7/6 - The Blue Crue....

Pleased to have aboard again, Ed Blue and his two sons, Seth and Conner. I started out thinking S-H-A-R-K fishin'. Only because we'd have some nice falling tide right off the git-go this morning. And I wanted to see how the guys fared on a monster spinner or blacktip.

So I wasted no time at all. We anchored up and I handed each one of them a rod baited with just dead shrimp pieces. "FOR SHARK FISHING?", you may ask. Yep, because first we had to catch us some mini-Croakers for live bait.

Sure we could have ran around looking for Pogies, while wasting absolutely precious falling tide. So why not anchor up, get some fishing under our belts, catch some Croakers, maybe luck into something else while were at it, and drop out a shark rig.

All makes very good sense to me.

B-U-T, and there's always a but. The Croakers were difficult to catch. Yeah they were down there. But the guys weren't "slayin' them" by any means. After awhile, we had enough to commence to laying out a Shark line on the bottom. And as the tide started to slow quickly, the big Shark rod bowed over.

I could tell right away, it wasn't our "TARGETED SPECIES". But rather the slower, but very powerful Nurse Shark, that ate one of our Croaker baits.  Seth was standing right there, so he got on the rod and landed the Nurse.

Here he is bowing the monster fish rod.......

The Nurse Shark was about a 30 pounder. What I was hoping for was one of those 100 pound Blacktips that was eating the Croakers like fun size Snickers bars, off our hooks last week.

We continued without any of the big boys hooking up. And come later in the day I found out that the VHF radio was buzzing with "Where are all the sharks??" As other boats did the run and gun behind the Shrimp boats. So far for even myself. The shrimp boat fishing has been mostly a big ZERO this year, on the Sharks. With a low tide at the jetties being "where the action is at." But at the same time. This also comes and goes like the wind.

Plus, I heard that the incoming tide has cooled off and was around 74 degrees, today. THERMOCLINE, of cool water? Yep, that's the buzz.

I say, "of course...this is bazzaro world in the summer around here, plus the Kingfish tournament is coming up. The water has to go cold, and then all the Pogies disappear too. It's a July Ritual, isn't it?"   

Of course, I'm being highly sarcastic. Only to ease the wackiness of what goes on here in the summer.

Okay, well nothing was happening where we were, after the Nurse Shark. So I decided to "run the tide". By chasing the ebbing flow of the river. All the way down to the Dames Point area. But first we stopped off at the Lil' jetties. Caught a few more Croakers, Seabass and such as I layed out a few lines baited up with mini-croak's for a big Redbass.

No Reds, and not much else. So we ended up at the Dames Point area. The Croakers were chewing pretty good, not great but okay with Ed boating the years FIRST "keep'able" Croaker worth filleting. Dang, I'd love to run into a heavy school of fat Yellowmouth Trout down that way.

Ever since they made the limit 100 pounds per person per day. Catching more than 5 pounds of Yellowmouth's for me has been  a struggle. And with NO JACKS or Ladyfish in the river from the jetties to at least the Dames Point area. I'd like to find a school of yellowmouths at least, to add to the Croaker catchin'. Right now, the Croakers are just free and plentiful live baits for really big Redbass.

Seth baited up with a small piece of dead shrimp dropped his baited hook over the side and then set the hook on something that he thought was a Croaker larger than his dad's....."at first".  But as I watched, "this wasn't no Croaker!!"

Up pop's a big fat Black Drum.

At nine pounds, this is what we came here for.
And I wish these were allot thicker. I believe the next time I head that way. I'll bring some fiddlers or blue crabs, so to stay away from the shrimp eating Croakers, and hopefully target more Black Drum, like these.

The HEAT eventually poured on heavy. There was not a breath of breeze down that way. As you can see the water was slick calm.
We tried another spot on the rising tide, with out much luck. So we packed it in and headed back to Mayport.......where it was breezy and cooler.

As we neared the ICW, is where we ran into the wind, like a wall.

Ed always likes some take home fillets. So I cleaned up his large Croaker and Seth's Black Drum. I guess the guys were heading to the Waffle House, since Seth got on the boat hungry this morning. That's okay, he's a growing 16 year old with the largest fish of the day.....times two!


HERE'S THE LAST TIME THE BLUE CRUE WAS ON THE JETTYWOLF, LAST WINTER....doin' some sheep herding in the cold weather. ( I LOVE IT!!)

7/5 - jus' an FYI

Needed new trailer tires, so today was a long time coming. Figured I share how to fix, replace, patch, or add a tube, to your boat trailer tires. Especially over a Holiday, or after business hours. When you need to be on the road, and in the water the next day no matter what.

MANUALLY CHANGE TIRES and some FYI's:

7/2 & 7/3 - two days, during the holiday

Had Ed and Melissa, aboard today. Vacationing in J-ville from NY. Actually they said they were heading to the "thousand islands"

but, ended up in Jacksonville, Florida instead!
Wow, that was a difference of a few hours driving!

Either way, I was glad to have them aboard the Jettywolf, because they were fun to have out for two days.

So, day one. We went "sharkin". Started out behind the shrimp boats. And all that was there were some "smaller" sharks.

Depending on who you are, they're smaller. I had plans for Ed to hook-up on a monster "spinner". Yeah, a cork screwing jumping through the air Blacktip, also known  as a "spinner shark". They usually range from 50 to well over 100 pounds.

A Hundred Pounder is what I had in mind. BUT, the tide was a rising one. Not exactly what I wanted for those jetty maulers that we were hooking last Wednesday. The ones that were eating small Croakers that were being reeled in by Erica and her daughter, and myself.

So I know exactly where the monster drag smokers were. Just needed the tide to get to them......the last half of the falling tide. But that wouldn't be till very late in the day.

So we tried everything you could do.  And finally, the tide turned. But the first of the falling tide isn't exactly perfect. So getting in postion was a challenge. But after awhile, the current pushed just right and one of the big fish rods bent over and there it is, Ed's hooked up to a monster. The shark runs, then runs at the boat, then runs away, then as Ed's having to play the game of the shark's terms, the shark jumps out of the water, get's a half a "spin" on the heavy drag of the Accurate reel, and POPS the line.

OHHHHHHH, the agony of defeat! It hit all three of us, hard. We were actually packing it in for the day. Tossing the bait away, stowing the rods, packing up, and that's when the shark bit, and it was the ONE.

Ed and Melissa surprised me. They said they wanted to go again the next day, too. I had a possible for the next day. And told them, "if that dude doesn't do his deposit, we'll go". Well, the dude never did his deposit. It's funny how some people will jerk you around on a holiday weekend. And at the same time want the world on a platter too. So, I was glad to take out Ed and Melissa again.

I pondered all night. What should we do, next? Again, the tide's the complete opposite of what I'd want for fishing for the Big Redbass. But then again, "Heck, they're BIG. And Ed deserves BIG."  Ed said he was a Muskie and Pike fisherman back home in up state NY. So....he's a big fish kinda guy.

So we met up at 7am again and headed down river, where we caught monster Reds last week....But on the last of the falling tide!
We wouldn't have that, TODAY!

I anchored up and we caught FREE bait. The bottom was carpeted with mini-Croakers. And BIG RB's like to eat, mini-Croakers. So as the tide started to flood, with a livewell full of free bait, I tossed out some live Croakers. We had some takers, but they weren't Big Reds.

Ed caught two "into the fish box" Yellowmouth Trout, as we waited for that rod bender. And as we waited, I made a move to where I've caught incoming tide big Reds before.

And at 11am, the rod bent over and the rest was history. Ed got a trophy sized Redbass.

Here's the footage:  (I went with captions and music, because the sound got messed up somehow along the way.)  

NICE!!!!!!!!
TARGETED SIZE AND SPECIES IN THE BOAT!

It was challenging to say the least. I had the tide that Momma Nature gives me to work with.
That's why I like a plan. If you're coming with FISHING a 100% in mind. Let me select the days for you during the summer months. I can do that. I know how to pick'em.

I guess now, with the holiday all over, next up is the Greater Jax Kingfish Tournament on the 20th thru the 22nd. Fishing those day is a real pain. So book ahead, or after those dates. There's your, heads-up.