Man was it a nice morning. We left early to go fish a different zip code. I needed a scenery change, and just a day to be left alone. No Cone-heads driving over my lines, no FWC bothering me, no Coasties, and no rent-a-cops, or noise pollution.
But the story was "no bites = no fish", where we went, except for two scrawny specks. And not long after the tide finally turned so we could fish the falling. The wind started to blow, the air temp fell 20 degrees, and it clouded up. Our nice sunny day was over.
But here's an FYI.... I marked 68 degree water on one spot, at low tide. Haven't seen 68 degree water in 2 months. But it didn't matter. The front came. And our day was just practice in futility. If ya can't get bit anywhere; shallow, deep, river, or creek. What can you do?
So we went home.
Then today, on Friday. I had Jason M. on board. Just he and I, out on what promised to be as super nice winter day. By no means the same as on land, when the temp is concerned, it was chilly. But at least I was in my Aftco shorts, with just a jacket, and was perfectly comfortable all day till the late afternoon. Water temps back at the "hub" are on the rise....so why is fishing still so dang tough? I marked 60-66 degrees, from the jetties to the backwaters today. We fished the falling tide all day.
Started out at the jetties.....No more "world tours" for me. I got that out of my system, real quick, yesterday. We jigged the rocks and had a some Seabass, and a couple cold water sharks at the high water. Then, we went float-rig fishing the rocks for one small Speckled Trout.
There was 3-6" what looked like mullet everywhere, 12 feet deep. I marked knots of them stirring up the sandy bottom on my scope at 12 feet. Then they started flipping the surface.
As one fella yelled to us, "the birds sure are eating better then me!" I agreed. They had all the dinner they could catch.
So we left the jetties as the tide started to fall good and fast. Jason wanted a Redfish, I would have settled for a Drum or at least some fast Yellowmouth Trout action, to keep us busy. But they are not even there.
We ran for awhile, and went into some shallows.
Where Jason and I both caught some nice fat Specks, with no current just plenty of due East wind...which was forecasted to be a west wind.
Then, as the baitstealers arrived, the Trout bites stopped as fast as they started. So we moved on up in the river.
My first drift at the next spot was another nice "would be fishbox" size Speck. Then a monster of a ship passed us and we drug anchor off the spot a little, and couldn't get another Trout bite.
So we went back to jigging. And then scored on a Sheepshead. And not long after the current died there too, and we swung around as the east wind pushed the incoming tide in quick on us.
So we packed it in and headed to the dock.
Not much different than I thought the day would be, really. We weren't keeping any fish. So I just wanted "action" and we had a little. But it could have been worse. Thank goodness it wasn't.
Gander Mountain Outdoor store in the new City Square shopping center off Duval Rd. up near the Airport is having a "Meet your Maker" event this weekend.
Factory tackle Reps, tackle sales, seminar speakers, various Pro Anglers...and ME. I'll be there too. Hopefully answering questions about
Trout and Float-rigging techniques, and maybe a seminar??
I'm unsure exactly what I'll be doing exactly.
But a meet and greet is cool too.....I'll be bringing loads of photos and my favorite float-rigging tackle, to help show the technique.
If you aren't out chasing the illusive fish in the river.....come on up and see us.
