FOLKS, THAT DOESN'T WORK THIS MONTH! SO FAR, IN MAY WE'VE MOVED ABOUT EVERY DAY I'VE HAD RESERVED TO ANOTHER DAY, that was just less windy.
How the hell are people supposed to pick'em? The wrath has been the winds. No matter what day I'm out there.
Okay, if you don't know why I'm not an offshore fisherman anymore. Here's the story plain and simple.
First, the weather. You can not survive doing offshore charters here in N.E. Florida in a small boat. The Jodie Lynn in St. Augustine might be able too. Because she's what....a 60' Sport fish?
Then, I quit bottom fishing when Gag Grouper went from 20" minimum fish to 24" minimum fish.
At the height of my business I ran three boats. My ole 23' MayCraft, a 22' Seachaser bay boat, and a 17' Carolina Skiff. Commonly referred to as; MY THREE WIVES. That was the fleets unofficial name. I had about every base covered. And those were good years, back then. Compared to today's world.
I'd love to see some years like those again someday. But I truly believe, I never will.
Offshore species such as Grouper, Snapper, Vermilion Snapper, are constantly under attack by the "watchers".
And again, these fisherman are bracing for the 10th round, with new rulings that are scheduled to impact anyone who is a die-hard offshore bottom fisherman from the Gulf of Mexico, to off the coast of J-ville, Florida.
Here's a link to my friend Ron Brooks' "ABOUT" Blog where he explains it briefly with a link to the amendment http://saltfishing.about.com/b/2008/05/18/safmc-amendment-16.htm?nl=1 - try and make heads or tails out of amendment 16, it's written in their code lingo.
So, I used to do a lot of offshore fishing. And when I did bottom fish, I used to say "let's go Seabass fishing, and whatever else we get is just gravy on top of biscuit." I never took it all that seriously. But then again, this was back when there was no Seabass limit either. I remember spending some really fun, slick calm foggy December days close-in on hard bottom areas, dropping cuttlefish on river rods with 6500 Ambassadors and filling a 186 Qt. cooler with the tasty fish. Was I to blame for the reduction in bag and size limit of Seabass too? Maybe, but then again I was just going for what was fun, easy and good eating fish. If I was a meat fisherman, then I was a Seabass meat fisherman and that was about all.
Now, I'd love to go offshore. And since I still can't take bottom fishing all that serious. Because if you don't make it your backyard and frequent it all the time, how can you expect to go out and fill the cooler these days. So, I'd like to just go play. And by "play" I mean, JIG FISH, for the fun of it and try and catch anything. But I sure did pick a hell of a time to want to get out there and jig, huh? With fuel at an all time record high, and possible $200 a barrel of crude oil looming in our near future. Which equates to $7.00 for a gallon of unleaded??
My prediction is, that if we see $200 a barrel, and $7.00 for a gallon of gas. This country as we once knew it is going to end. I'm talking Armageddon in the USA. There will be no fishing. So the fisheries people making all these new rules have nothing to worry about, and soon after their jobs won't even exist, along with anyone connected with fishing. And the fish populations will boom like they've never seen it before.
Just think about that for a moment.
I'm supposeed to go on Friday and Sunday....or at least that's the plan.
Just one last thing. Have you ever looked back in my "archieved Blog pages" just for the hell of it? And at least surfed through them just to look at the pictures? I do all the time. And have long realized that the best inshore/river fishing is when it's cold. Jacket weather, to serious fleece underwear weather! And it's usually when no one wants to go because it's too cold for them. (sissies) BUT......If I had my druthers, and I might just get exactly what I'm asking for in the near future, I'd fish here in November through April. And then go north for the rest of the year to pursue my wanting to learn to become a aluminum boat welder/fabricator the rest of the year.
Just a whacky thought, based on truth.
