While doing this I saw these photos. And you know, when you see a photo sometimes how it really brings back the memories? These weren't long ago. But like every summer, it does seem like forever and never ending. But just a month or more ago, seems like a long time.
Well, that trip I made offshore to do some butterfly jigging with Dale H. in June and the photos we took that day, were a few of the photos that really stirred up "good memories" for me.
Looking at these is all it took for me to say, "Man, now that was
F-U-N!" Like going shoe shopping for many women, or an amusement park for the kids.
I won't forget that day for a long time. It was really day # 1 of the first time I really put the jig tackle to the test and had serious success with it. They may have been mostly AJ's tugging us all over. But hell, they were slurping the jigs up like candy.
Maybe this fall, the big fat Snapper will slurp them up.
I read an article by the other day by Mr. About.com, Ron Brooks, and it was all about how "they" the fisheries folk really want to just plain shut down the bottom fishing industry. And people like Capt George Strate of Mayport Princess, and Capt Scott Reynolds of the King Neptune, here locally. Who's livelihoods depend on taking many people at one time, bottom fishing. Is in jeopardy.
I feel for them, too. It's not a great time being a fishing Captain these days, anyhow. Not around here.
But I was thinking. If they want to make limits tighter on Grouper and Snapper, then I guess the progression is to make it more fun when you do go. That's why I love getting "jiggy". It's a different approach to than just feeding the fish bait. It may just be me, but when and if I caught a really big Snapper on a hand selected, jigged just right, over the perfect spot, during the perfect time of year.....That certainly makes the whole thing sweeter tasting for me. It's the challenge, I guess.
