We left out early, because as usual the wind and seas start kickin' in the late afternoon.
First stop, North Jetty. Time to get some "Greenies", aka: Threadfin herring. Catching them on a bait rig. And as I was doing this, I spied the shrimp boats dragging out in the "chum hole". Just north of the inlet. The word on the water is that the big bad Black tip Sharks are ferocious out there.
The word also is that our beloved "pogies-pods" are no where to be found, really. With meager sighting of their trade mark flip & splat jumps on the surface, just a memory from years past. At least anywhere near the St. Johns River inlet. So what's new?
I caught about 10 Greenies, and figured since they are 10 times the baitfish a Pogie is anyhow we had enough for a few Kingfish later on. The Greenies live so much better in my live well...(really designed for mullet)
I did troll a few Greenies at first, waiting for the Shrimp boats to slow down and pull in the nets. That's when I'd POUNCE! And no sooner I had the Greenies out behind the boat for 5 minutes. I see two shrimp nets come up. And go back down just as fast. So I sped on over.
The crew was all up on the bow, watching the Dolphins going crazy chasing the shrimp boat, when I made a cast off the side of the boat, with a dead Greenie. It no sooner sank 2 feet and it was game on as the reel spool smoked with a monster fish hooked up. I yelled to Dan, and right then it bit through the leader. I grabbed another rig and we ran up to the shrimp boat again, and I made a cast and it happened all over again. What the hell...
That shrimp boat took off fast and I re-rigged and pulled up to another one going slower. Made a cast and 2 seconds after the bait hit the water, I was yelling DAN...HERE YA GO!!!
The fish smoked line off the B-870 twin drag Accurate reel like a missile. Dan, was in shock!
45 minutes later and a bucket of sweat, Dan go the Black tip Shark to the side of the boat. It was about a 125 pounder. WELCOME TO THE HUNDRED POUNDER CLUB.
Those Bass in a Georgia pond, are a bit different than these, it takes serious muscle or technique to land one of these any time soon. The photo's don't do these 6 foot long and powerful Sharks much justice. So, since it was Dan's Dad's trip, it was time for the ole man to give a try.
So we ran up behind the shrimp boat again, I pitched a bait out, and was instantly hooked up.
It proved too much, so Dan took over again. (poor guy) And he went back to back on another bruiser. This one was about 80-90 pounds, a tad shorter than the last.
So now it was time for a King Mackerel. So we stayed right there and trolled some Greenies in the chum hole, without a sniff.
That's okay. I knew where we could go and be in much better conditions.
Once there, we had no less that 4 kingfish strikes, and three great runs, and even had one right up to the boat about 12-14 pounds, that ran off, and the line hit the gaff handle that was in my hand pointing towards the sky, how that happened was weird, and the hooks pulled.
Then, as we put more baits out it started raining, the wind picked up and it got choppy. Plus the sky over the beach was looking dark. Time to head in.
It was an action packed day, to say the least with 5 people aboard. But we managed just fine in the BIG METAL, boat. Damn can this boat handle some weight. It should with a 2.5 ton capacity.
Here's the pics from today. And I'll be doing all over again tomarrow, too.
