If I want those same symptoms, all I have to do is say "Let's try next Sunday instead", to a customer on the phone.
We left out around 8am. And picked and poked around. I had to first make sure everyone understood the "float". I didn't get to fish where I wanted too, and one of those spots was rough as a C-O-B.
And that's where the first part of "Dave's 6 hour challenge" came to be. "ANCHORING."
It wasn't like, I wasn't gonna at least try fishing in the rough stuff. I always do, so why should this be different. But that west 20+ knot winds was whoopin my ass. I couldn't get close enough to the spot, so my crew didn't have to cast 50 feet, (even if they could.)
I went to pull the anchor on my last attempt to get it right and bent the stock on my fluke style anchor into a pretzel. The ole welded cast aluminum cleats on the boat don't have any give. And the boat lurched around in a swell and that's all she wrote. Bent anchor!
"Okay, I give up"....I said. Which brings me to a good point. I'll anchor about anywhere in any seas. And I'll give it up to three tries. What can happen? Failure? But sometimes it all works out, and we sit there wackin the fatties with no one around.
What the worse thing that could happen, hitting the jetty rocks?
The last day that was evidence of "just giving it try", despite the 4 footers hitting us sideways was when Jeff W. caught these two trout back to back. Six and seven pounds! But we were also lacking a 7 year old.
We left and I was defeated. And with a pretzel
anchor that wouldn't hold my boat in a duck pond with 20 knots of west wind, let alone the St. Johns River. So I ran back to the boat ramp and got a new anchor rigged up.
Had another die off of live shrimp too, so half of the original 10 dozen were now dead. But I don't think we'd be in any jeopardy of using them all up.
We got on a spot and lil' Luke caught some Speckled Trout, along with grandpa' and dad.
Keith said, "this boy will grab any kind of bug he can get his hands on." But holding up a Trout for a photo was something that just wasn't something he wanted to do without lot's of prodding.
We tried a few more spots looking for a decent bite of fish, got yelled at by an angry dock owner, caught a few more Trout, and then got run back to the dock by a 15 degree temperature drop and 50 MPH gusting winds, as a band of clouds with what looked like pouring rain behind them.
I put the boat on the trailer as it hit. But no real rain came our way.
I went through A-Z today...just another blustery weekend day on the river.
I'M MOANIN' & GROANIN'....can ya tell?
Now, I have Bob J. booked for tomarrow - forecast:
MONDAY: SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON NORTH WINDS 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET. INLAND WATERS CHOPPY.
Oh great!!!! The winds don't lay down till Christmas eve or Christmas day.
Then, to add insult to injury is my Tuesday charters Forecast:
TUESDAY: EAST WINDS 15 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP. East.... "straight down the pike", I guess we won't make it the jetties?
Looks like a bit of "Chinese Yellow Mustard" in the forecast to me...
