So I had a real game plan in mind. Head to Amelia Island first off. With a nice incoming tide till about 10am. We'd hunt up some Speckley Sea Trouts. It's been a few days since I got into to some so I was excited about it too.
We headed out at 6:30am, straight through the ocean up to Amelia Island. The first "HOT" spot was colder than a N. Dakota winter. All because of those damned Needlefish. Ya couldn't drift a bait on the float-rig two feet without those bastards grabbing your shrimp and killing it. They're a summer time plague. Just like tiny bluefish in the spring time......BUT WORSE!
So we moved off to spot #2. I made a cast with Robin's float-rig for her and there we were instantly hooked up to a big Speck. And we proceeded to catch (4) 19-23" Trout off this spot before the tide went slack on us and the south west wind took over boat control. The wind was a bit stiffer than I was wanting. But at least not a menace. Kind of a long way to go for (4) Trout, but they were big, so I didn't mind. I'll go to hell and back to catch some Trout this nice in the middle of the summer! 
Then back to the St. Johns River we went, but first stopped by the jetties and caught some Jacks and Ladyfish. Then, on to where I've been catching Flounder limits. BUT...by now the tide was falling, and I haven't been catching any Flounder on the falling tide here, just the incoming tide. But it was well worth a look. And the look, which I anticipated would be maybe a "Flounder or two" maximum, turned into EXPECTATIONS....EXCEEDED, catching 11 total, keeping 10 from 2-6 pounds with one small one we tossed back. And then all the live shrimp were gone.
(It's a real shame that in this summer heat I'm having at least a 20% die off of all my live shrimp. So I buy 10 dozen, and maybe have 8 dozen usable live ones if I'm lucky. Usually I'm busy as hell with customers lines, leaders and hooks, plus technique coaching that I can't give the live well as much attention as it needs. Like water changes, and adding a frozen bottle of water every once in awhile to keep the water cooled off. Heck, it's the nature of the beast in the summer.....like Needlefish attacking the baits at certain spots. Not much I can do about it, really.)
So we headed back to the boat ramp and I cleaned fish for quite awhile. All I can say is if they were Sheepshead....someone else would be cleaning them. So thank goodness they were Flounder and Trout, huh?
Needless to say, that's 40 Flounder Fillets since I get 4 pieces per flattie, and 8 great big Speck fillets.
James and Robin had a great time, and so did I. I believed these two fresh water fisher-folks from Missouri, got a education on what it takes to catch really great fish, especially in the heat of the summer. I think they'll be back to try again. The perfect charter really is 2 people, and one of them a woman. They always do really good.
Photo's are care of James. My camera is still broke.
But I certainly learned that the hotter the water gets the more those pesky Needlefish really put the end to fishing one of my really great spots.
There's a whole bunch of today's photos on my "Recent Catch pages" on page #8. http://www.captdaves.com/Catch8.htm
There's a whole bunch of today's photos on my "Recent Catch pages" on page #8. http://www.captdaves.com/Catch8.htm
I hope James was kidding when we were heading back to the river from Amelia Island, when he said..."What kinda boat is this with only two cup holders?" Of course I responded..."It ain't no sissy-ass boat, this is a fishing boat!" And yes, I do have two cup holders up on my dash shelf. One is for MY morning Coffee, and the other holds a container of hooks for EZ access.
Here's me doing the fish cleaning process. On the boat of course, because Jacksonville is so lame that we don't even get a fish cleaning table at the boat ramp!
It's soon to be August....call to get YOUR prime tidal dates
reserved early.
