. Dave's Club House, the Grand China Buffet on Mayport Rd. Where I spend a lot of lunch and dinner hours, with fellow fisherman.

Well, it's "time to go make the donuts", and clean the fish that Nick was graciously willing to split with me. And do some tidying up of the boat.

So if you're someone wanting a fishing charter, I highly recommend November 1st through June 30th. So what, if sweatshirts and hats are needed in the morning, right now. No passing out from the heat.....yep, I've had a few "Nanook's from the North" about pass-out from the summer's heat on me before. They just ain't used to it.

I'm so looking forward to what winter brings in the river and at the inlet's jetties.

-Jumbo Speckled Trout

-Jumbo Yellowmouth Trout

-Black Drum

-Redfish, on the float up in the rocks

-and NO bait stealers!

LET'S GO!

11/4 - 2nd day after the BIG BLOW

So was it worth it?

To have that amount of wind during the week to have the wind back off and be back to beautiful skies on the weekend?

Depends on who your talking to, really. Because I was hoping for great weather when Kathy & Rick were here on Thursday and Friday.

But I sure did like the air temp today....we all were wearing our Foul Weather skivvies this morning. The girls came prepared, I liked that. And I enjoyed taking them.
I love this time of year! And could go without July and August altogether.

So today, it was Natalie and Shannon. And since I just did a brief talk on the big Reds, Thursday night and neither one of them had caught an extreme puller like them, we hit the river looking to pick a fight. Tried two spots and didn't have a sniff, soaking big pieces of cut bait in the current along so BIG rocks under water. I was wondering if they headed for the offshore waters yet, or maybe since the weather came through, it changed up the pattern I had found. Well, something happened....and that bait-n wait fishing was killing me.



So I bagged that and headed to an I.G. spot for the girls. And it was I.G. alright, instant-gratification. Because when I did a survey drift on the float-rig, I hooked the first Speck of the day. And then they were into fish for awhile, till the tide died out. Mango's and Croaker bites too with a jumbo Croaker on the float-rig...dang thing pulled like a Redbass.

I shouldn't have done any bottom fishing for the
Reds, since that was a waste of time. But that's the price ya pay to hunt for a really big fish. They really weren't worried about keeping any fish, but you know me, I like some stink in the box. And don't feel complete unless the box smells of Trout!

Man, was it a Zoo of Humanity as the day went on. Looks like I have to remind myself to cut and run north, to no man's land on days like this. I still have to get my ass back up to 'gator creek. Where the oyster beds are the size of trucks. There has to be some good fish up there now. And you can fish all day and never see a but a soul or two minding their own bees wax, unlike the mobs of coasties and every other law enforcement patrol on Earth, around Mayport.

Been thinking about Hilton Head S.C. and how I'd like to try my hand up there. Same terrain, no commercial ships/tugs, and no military!! The extreme affluent don't want to see tanker ships and hear incessant helicopter noise pollution near their pristine island paradise. Even though I couldn't live near their paradise......I'd sure love to fish it. Or as I always say but never do, "I just need to go north more."

Think Nick and I will go try it tomorrow, again. R&D, or more like Dave get's some fresh fishez in his fridge, for a change. Then, into the frying pan!

Nov. first, later that evening...at the JOSFC

I got a call on Wednesday from Lee from the Jacksonville Offshore Sportfishing Club, and he asked would I come on out to the club house at the Mayport Boat ramp to do an "impromptu" discussion on catching the big bull Reds, that are in the river this time of year.

As an old member for many year as a board of director, and supporter of the J.O.S.F.C, I was glad too. The club is where I have some of the longest lasting friends. Back in my day, I was membership director. That's where you really get to know folks, then I did the fishing committee with help of a good friend that's no longer with us, the ole "Croaker-Toter" him self Capt. Joe Caramelli. That job was really fun. Planning tournaments, and giving weekly reports and handing out prizes.

I owe a lot to the JOSFC. It's where I learned much of what I know today, and have many fond memories. I'm just not active in the club now, because my focus is on fishing the river and inlet. And I can't tell you when the last time I was "offshore", more than 3 miles. I admit, I wasn't the greatest offshore fisherman in the world. I had my success' and my failures. But I did it all with friends I made in the JOSFC. Exposure counts.

I got to talk with some ole friends last night and even sat across from Ms. Big Bobberz T-shirts herself, Trina. Wishing I only introduced myself properly.....as I have seen her photos in Gaff Magazine, and on her apparel web site. Because red heads, always get my attention.

My short discussion I did was about fishing for the big Bull Reds in shallower water than what is led to believe is necessary. And how so far this year, BIG Bull Reds have been mostly 20-25 pound fish, rather than 30-40 pound fish.....for me. Using hand caught Croakers for cut bait, rather than the expensive and easily washed out in the current, Blue crabs. And lightening up on tackle when in shallower 15-20 feet of water, for added fun. Instead of the "big guns" needed for fishing the channel edges, mostly because of the weight needed to get your bait to hold in 40-50 foot of water, and a ripping falling tide. It was the best I could do, on short notice.

The JOSFC is a great organization of various people in which to learn from and become friends with. If you want more information about the club, I highly recommend attending a few meeting, that are open to the public. For more info visit their web site at:
www.jaxfish.com

Nov. 1st - Enough is enough wind!

Had Kathy and Rick with me today only after calling them real early and saying, "Can we go on Saturday or Sunday? " Kathy said, "Can't go then, we're heading out of town then".

So as I pulled the "Metal Monster"out of it's lair, here came the rain. Oh no!! Can this get any worse? I thought, it was 6am.

Yes, it can. Kathy and Rick are from San Diego, California and are yearly regulars of mine.....SAN DIEGO.......They left forest fires, and a 5.6 Earth Quake back home. Now they're here in Florida, and we have Tropical Storm NOEL!!

I was wishing for weather like we had last year when Kathy and Rick came November 9 & 10th. It was a lot cooler and very nice. Besides we hit what I figured was the EXODUS, in the creeks. Exodus of shrimp and following right behind was LOADS of Trout, BIG TROUT! (here's a snap-shot of last years first trout,of the morning (5 pounds) that Big Rick caught!)

Unfortunately, that didn't happen today.

Kathy caught the only Speckled Trout all day, small ones mostly and just a few 14-7/8th's inchers.

All the while the 20-25 knot winds, over cast skies and noise pollution of all those jets practicing for the Air Show this weekend, were giving us major grief!

The rest of the fish we caught were Bluefish, some tiny Yellowmouths, and a Mangrove Snapper along with the incessant Pinfish when we were up in the shallows.

Damn, was it windy. Most of the places we tried I couldn't even stay anchored. The wind would blow so hard, whipping the boat back and forth snatching it out of the bottom.

And we were supposed to go again tomorrow.

When Rick and Kathy come we always fish two days back to back. And in past years we've really had some great days. Kathy is getting to know what seasons I prefer. Or at least she's getting to know that "Bobber Fishin" as she calls it, is best in the fall, winter, and spring.

She's officially a Float Freak now, because last year she caught he largest Trout she ever tangled with. A solid 6 pounder. She was so proud of it she had the fish mounted here in Jacksonville and shipped to her in California. (that her 6 pounder next to Ricks 4 pounder, they had a double hook up at the same time!)

Last year they caught bunches of 3, 4 and 5 pound Specks, along with Drum and Reds. It was an amazing two days!

But going with this years theme of being one long summer and a really weird fall so far. Today's weather wasn't a real shocker to me. I look so forward to them coming, and even rushed to have some new tackle here and ready for when they arrived. But just felt as today approached, the weather wouldn't cooperate.

Really finishing up my my ultimate arsenal, for deeper water, big fish Float-rigging I made plans to have ready new G. Loomis Bucara 8' rods matched to Shimano Tekota 300 reels.

I wanted these for using a larger float heavier leader, larger hooks and a 2 ounce trout lead. Instead of trying to make work my lighter rods with a small float, lighter leader and a 1 ounce trout lead that's now just reserved for shallower water and slower current. We got the opportunity to use the new rigs, but only caught a few blues, mangrove snappers and small trout.

Actually we did pretty good today considering. We went through 7 and a half dozen live shrimp today. Mostly because of the bait stealers. But I told Kathy, "I bet no out here caught as many Trout as you did today."

Nothing today was worth taking a picture of. It was gloomy and dark all day. Although the water temp was 72-73 degrees 'on the surface', by no means has the water temp really dropped low enough to rid of the river bait snatchers. There's still plenty out there. And have you ever noticed, that no matter how terrible of a day it is, windy, rainy, overcast, a terrible barometer, or even red tide, the bait snatchers always bite?? It's one of those things that makes ya go, Hmmm?

Looks like this weekend "MAY" calm down some, but still things will be really shook-up out there. The VFW Croaker tournament is this weekend, along with the air show at the Navy Base.