SMILES.........yeah we had us some FUN!
Scott Wiliams and family had a good morning on TROUT, and then a good afternoon on puppy Black Drum.
Although behind the scenes there was a very very weak tide, that will continue through out the weekend, they managed too pull some big GATORS from underneath a dock (Scott's 5 pounder) and a bunch of Black Drum, keeping 4 nice eater sizers out of the schools just carpeting the bottom of the river. We only fished 2 -spots all day! I even caught this years 1st river Mangrove Snapper while showing them how to float-rig fish.
We avoided the heavy duty winds that came up in the afternoon, by fishing sheltered areas. And man was it nice to be out there on a weekeday with no one around to bother us. No wakes, cone-heads or anything.
This is getting to be the time of year that makes weekends a real struggle. Boat traffic WILL affect your trophy sized Trout catches. Trout are not like a Black Drum. They DO NOT bite when boats are running all over making noise on most of my really good trout spots.
If you are serious about catching Trophy sized Trout.......then lets go on a weekday. Period.
Planning is everything. Now that it's gonna be JUNE in another day. We'll be dealing with summer tides. Weaker than in the winter. Even the full-moon on Thursday isn't going to have an affect on the water movement. Add in having to do just 6+ hr charters because of the run I have to make south to catch these fish, and weaker the current the further south I may have to travel. A bit of planning goes a long way.....if you have extreme expectations as many do then calling me and planning ahead will be what you'd have to do.
Many people are calling for 1/2 day charters. To me that means (4 hours total) with fish cleaning; Dock to Dock. Do not cheat yourself. Most of the 1/2 days I do people don't want to leave anyhow....and I end up fishing longer, for the 1/2 day rate. If I do a 1/2 day trip from now on. Anything over 4 hrs "dock to dock" will be charged $50 an hour after the first 4 hours. So it makes sence to just reserve my standard 6 hour day. Travel time to and from the fishing grounds is longer in the summer especially under drought conditions, in the St. Johns River. And 6 hour trips doesn't have me under the gun. Which makes for a better charter over all.
Just ask Scott!
We were on the first spot, catching Trout. Then, it went dead. No bites. We continued to fish. I said "we could leave, but I'd like to see this spot through till the end." And his son caught a nice 3 pounder right after I said that. 5 minutes later Scott caught the 5 pounder! Plus we picked up 2 more trout, right as the tide/current died. I do not get in a hurry.
I go by gut feelings on a spot that I know, very well. I like to "hang out". That's why I don't like fishing from a trolling motor and moving all the time. The tide is what brings fish to me, and I don't fish by way of counting casts or miles of bank traveled. And I learn a lot by just hanging out for a while. And in this case we wacked some super nice Trout by sticking with it and hanging out long enough to let the fish that I knew were there, come to US.
Here's my "recent catch pics page" link from their trip:
C'C' mon.....the fishing is great, and so are the good times
aboard the CAPTDAVES.COM-sportfishing boat.
AKA: the USS Speckled Trout
