Tuesday, October 7, 2008

10/7 - Gotta love our system

In case you missed it.......




and I bet he doesn't even F-I-S-H for fun, let alone a good meal.
hahahahahah

Sunday, October 5, 2008

10/4 - A Tougher Saturday.....but nice and sunny.

Had Katrina and her friend Damon on the boat Saturday, for a bit of R&R. The wind was up compared to Friday. But it still was a beautiful morning.

BUT.... "Things were a bit off, compared top Friday."

Since my success was so great the day before I sort of followed the same "path".

First off, was catching some bait, Lil Croakers. So after going through all the details with Katrina and Damon, I anchored up on a hard bottom spot in the river. They dropped shrimp down and immediately caught some Croak's. I took those Croak's and cut them into pieces and pitched them out the stern, and waited for Brutus T. Redbass.

"Remember, back in the days when there were Pogies all over the beach? Back then, I'd run out the inlet, searching for them, while scanning the skies for diving birds, and usually catch way more than I needed. In today's world, it's not worth the fuel spent looking, because they just are not there. I can't even say I've caught a Pogie in all of 2008, that I can remember. I'm real sensitive to spending hours and miles looking for them......it's been a snipe hunt, each time I've tried. So, with the abundance of lil' Croakers, even though not nearly as good a bait as a stinky Pogie, and cheaper and more durable than a cut crab, I go with them. They're usually right where I'm fishing anyhow, that means no wasting time."

Damon and Katrina were in "Full Croaker Mode" when one of the stern cut bait rods doubled over. It was Brutas T! Katrina fought the fish, but at the last second, next to the boat it came off the hook.

So we kept trying. And unlike the day before the Croakers were smaller, and there were only a few small Yellowmouth Trout mixed in them. So as the tide faded, it was time to hit the inlet and fish outside the jetty rocks.

The wind was stronger then Friday and the water was a bit sloppier. The current was going one way, and the boat laid another, just like Friday. We caught more Croakers, and one medium sized Nurse shark. And that was it. So we headed back into the river.

By now the crowds were thick! Flats boats buzzing all over the place, and for some reason ever single flats boat that was on the river came by to fish the same locale I was at......"except in the shallows", while I was deeper. There had to be one of those Mosquito Fleet tournaments going on, with Flounder as a fish species. And if each line of flats boats only knew how beat up that area had been since yesterday, and all morning long today they might take the time to find new Flounder spots????

That's the problem with weekends!!! There's hardly anywhere around the Mayport "hub" that you can fish, that someone has not been on before you or after you.

I know I get so damn tired of it, myself.

So as we fished and had one boat after another run directly over the top of my lines to my stern, or over my anchor off my bow. It's a "here's yer sign", that the fishing will suffer. And hell if you want to catch big Trout. Boat traffic is my #1 enemy, when it comes to them.

But since we did so great on Friday, I stuck with my plan.

We ended up a handful of keeper Croakers, a large Seabass, 4 - pup Drum, and another Redbass....28 inches. I so badly wanted Damon to catch either giant, or a keeper. And we get an in between size, instead.



But we ended up with some decent "stringer" fish, in the box for Katrina to cook up.







And the current? It was a lot stronger so it seemed compared to yesterday. Probably because of the N.E. wind strength. We took off back to the dock, just as the current faded enough. Because of course a boat that came in and "Beldar Conehead'ed" us caught two over sized Reds in a bit deeper water.

















In the last two days, here some weird things I've seen:

Friday, my customer Don pointed out a 18" Flounder swimming on the surface toward the boat out off the end of the jetties as we were anchored up. It was 40 feet deep, and the Flounder was just 2 inches under the surface, swimming right at us. I tried to get the net out and scoop it up, but the net was secured and I couldn't get it out fast enough.

Damon's 28" Redfish we caught today, was trailing about 10 feet of green Berkley solar line, and had swallowed what looked like a circle hook. Damon also caught a small Yellowmouth Trout, that had no tail at all. It was either bit off clean, or amputated by some idiot.

Friday, October 3, 2008

10/3 - Perfect Day....Perfect Fish

There's an ole saying that most happy go lucky married men, usually in their 60's live by and don't even know it.....or do they.

Happy Wife = Happy Life.

Well, the same goes for FISHING.

A Perfect Day=Perfect Fish. (and in the charter biz, a good crew on board is also a big plus)

So I don't have to tell ya' much, about today. Other than, along the side bar of this report blog, I updated my "philosophy" section last week, and part of it goes like this..."There's no perfect day fishing. But if there is, I'll be sure to tell ya about it right here on this report blog."

So here it is. A perfect day, with the Brandt family that have been fishing for me for years and years. Which is another reason the day was so perfect. The Brandt's are fun folks.
























We even had Bill in a neck brace from neck surgery, if ya can believe that!

He's the one that caught the largest Redbass, because he's addicted!

So I had to oblige.

Lots of I.G. "you know what that means", Instantaneous Gratification!

A stringer of Croakers, Yellowmouth Trout, and only one Redbass small enough to keep, but we had them up to 18 pounds, and all in between.

Shrimp to catch Croakers, and then Croaker to catch Redbass....a 14 inch Seabass, and the largest of the yellowmouth.

A big part of what made today so good is that it was cool, sunny, light breezes, and no boat traffic around us.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

10/2- For Curious Onlookers......







































Mine is a 26 footer.
LET'S GO FISHIN'