1/5 - Much Nicer Day

Long story short.

The day before was pretty nasty. And as you can see we had to leave in the dark to catch the last minutes of falling tide in the Video.

Well, I had Gabe & Donna aboard 24 hrs later and it was a much nice day. Sunny, warmer. And they were kind enough to be really early. So we too could depart in the dark and catch as much falling tide as we possibly could.

Only thing..........The fish didn't bite as well as they did in the NASTY weather the day before. GO FIGURE. It's like that alot. Those day when I would run up into Mill Cove when the tide was super high, being pushed by near gale force winds out of the North, raining as we departed, and super cold.  THAT'S WHEN THEY'D BE ON FIRE!

You go back the next day when the "NOReaster is over", and you struggle!

That's what we sort of did today. That falling tide just didn't run all that long. But that of course is when all the bites came.

Donna catching the best Trout. (of course, always bring your best Gal!!) And maybe she even caught the most too.
But the most out of not many, wasn't my usual style...

 

Gabe & Donna came to learn about the float-rig. And I tried to show them the most I could with out all that much action. But they got the picture.

Funny thing is that we didn't have a single under 15" Trout the whole day. They boxed I think, the start of 2 limits, but fell short by 4 fish. Keeping 8 up to 19-20".

After about 9am, the tide slowed and started to creep in, and that's when the water temp changed. And we started to struggle at the jetty rocks.

 

NO LACK of "green scourge" bites. The ever present eat at least half your baits Bluefish. If there's a reason to run far south on the river. The inlet Bluefish are it.

1/4 - Cold, Breezy, Low tide, LIMITS!

Yeah, I have been preaching...."as winter sets in for awhile it seems that the big bites turn into just low tide bites at the jetties."

So Doc Miller and I depart at zero dark thirty and al ready have them in the boat before sun-up. Had a few pesky bluefish, but they weren't that bad. Had a few Redbass, with one keeper. A perfect eater (in my opinion) a 19 incher.

But as you can see. Cappy "Gator Trout" Dave  gets a fattie. A nice 7 pounder!  We had such a ball. No one was around, and as far as Doc and I, these are the kind of days we live for. Last minute, cold, breezy, leave really early, get the right tide, and fill the box with a limit of beautiful winter Trout.

Plus we released a bunch.

So it was an active morning.......but as the tide rose "as usual for this time of year". The action fell off.

Fine, Fine eating. Once again.

The LAST SHRIMP even caught a fish!

1/1 & 1/2....The New Year....on to #17

 

Ya know what I don't like more than anything? It's how time flies by. I caught myself sitting on the edge of my bed yesterday putting on my socks in the morning and thinking about how fast time passes us by. And how short life really is.

There's so much I'd like to do, places I'd like to fish. And no sooner as we just blink (so it seems) it'll be summer and hot as all hell!  I'll be complaining about catching less Trout, and sweating again by 8am.

And this year will mark 17 years of charter fishing here in J-ville. And how old I'm quickly getting without doing the things I want to do.

All this went tru my mind as I put on just two socks!

Kinda heavy huh??

Well with that said, here's what YOU may have missed. I say may have missed. Because I didn't see YOU there.
The B&M bait and tackle New Years Day Bash & Fish Fry.

As usual it was great. The food was unbelievable!

There was so many people vehicles were parked up and down A1A, plus the whole parking lot. Pitty the person who went fishing at 1pm and needed ice and bait with a boat in tow!!!

 

THE FRY MASTER AT WORK, Rusty.

Parking lot jammed....and Alan's old Ford!

THE CROWD...and all the food!

 

 

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1/2 - with Ed and Nancy

 

Had regular customer Ed B. from Michigan back on the Jettywolf along with his girlfriend Nancy. We had a rising tide right off the git-go. But on spot one it was dead low tide and just started coming in, very slowly.

 

It was a good spot to show nancy the how's and why's of Float-rigging for Trout. And of course some bluefish were present. So fish #1 was a Blue, but right off, fish #2 was a good keeper Trout via Nancy! 

 

 

And it was more than evident to me as we boxed 5 Trout on the first spot up to 21 inches, that the BITE is all about LOW tide!

 

It gets this way....especially as the water gets colder. Yes, you can pick and poke around. But the LOW tide is where it's at!

 

As the tide came in we had to work hard, really hard to pick up a few more trout, toss back a few, and get eaten alive by bait stealers.

The moral of the day was work for the bites. And keep on track.  But as the tide got higher the bites slowed. Even my go-to spot only yielded one Trout, and it was where the wind and seas were pushing into the jetty rocks. Which is usually the ticket (?)

 

So right when ya think you know what's happening......Mother nature shows you another side. But either way we had a good time. No serious "kicker fish", like picking off a Sheepshead, or even getting a Redbass on the float-rigs. No Yellowmouth Trout either.

 

But at days end Ed had a 1 gallon bag full of nice fish fry fillets, and it was much much better weather than it is in Michigan. And I hope he brings Nancy along again.

 

I always say, "bring your best gal".  You could be surprised at how good she fishes! And Nancy hung right in there!

 

(dang, my camera wasn't having a good day. The photos are not up to par)

  

12/31 - YEAR END VIDEO

-Was supposed to have Capt Kris from Dockside bait & tackle in Slidell Louisiana aboard today. REALLY was kinda upset. Because all I want is to find out the details about fishing Lake Pontchartrain from a Pro. We were "swapping fishing trips". As I always say, "when I grow up, I wanna be a Gulf Coast Angler, someday."  And now, I missed my chance. Because he couldn't make it after extensive planning, while he was here. (actually Orange Park, kinda like here......)

So I went out anyhow. 8 dozen live shrimp later, and working thru a long boring tide. The fish bit like NUTZ at the low tide. Still the iinfluence of the NEW moon, I guess.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE IN THIS VIDEO, OF HOW MY "TECH-TIP #2" CAME INTO PLAY.
(see all "tech-tip" video links, along blog right side bar)

-SOFT LIMBER ROD MANDATORY!!!!!

COUPLE THAT WITH BRAIDED LINE, SOFT AND EVEN HARD MOUTHED FISH WILL COME TO THE BOAT.

-ALSO MANDATORY ANYMORE FOR ME IS A REALLY FAST GEAR RATIO REEL!!!

12/31/2012
Today I set a personal "record". That 7 pound Sheepshead was caught by drifting my float-rig back NO-LESS than 150 feet behind the boat.

Yes, go pace off 150 feet and see what I mean! It could have actually been further. Never before I have set the hook on a Sheepshead that far away. I have done Reds & Trout. NEVER a Sheepshead before.

When you get really "into" float-rig fishing. These are the types of landmarks you'll set. Catching is one thing. Catching the way YOU want is another.

A very wise angler once said, "First there's catching fish, then there's catching big fish. After it's all said and done, then there's catching fish the WAY you want to catch fish."
as said by; Larry Dahlberg - Freshwater Fishing Halll of Famer. Host of, Hunt For Big Fish TV show.