The Parking lot was utter mayhem.
Probably because of that Kingfish Karnival closing the Sisters creek boat ramp. I say let's all get together and do a kingfish a favor and make them get their own dang park to run the tournament.
It's such a disruption every single year. If you don't think so, then you're NUTZ! (I tried to capture the look of the parking lot at the Mayport Boat Ramp in this photo, because it looked like the local mall the day after Thanksgiving. But obviously the photo doesn't depict what I was seeing.)
B&M bait and tackle was crazy too. As I motored up there at 6:30am. GOD I LOVE MONDAY'S AT 7:00am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I finally got in the water and had to pick up Greg at the Carlucci boat ramp off of the Hecksher drive area. What a zoo that was. I waited around and finally pulled up to tie off to the dock right when Greg said he'd be there. Answered the standard 10 questions a day about the greatest fishing boat ever, MY BOAT. Because over at that ramp, "We ain't never seen a boat just like dat"....I was told over and over again. Then, finally Greg and Will walked down.
I had plans to get this lil' boy hooked up and fast to some fish. And man, I surprised myself!
I wanted to just go see what the deal was over at the ship yard 200 yards away from the dock where I just picked them up. So I idled over there (NO LONG BOAT RIDE REQUIRED) and tossed the anchor. Showed Greg what we were going to do and we were off to the races!
Hooking fish after fish on the float-rig for lil' Will to reel in.
First it was Jacks, then came Trout, then some Croakers, and a giant Pinfish. It was fun! Me and Greg would hook'em, and Will would reel them in. This was an observant 5 year old. He could tell right away if the Trout were "keepers" or not. And we measured every one.
On one drift Greg hooked an ass-hander of a fish, torquing the rod hard, but it broke him off under the dock. These docks have a lot of "stuff" hanging in the water. Besides having oyster growth galore. So the fun is, getting them outa there!
Will was keeping a count of every fish, and we ended up with 21 or so that he caught. And we never left till all the bait was gone (approx: 4 dozen live shrimp) I had a ball hooking the lil guy up, and was so surprised that this area had so much to offer. The last time I fished this same spot was a week or so ago, and we hooked up a 10 pound Jack and boated it along those nasty pilings. But today, the spot yielded trout to 18 inches. I usually fish this area in the spring and fall for Trout, because that's when I've had 5 & 6 pounders there.
Go figure......instead of traveling 15 miles up river. We went 200 yards, down river and had a ball, almost all by mistake.
Next up:
Monday friends of Tom Coughlin's attending his daughters wedding (ex Jags head coach)
then Wednesday with just (2) anglers
and then Friday the 13th with (3) anglers.
(To say I'm not superstitious would be a lie!)
