Had Pat W. aboard today from out around Liveoak Florida.
As you can see in the photos it doesn't look windy, because when we got started it wasn't........but just give it an hour or so. That's when the west winds blew like stink. Pat got kinds side tracked, and lost some "time on the road". And we ended up leaving the dock almost 40 minutes late. OUCH.....that hurt us. Because this was a 1/2 day trip, and the tide and current doesn't wait for anyone. Add in a huge blow from the west and you have water exiting the Big St. Johns River at mach 10 on a falling tide. So needless to say, that fouled me all up.
Can ya feel a commentary coming on?????? I do.
People, people, please leave with adequate time to travel to the boat ramp, and get lost also. If your coming from France, then leave France with time to spare, because I'll be at the boat ramp waiting on you. I'm ALWAYS EARLY. And if we leave earlier than we're supposed to then treat it like you're getting a Free-bee. Everyone likes things for free, right?
So off we go Pat and his son and daughter. I pull up to the "sacred spot"of of mine, same one I "Pre" fished yesterday in the howling S.E. 20+ knot conditions. And upon our arrival the west wind was just starting. Then it would stop. So in the middle of getting them fishing I have to re-adjust the boat on anchor twice. Not good, when your making noise in 3.3 feet of water!!
And then, and just then I realized something! Hit me in the face with a big ole cast iron skillet, kinda realizing.....
This spot really doesn't want to produce the same on a hard west wind as it does on almost any other wind direction. And I have the "notes and tallies" mental and physical, to prove it. WOW, but now its too late.
So we catch some Reds, small ones and the largest at 26" at 6-1/2 pounds, and that be it folks.
Now the tides gone...out....no current...over, what ever you'd like to call it. And the wind is blazing from the west. So I try a few other things, and NADA!
The "Front" has officially arrived in my fishing mind.
So I resort to going out towards the Navy Base. Realize we're at the 3.5 hour mark of a 4 hour trip now. I anchor up. The anchor pops loose and we get a case of haul azz.....backwards in the wind. I try again...No Dice, says momma nature. What do I need a Tug Boat anchor to hold in this wind????
So I opt to give them a tour to the jetties. Dolphins everywhere, birds diving, and the south Jetty at dead low slack water was like someone took a million dump trucks of dirt and dumped it in the water, the sandy color is a dead give-away that there's NO good fishing here....its the jetties saying, "Hey Dave. Here's yer sign! Now go away!" But like the hard head I am, I attempt to anchor in the sandy bottom, and the anchor (a brand new Jettywolf anchor) again will not hold in the wind.
Pat says, "Dave its okay we gotta get going anyhow." So we come back and I clean the 26" Red and they headed home.
Wheww.....
So that was it, but they saw the coast, the river, caught some fish, had one keeper, took pictures of either Dolphins or the water, and learned how this coastal guy lives day to day, with the weather issues.
Tomorrow?? I guess its still 20 knots out of the Northeast. This ought to be a fun one for me. At least its two past clients from a previous trip last summer.
