8/4 - Sharkin' saved the day, Jettywolf on the move.

Had Jonathan B. his boss Don, and his son Jonathan aboard today. I knew going in that the tides in the river would be quite weak today. And several attempts at fishing along some hard bottom areas in the river to catch the younger Jonathan a big bad Redbass, seemed futile. On the falling and even on the incoming tide at the end of the day.

We did some "run & gun" behind the shrimp boats outside the inlet. And caught the smaller Atlantic Sharp noses that seemed to be the dominate species. But they are not the target shark. Big Blacktips in the 100 pound range are the reason why I do it. Everyone got to pull on the sharp noses, before it was evident no big Blacktips were around.

We even ran to the beach and made one toss of the cast net and came up with what I call Flounder size Pogies. Small enough that they got gilled in my Pogie net. I caught so many that the net was swimming away. I really like the smaller Pog's, because they live better in my 15 gallon bait wells. And I can keep more.

We tried anchoring on the last of the falling tide at the end of the south Jetty without a decent bite, while using the small Pog's......which seemed unbelievable. 


Right after I said to older Jonathan, "these sized Pogies are Flounder sized Pogies", we were along the inside of the North Jetty, and had set out on the bottom 3 baits. One rod wiggled, then wiggled again. And young Jonathan reeled in a Flounder that ate a Flounder sized Pogie! Imagine that.........
We also picked up one Jack Crevalle, too.

Overall, we just needed alot more current in the river. The falling tide was only a 3.5'  in my tide book. And the incoming was a bit better, a 4.2'. That's why I even gave getting a few Big Reds a try at the end of the day, while even extending our trip, an hour.

It can be that way sometimes. Plus add in the summer temps. The tide will build to 6 feet starting next week. If it isn't always something.....Instead of having no current, we'll have enough to export to the Gulf of Mexico!  
  

8/3 - No wind, Big Troutz, dats okay!

Whoa, this heat is hard to be in day after day.......as I've been busier than a one armed angler. Especially, with the kid trips, which I'm sure soon will end abruptly as they head back to school once again.

So today, I had a solo fisherman aboard Allen N. from Salt Lake City, Utah. And when I said the word Trout, he thought as many do, that "OUR" Trout are like his trout. NO EVEN CLOSE. Our trout are serious predators, they are also members of the same "drum family" as a Redfish is, a Black Drum is, and a Croaker is. I'm a bit partial, and I believe they are the best of the drum family of fishes, are the most beautiful, and also are what make the Jettywolf and I click 12 months a year. Only problem is, the word SUMMER. With a published temp preferance of 60 to 80 degree water temp. I believe, that the genuine temp preferance is really more like 60-75 degrees in N.E. Florida. For the sheer reason that they seem to bite a whole lot better when the water's in that range. And really, isn't that all that counts? 

We departed at 7am and I was already a ball of sweat. We broke the "ice" over a sumberged oyster reef in the river that I'm sort of "willing with all my might" to produce keeper Black Drum, but of course is constantly coming up short, with 13 inchers, rather than the 15 to 22" fish that have been there in summers past.

But Allen did catch a Black Drum at 13 inches.....of course. Along with pinners, croakers, and seabass. Which meant time to try something else. So we moved back about 50 feet and started float-rigging the area. Allen wanted "active" fishing, not just all "bait-n-wait". So I taught him the finer details of the float-rig, N.E. Florida style. While trying the spot that was 15'-20' deep on the last of the falling tide.

We both caught ZERO. Which meant ANCHOR UP...time to move.

Next spot, a seriously memorable spot for me. I've caught so many big Trout here it's rediculas. And customers have caught Trout to 7.5 pounds here. I had no idea what would happen, because I have not fished the area since last spring, maybe back in April.  

Allen's first drift of the float-rig.........BAM! 22 incher. In my book, a 98 degree windless weather Trophy Trout.


















About 20 minutes passes.....and then my float takes a dive.

A nice 19 incher comes to the net. Yeah, I was fishing along side Allen.










   
Then, about 20 minutes later....my float takes a dive again. The fish pulls drag and makes 4 long runs. I thought it was a Redbass. And thank goodness it wasn't.....it was a 26" Gator Trout. YEAH BABY! These are the fish we came for. My spot didn't let me down today. So we kept working it. But as the current weakened, we recieved no more bites. But hell, this was sure worth the stop.

I tried a few other spots in the area, even though I marked 86.7 degree surface temp on my Raymarine C-120 sounder temp gauge. It was so hot we couldn't breath. Allen was sweating, his face was all wet. And I was dreaming of November around Thanksgiving. So we tried one more spot and float-rigged up under a dock for a few bites. But they weren't Trout bites.

Time to head back east to clean-green-cooler- ocean water, on the rising tide. We stopped at the little Jetties and tried a great spot. Good current, cooler water and 15' deep along the rocks there. No bites.

Time to hit the jetties. Allen needs a Redfish. We got there and worked two spots. And the Redfish that ate a live river cricket was on my hook. A 18-1/2 inch RB.......okay, in the B-O-X ya go!

We worked it till I couldn't stand the slow action, and rock blennie bites, any longer. We headed in  to clean the fish, guzzle some more Gatorade and have Allen's wife pick him up.

NEXT UP:

3 for Wednesday.....hit the shrimp boats, get some pog's and catch a big RB?

I hope so. 

August 1 - A day with Schley

Had Jon M. and his son Schley aboard today. This boy has fished aboard the Jettywolf before, and my ole For Reelin II, many moons ago. And he's only 9 yrs old. Full of personality,makes the day fun. And for a fishing guide that seems to have kids aboard his boat about every trip from June 1 to Sept. 1 each year. Schley, is a fun 9 year old.

Plans were, to just go catch him some fish. And then, as the tide let us, get him a giant whopper Redbass. Because kids his age with big Reds and the photos afterwards makes it really worth it in my book.

So Jon and I helped Schley out with the bites, just using the light rods and some shrimp. First spot was kinda dead, just like two days ago. Except for a small summer Sheepshead.























 Although we had a really nice falling tide. We made a move up river, to a spot that has produced hot weather Black Drum and a few Reds on just Shrimp. We anchored over a submerged oyster bed, and pitched baits down current of it. 


It was the best spot of our 6 hr day. We couldn't keep three lines going we stayed so busy. And Schley reeled in a bunch of fish.....but out of several Black Drum, many were small.

 I remember last year on this same spot on July 2nd it was 4-6 pound Drum, here.  But Schley did get one keeper.
And he thought this one fought.....But I had plans on a big Red for him still.

He caught Croakers, Spots, Seabass, Toadfish, Sea Perch, Skates, but no Redfish, while we fished the light tackle and shrimp. So we saved the smallest Croakers for live bait for big Redbass. And took a few hours and fished the heavier tackle in the swift current to see if we could get a really big fish for him. Even though he was sceptical about being able to reel one in. He liked the fast fish after fish action, I think. 


As the tide changed and started to rise. The bite really fell off, and the boat traffic (weekends...) really came alive.
It was hot, but Schley is a trooper and hung in there for us. I saved a few of his fish and he went back to where they were staying with a handful of fillets.

NEXT UP:


Tuesday, a solo angler. And we're gonna do light tackle fishing all day, and see what happens. Gonna give the deep water bottom fishing a rest for a day.