Let me start off by announcing that I have (4) and maybe more...Abu Garcia Ambassador 6500 Trophy Series reels for sale.
New: $95 to $105 a piece.
Mine: cleaned, Oiled & in fine working order - $35 each
or buy all (4) for $130.00 ....Lasted one day, SOLD ALREADY, sorry.
If your interested, just call me or email me.
904-642-9546
reels@captdaves.com
I'd just love to let all (4) go at the same time, of course. From time to time I do a liquidation, I guess you could say of tackle I'm not using.
BTW...I also have (2) Penn Performance Tackle (PPT) 13'6" Neil MacKellow (famed British long caster designed) "Stinger" model Surf casting rods. Yes, key word is "CASTING".....what real surf casters use. Meaning; the the opposite of a "Spinner"......YUK! Can Handle large casting reel with supplied "Coaster Clips" to attach reel. Handles casting up to 5 oz. easily. (I think I did my best ever with these rods at 400 feet.) 2-piece, in cloth storage bag - $75 each and like brand new. Can handle Sharks, big Reds or Whiting and Pompano. Versatile rods.
Can be seen at B&M Bait & Tackle A1A north Atlanitic beach where they are on consignment or just call me.
Okay...back to the fishing.
Went out today with a game plan in mind. As you may or may not know, when I go by my lonesome, I call it R&D. Short for "research and development". First off, going and putting the boat in the water was a great excuse to burn the giganticus live shrimp I still had in my live well, and I had to go put fuel in the boat, anyhow. (FYI: Honda...So far so good. I have not a single negative thing to say about my new outboard. The fuel economy is very good. On average I burn thru all RPM ranges a measly 2 gallons an hour, or as I like to think of it; about 10-12 fishing trips on 60 gallons. Granted my fishing trips are not 4 hour runs to the ledge and then troll all damn day. But I do haul-ass from spot to spot, starting and stopping, idling and with varying loads of people, day to day. I'm very happy so far...)
So if I needed to burn some expensive live shrimp because I don't think I'm doing my charter on Sunday because of the weather report, and while putting $150 worth of fuel in the boat, I might as well go do some R&D.
I went to the south-side of the south jetty, that was the game plan. Do not burn much of that $150 worth of fuel, and spent all day there. (MISTAKE #1)
I do stuff like that all the time. I pick an area and never really leave. Working a 1/4 mile stretch, while attempting to learn all I can about it. Although over the 25 years worth of fishing the jetties I have probably learned about all I can about that side of the rocks. But I stayed there, thru thick and thin. But today was mighty THIN!
I caught 4 Speckled Trout, WHOOPEE! And 10 Jack Cravalles of various sizes. The Trout were not what I was hunting for, with them ranging from 14-3/4 inches to 17 inches.
I fished in 3 feet up in the jam, and out at the tip, and in between. And there was no rhyme or reason to where the Trout were, out of the whopping 4, one came from 3 feet of water while the rest were in 10' or 18' or 1 foot. It was serious pot luck. There was zero current, and I knew that going in. What I didn't know is that no one really works anymore on Friday's either.
Back in February, I could be out doing a lil' R&D on a Friday and never see a soul. But that's all changed now.
I call staying there at the south side of the south Jetty all day Mistake #1, because I really should have done some R&D elsewhere. But since I just dumped $150 dollars into the fuel tank. It was a nice economical place to venture too.
I'll repeat a saying an associate of mine used to say about fishing in Jacksonville versus when he grew up in South Miami back in the 60's and 70's.
"Fishing in Jacksonville, you better be rigidly flexible."
Claiming that in Miami back when, you could basically do the same ole thing week after week and always catch fish. I think he meant.
But, he does have a point. The weather here is the number one reason I do R&D. Because one day is never the same as the next. (I wore a light weight rain jacket all day today!) I don't really care if I'm catching a lot of fish when I'm out there by myself. I just like "being", and not having to attend to anyone or anything. And can try crazy crap like working a 1/4 mile of rocks with various float rigs, for 6 hours.
But it sure would be nice to find that giant "ocean run" 9 pound Speck. Ya' know the one that I have day dreams of? And the one that makes me go spend money, I do not have.
I often wonder, does that Trout even exist? I say 9 pounder, not to be greedy. Sure a ten pounder would be nice, but C'mon this is J-ville Florida, not south west Texas, on the Laguna Madre where 10 pounders are common place. So I'm always conservative.
Either way. That's the story.
-And thanks to Dave Lashbrook, a reader of this blog/report and a fella I had on a charter a few years ago with his family. He e-mailed me today, with his own fishing report. I'm not gonna give away his confidential findings. But thanks to Dave, I probably should have done some R&D to the west rather than going east, and being a "cheap skate" on myself. (REMEMBER YA' HAVE TO BE....RIGIDLY FLEXIBLE!!!)
Oh well, I'm sure after this big blow that's coming this weekend. I'll have another R&D day afterwards, because bad weather scares everyone off for at least 2-3 days.
Is there a pool going on how many "spots" will win this year' Redfish spots tourney?
I'm gonna gamble like a sissy and say because of the weather and possible winds Saturday, I'll go with 30 spots or under will take it. (You can tell I don't know how to make a real bet)
