Had Bob H. and his son Peter and son-in-law Chuck, out for two days in a row. Original plan was for Friday and Saturday trips. But seeing that Friday was not much better than Thursday. The guys decided to extended their stay, and get in the second day on Sunday.
We had from A to Z go on, in two day along the banks of the St. Johns river in Mayport.
Day one Saturday the 25th was windy, overcast, and actually better than Sunday the 26th when it was cooler, and sunnier, with really nice weather overall. At least that was my take.
Less people were on the water naturally on Saturday. And on Sunday on two prime spots it was wake's galore from big Ghetto cruiser boats. And made things really tough on us / "me".
As I've described before. Take a good Trout spot, with good current, and calm water, one day. The fish will be chewin'. Then take another day on the same spot with good current, add in boat traffic galore, and wakes crashing the bank....the Trout will be gone, or just not bite. I believe, they're gone. This was Sunday.
But no matter the guys caught LOTS of fish.
Redfish, Black Drum, Flounder, Speckled Trout, Jacks, Mangrove Snapper, Yellowmouth Trout, Huge Croakers and Sheephead....I think that's all of them, that matter.
OH, and I even caught myself on Saturday. After a short exercise in crisis management. IE: a tangle from hell and back. I was cutting a new leader off the spool on my dash. In between I was netting a fish or two, and unhooking a fish or two. I had been holding a length of leader in my mouth. And went to pull the leader out of my mouth and put it on a rig. But forgot I tied a hook to the other end and when I pulled it out of my mouth, I hooked my own lip. And sunk the hook pretty far.....like beyond the barb!
Bob said, I looked bad. I said, I just needed a mirror to see it. So we went back to the boat ramp, I looked into my truck door mirror, yep it was in there all right.
I used a piece of mono, and put it around the hook, held the hook eye down, and gave a good YANK. And the hook came flying out. As usual, when using the ole fishing line pull method. This was the first time I caught myself in the lip. But not the first time I had to yank a hook out of myself, and it won't be the last.
Thank goodness the hook was a small one. I didn't mind. If I hook fish, I can take the same thing from time to time....heck it's only fair, right?
Afterwards we just went back out and fished some more. No biggy.
He
re's some of the catches: 
re's some of the catches: 
Saturday I made up a bag of fillets for the guys to take to Singleton's Seafood Shack, around the corner from the dock. From what it sounds like, the guys had a feast. Singleton's will always fry up your fish for you if you go in with a fresh bag of fillets, for a couple bucks a pound.
They drank beer, had oysters and their catch. A really good end to a good day of fishing, I always think. Eat your own fish, they were just swimming
a few hours before.
a few hours before.
Bob set up and entire "kit" of materials to preserve a Redfish for skin mounting by a award winning taxidermist in Pa. So here's the one that'll get it. Peter's exact 27" Redfish, caught on a flaot-rig. The proceedure included linen towels, borax powered soup, plastic bags, bubble wrap, detailed photos and B&M bait and tackle's walk-in freezer and a box to carry that fish on a plane. I can't wait to someday see a photo of that Redbass at least in a photo Bob will e-mail me.
Peter was the HOT rod, he also landed this super nice 8 pound Black Drum, 5 minutes before the Redbass, on the float-rig (which of course makes it extra special). Using a giant shrimp each time. I always tell my crew, save them big giant shrimp till we fish a spot where the current isn't all that strong. Big shrimp can't take retrieving them in heavy current. Use small shrimp then. So here we were, on a slow tide area. And Peter used the whopper shrimp and was heavily rewarded.
The guys caught enough fish for not only a fine fresh fish dinner at Singleton's Seafood in Mayport. But took home a cooler full of bagged up fish for later.
It was a wild two days, weather wise and fishing wise. I know I relished the cold air on Sunday morning. It reminds me that still to come are some of the best days of the entire year.
The water temps are between 71-75 degrees.
Man, has it dropped out of the 80's fast. I like that, though. My favorite time of the year is when all you need is a sweat shirt, but can still wear shorts and a t-shirt during the afternoon.
Thanks to Bob, Peter, and Chuck for the two days...
