Monday, July 6, 2009

7/6 - Good Morning!!

Had two great guys today. Brian C. and his dad Bob. I said, "meet me at the boat ramp at 0630 hrs. " And as I pulled in to the parking lot at 0620 hrs. There they were! Man, that was great.

Backed the Jettywolf into the water, parked the truck and we took off......for the Jetties of course. It was windy, 10-15, and choppy. And there sure was a bunch of traffic for a Monday morning. Thought the "holiday" was over????

Lots of fast action today. And lot's of "hub caps".....aka: "Lookdowns". Some small ones and then Brian caught an enormous one. 2-3 Redbass, mostly smaller fish, with one keeper for the box. Mangroves, and many hook-ups and break-off's too. But that's all good. The action was fast. And Brian never used a bait caster before, and after 5 minutes of instruction and you should have seen him pitch and flip like Bill Dance or Roland Martin!! Some people can just learn fast. And I'd put money down on Brian as a fast learner. Between him and Dad, they never skipped a beat, never had any backlashes.





















The action slowed as the incoming tide faded, so we beat feet up river. Pulled up on a great Trout spot, and all my shrimp had died. Earlier I got some live Croakers from a friend and when I put them into the live-well and turned on the pump, I think I bumped the switch to the shrimp tanks bait pump to the "off" position. "_ _ _ _ happens." Nothing I can do about it now. So we hung up our Float-rig rods and moved on to bottom fish. Which I was going to do later anyhow. I wanted to catch a few more of those perfect eater Black Drum we caught on the 1st of July. So we moved on to that same spot.

The skies to the west were darkening....."REAL DARK". But we had enough time to try it.
I grabbed the bottom rods, pinned on a shrimp and cast both on out. It wasn't 20 seconds later one of the rods doubled over, and Brian grabbed it. It was a big fish!!

The second rod went off, so Bob grabbed that one. It was a keeper Mangrove Snapper, not a huge one, but a grease tester size. Brian was battling a good fish, and we kept looking westward as he fought it. His biggest fish ever! A seriously multi-spotted Redbass, a 30 incher at about 10 pounds. I said, "now that was what I was wanting you to catch at the jetties". But right here and now was okay too.

The wind started to pick up, the temperature changed right after a healthy release and a photo that needed the "flash" on the camera because of how dark it was getting.















We quickly put everything away, and I dragged up the anchor. And took off back towards the boat ramp, and stayed just ahead of the clouds, for a minute. Till they came over us.

And I snapped this photo to send to Mike Buresh on Fox 30 News for a First Alert Weather Photo, for today. I send him a lot of on the water storm photos so he can show them on the air.

This is what beat us to the boat ramp, and was the front of the storm towards the Atlantic.
Yeah, we got a bit wet. And the lightning was popping around us at the dock, so we called it a day.
Ending on a big Redbass, and a high note.
Wish we could have fished together longer. But sometimes ya just have to surrender to Momma Nature. Next time we'll get the whole day in. And maybe next time a box of fat Trout.
Thanks Brian & Bob.

Friday, July 3, 2009

7/2 - Summer days are never the same.

After yesterday with the young kids catching the Black Drum, I figured what the heck that's what we'll try today. Well, it's summer in J-ville Fla. and I should have known that just because you do one thing one day that it certainly doesn't mean that you can do it the next day.

So I had the Richard S. family aboard. Mom and the two boys and dad. What could be better than a little bottom fishing, and pulling in good eater sized Black Drum, with maybe a Redbass and a few Trout, Mangroves, and Croakers tossed in the mix.

I can tell you whats worse.......

Catching Toadfish and Stingrays!

The same tide, the same spot, the same current, the same shrimp, the same rods.....BUT not the same fishing, that for sure.

So after giving it all the time I could stand to produce, I pulled anchor and said heck with that we're going Float-rig fishing. So I gave the two boys a fast crash course in using the float rig. And they were right on top of it. And doing great!! I love it when I have young boys that are ready to fish, just like when I was their age.

First spot was a tuffy. The wind was blowing hard, and so was the current. But they got the hang of it, and boxed a Yellowmouth about 13 inches. The fishing was difficult here, so we moved on one more time.

Next spot, was right on the money. I believe it was the first or second drift when one of the boys was hooked up immediately. And it was a nice fat Speck!!
















A pretty over 18 incher for the box! The boys were really into it, and running their float rigs back and forth like ole pros. Then, another big fattie, came to the net.

















Man, I'll take these all day long. Serious "boxer" over 20 inches.
Glad to of had 4 people aboard, so we can keep them all because they just kept coming!!

















These were 3-5 pound Trout!
And now Mom and dad were wanting to get into a few, too.
































We had a few Croakers, Mangroves, only one Ladyfish, and one "pup" Black Drum.


















We ended the day with 2-Yellowmouths to 20", and 5-Specks to 23", Croakers, Spots, Mangroves, a Stingray, a Ladyfish, and a pup Black Drum, using up all 12 dozen live shrimp. So we headed back to clean the fish. And I bagged them up so they could go straight over to Singletons Seafood Shack and have a early dinner of FRESH fried Trout.

Turned out to be a great day, after all. And I really enjoyed having these two boys aboard.




NEXT UP: Monday and Tuesday. I'm taking a break during the Holiday, because usually the river is just plain insanity, anyhow.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

7/1 - Good Customers, come year after year....

Had Greg T. and family out today.....three kids and two adults, 1/2 day. Greg comes to Amelia Island every year about this time. And since his boy was 5 we've been going fishing before or after the 4th of July Holiday.

Here's a photo of a few years ago, when Will was just a begginer.


















Then, the next year when he was reaching big game angler status:



















So this year he was the Veteran on board. But had to share the bites with his Lil' brother and cousin. So I decided instead of float-rig fishing, we'd do some bottom bumping in the river, keeping it close to maximize our fishing time. And it really worked out.

From Black Drum to Croakers, Mangrove Snappers, Speckled Trout and a 29 inch Redbass. The boys pulled on fish for most of the 1/2 day trip.



































































A good time was had by all, with fresh fish dinner on ice. And I just can't imagine
what will happen in a few more years.

Blacktip Sharks behind the shrimp boats??

Thanks again Greg, nice seeing you again.