7/7 - Zoo Saturday....

Glad to of just been doing one of my 2 hour kids trips, with some nice folks this morning. And glad to be a super early bird too. The boat ramp was "Saturday Busy".  There was some kid of Mesquito Fleet, gotta own a flats boat, tournament going on as I backed off the trailer. They were lined up outside the ramp for check-out, it looked.

So alot of doings goin' on, of course on a Saturday.

In two hours, not fishing all that spacific, and just tossing some Shrimp out on the bottom for two 7 year olds. We caught a whopping 2-3 small Croakers. That was it!!

So, after a little roaming around we ended up at the jetties. The tide was smoking in on the bottom, and stagnet on the top.
Jus' wonderful. Nothing but a few tap-taps at the jetties, also.

After I got home at 10:30am, I made the effort to go get a new Hydrometer. (my old one broke) aka: Salinaty Gauge. The Instant Ocean brand, from Pet Smart (for all of you that'll ask where do you get one...DOH!)

Step 1- Slowly fill the Instant Ocean Hydrometer by dipping bottom corner fill port below water surface until water flows up and over inner weir.
Step 2 - Dislodge air bubbles by gently tapping hydrometer or pointer. Air bubbles on the pointer may result in inaccurate results.
Step 3 - Place the hydrometer on a level surface and read specific gravity (inside scale) and salinity (outside scale).
Care:
Rinse thoroughly in freshwater after each use to prevent mineral/salt buildup which can affect accuracy. Salt and calcium deposits that accumulate on the pointer will result in incorrect results. If crystallization occurs inside the unit, soak in lukewarm water or vinegar for 30-minutes, rinse with freshwater and air dry.





I believe, from my sample tastings. Yes, "Tastings". I was fishing in fresh water today. Here's always a GENUINE hint.
Take your hand and run it all over your boat. Do you feel the grainy ocean salt all over it?

TODAY, I COULDN'T FIND DRIED SALT GRANUALS ANYWHERE ON MY BOAT!
(that's only if you wash your boat completely after each use)

Hence the fishing in a fresh water river, on the falling tide?  I believe so.

With my new Hydrometer, I'll start giving actual readings in future reports.

Oh back in the day......I used to find anything around 4-10 parts per thousand of saltwater from a surface test, and that meant one thing. T-R-O-U-T, were gonna be in the area.  The ocean outside the jetties would usually be a 32 PPT.
So, as you can see. The Trout loved that "Lesser" salinaty.

In Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. The average salinaty is 5.1-10 PPT on the eastern side of the lake, closest to the Gulf.
And the Trout fishing there is through the roof! Partly because they just have so many more fish, then we do here. They easily live and THRIVE in non-salty water. Which we have way too  much of, usually in the summer. And lesser salinaty from my research means a better SPAWN. (Trout spawn in the summer months) Now, that's why we don't have the Trout populations here! Too much salt water intrusion into the estuaries during the spawn??  That's what my research (unoffical of course) reveals.

Saltwater intrusion, IE: dredged to China River which equals, allowing for too much Ocean tide. That's why in the summer, alot of Trout find thier way all the way down, to Doctors Inlet!  Plus that's usually where the shrimp are.
Itr's all about HABITAT, and successful spawns, year after year after year.

So far this year, after all the storms/Rain. I have failed to find a 50-100 count Trout day, and have basically given up on them. But, given the right customers in the next few weeks we may have to go hunting down some Trout, again.

Maybe since all the storms and rain it's gonna take forever and a day for it to be like it was YEARS ago. When a 50 Trout day was not unheard of after a summer time Tropical Storm and loads of rain fall. Here in that thing we call a river. It just may take a while for all that fresh water to do it's thing. But, I wouldn't count on it. Every storm with lots of rain seems to do it's own thing. You'd think it could be measured and relied upon. But not from what I've seen.

7/6 - Nassua chum fishing

Fishing and a wishing for a Tarpon bite at Nassua Sound. But it was Bonnetheads. Which were fun. Always, always, enjoy the Brandts. Even though we were missing Shirley, Don's Mom. Who's usually the fish killer. But she was under the weather. A fun thing to do on a July day, away from the crowds, in a nice area. No ships, tugs, or coneheads.

7/5 - Same crew, same date

Had the Tanner crew aboard again today. Always after the 4th of July every year. That's why when people call with a late notice, I tell them 30 days notice to get prime dates, for most holiday weeks. My educated regulars know to call and get the same dates each year. I've been taking Greg and his boys since they were 5 years old. First Wes, then Duncan came along. And they're alot older now.

Then after a few years, brother in law Wayne, and his son John started to come. They had something like 30 people in a few condos up in Amelia Island.

I decided to fish Nassua Sound....."So why not just pick my crew up at the boat ramp at Sawpit Creek."

I was on edge, because of having no sounder back from repairs yet. But, just my "photographic memory" of the entire Nassua Sound. But, the area changes with each year, and each storm.

We made our way out slowly. Rounded Bird Island, and started fishing. Four lines out, with shrimp, so the kids could catch anything. Target species big bull "beach" Whiting. But the kids were all about sharks!

Well, they caught about 25 Whiting, a Jack, a few baby sharks, and a decent size Bonnethead. There was one spot that was a hot spot. We couldn't keep 4 lines in the water. Kids (3) everywhere, reeling,  while Greg and I tried to keep the rally going.

We kept 13 or so Whiting for the fish box. I had a goal of 20, for 40 sandwich sized fillets.

I saw Tarpon. More then just a few.

But not as many as I saw round the south Jetty tip back in the st. Johns River the other day, at high tide.

The kids were getting antsy. The tide slowed so we headed back to clean up the fish.
(sorry no pics.....I was steppin and fetchin all day.)

I brought a few dozen live shrimp (jus' in case) and still had a few live ones in the well, as I departed Sawpit creek boat ramp.

I ran down the ICW and stopped off at an old spot I used to fish alot, back in my "bay boat" running days. From my first cast to my last shrimp I caught Trout, a few Ladyfish, and a Jack. On a light spinning rod and a "Lemon drop" snap on cork. They were on fire. It was fun, but out of all these trout, I caught one (1) 17 incher, along with a 11" Redbass.

I guess the spot was more like a nursery. But it was so cool to watch small Flounder along the grass line "sky-rocket" on all the bait that was pouring out a small outlet in the flooded marsh grass, as I sat there.

I used all the shrimp and then tried a soft plastic and had no bites. Lures versus live shrimp,  live shrimp in Jax always wins.

Headed back and cleaned my one keeper trout in the intense heat at the Mayport Boat ramp. Called my Friday Charter another "regular" crew I've been taking for years.

Told them (all adults) we're gonna try "CHUM FISHING FOR NASSUA SOUND TARPON", on Friday.

Yep, "sport fishing". I keep getting calls from people who think July is the month that we stack them in the fish box, don't know that the storms/ with yards of rain can effect fishing.

Nope, that's "light tackle" winter fishing.....Starts Nov. 1

It's July, it's hot!
 

7/4 - surfing a favorite website...what I do on July 4th

Good reason to NOT own a reinforced plastic boat or was it, reinforced?

The story: ripped from the pages of Louisiana Sportsman Magazine online.

Louisiana Sportsman "Fishing News" the story:

The pictures....




One guy gets it. Look and scroll down on that "post" and someone LOVES aluminuuuuuuuuuuum!

Louisiana boys love their ALLOY.

And another guy shows pics of his bad azz Aluminum "bay boat".


Many others post pics of thier aluminum ALLOY BOATS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

With CONDOLENCES.


Should I go on there and post a pic of "MY" 1/2 inch alloy transom
That might be "rubbin" it in, huh

-Other Louisiana alloyists, seem to be doing a good job of that.

I love the smell of a freshly built aluminum in the morning....at least it won't smell like chemicals

http://www.captdaves.com

26' CC Pacific Southern Edition"

7/3 - STILL WORKING HARD

Well, I'm still fishing by the seat of my pants. I keep calling to find out what's going on with my sounder/GPS/chart plotter that got drenched back the week after T.S. Beryl. Although my Raymarine C-120 display unit was "supposed" to be waterproof, obviously it was not.

I sent it to get repaired on the 14th of June, they recieved it on the 16th of June and found out today, Raymarine has ONE guy repairing all C-series units. I pitched a fit and asked them, "Will I be without my unit all summer or what??"

I was talking to someone the other day and we "joked" that maybe they have one person doing the work. Well, we were right!

(Finally heard back from Raymarine and Thursday they're shipping my scope back to me....whewww)

I can't head offshore, I can't go into really shallow unknown places. All the things I'm feeling I need to do since the river seems essentially bite-less.  It's been even hard to find steady Croakers this week!  Yesterday the current in the morning was smoking!

The tide has been very strong, being it's full moon week. The ONLY fish I see are coming from offshore, or Nassau Sound. I can go to Nassau Sound......and hope I don't run aground on a bar up there.

In my last post, I showed the way it was years ago after a huge storm. (only one, not nearly as bad as the two we had rain-wise)  Well, at this posting. That huge bite at the jetties, still hasn't happened.  (read post below this one)

Spent all day yesterday hunting from the Dames Point to the Jetties for ACTION. Never found any. Had a Dad, Mom and 14 year old son aboard.

Today, I had a 2 hr kids trip, with two cute Jr. Fisherman. They caught one Seabass after another. And reeled in most of the way a large stingray.

Tarpon rolled by us in a precession at the jetties. Just like usual, at a certain spot at a certain tide.   If I was float-rigging with live shrimp I could have probably hooked one up.

So on Thursday and Friday, we'll head to Nassau Sound and hopefully at least have some action up there.

ACTION. That's all I'm asking for!

Fish in the box will just be gravy.

Those two storms and all that rain was more than I asked for. Instead of  a nice wet summer, and maybe some great Trout fishing. Now, it's the opposite!

Where did they all go?

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FROM NOW ON TILL FURTHER NOTICE. ALL TRIPS WILL START & DEPART SHARPLY AT 7AM. THAT MEANS FEET ON THE BOATS DECK AT 7AM.

IT'S WAY TOO HOT, AND KIDS REALLY START GETTING FIGITTY. SO IT'S TIME TO BE DONE BY 1:00 PM.