Tuesday, March 18, 2008

3/18 - Dejavu...ditto....seeing double

Yep, it was all the same crappola today. S.E. 20+ knots, and when it's that strong there's not much difference from East to South East winds. Dingy, cloudy, and cool on the water from start to finish......but the finish is always a thrill running trimmed down, haulin ass in the rough chopped up river back to the boat ramp. In big metal, it's always fun. At least it is for me.

Had Robby and Steve on the boat today from Rome, Georgia. And they wanted a BIG FISH, or as many as we could catch. But I just had to go to the jetties after yesterday's high winds and see what it looked like. So we anchored up in the soup sandwich and float rigged a little. Steve caught a Trout, and a Bluefish right off the bat. (never got a photo....it was too rough)


It doesn't look all that bad, but the swell was tight and the water was all stirred up.


After working two areas, with no more bites we went back down river and stopped by a buddy who was Sheepsherding.
Sheepshead fishing with his folks, he said he had a bunch. I'm not a rock dabber, so we moved on. The swell was against the wind and so was the current, and as I tried to anchor I could see this would be a nightmare.


We float fished a really good spring time spot for Trout, but as most over cast nasty low pressure days, we never even had a trout bite. This was a run about 5 miles from the boat ramp, and the only place we could seek relief from the SE wind. So as the guys drifted their floats down the bank I pitched out a shrimp on a bottom rod and was immediately hit by a good sized Croaker on a shrimp. This same place I've caught Black Drum, and Sheepshead while bottom fishing, besides some of the largest Trout I've ever caught on a float-rig. So we all grabbed bottom rods and even baited up with strips of clam.

We put a few good sized and spunky Croakers in the fish box. But never had the first Sheepshead or Drum bite. I moved around the area, and then moved around the area some more.

But as soon as the Croaker bites came they were gone and we never caught any more of the big ones.

An exercise in FUTILITY is what the last three charters have been for me in this wind. Half the places I want to fish, I can't. And the other places I can't even get anchored up on. Float fishing for Trout is out of the question, and if I'm going to the bottom, I'd really like some Big Drum or Reds.


Robby and Steve really wanted a big fish. And there was no lack of trying going on today. These guys were fisherman!


So with that said; Tomorrow's forecast is for 20-30 knots of south wind, Small Craft Caution - http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS52.KJAX.html so I called Wednesday's customers and re-scheduled for 2 weeks from now.


This is how well I keep records?
Last Year, during this EXACT same week I was booked from the 16th through 22nd. And there was huge wind every single day, starting on the 17th it was gale force, then had to make adjustments and the wind continued to be stiff from the EAST every day then on Friday the March 22nd of 2006, it finally laid down. And we caught the first Jack Crevalle of the season. At 5 pounds. This Friday the wind is supposed to finally lay down too! How 'bout that?

Do you need tools to learn the weather patterns? Then this blog you're reading right here can be a tool, if you know how to use it. All I have to do is click on the "ARCHIVES", on the right side bar and can see what March of 2006:
http://captdaves.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html was all about. Then easily track the conditions. In conjunction with my Florida Sportsman Tide Planner book, and the info here that I log. I can almost see the furure. And friends call me a micro-manager. Naw, I'm just informed!


Whewwww...all I can say is, "why don't I ever get a weeks worth of charters on weeks when it's actually fishable?

Rescheduled Wednesday, and Thursday. Maybe I can go on Friday.