5/17 - something different.....

Had Julian & Diane M. and their Niece aboard today for a tour "Yes, a...... 3 hour tour."
The only difference is it didn't end up being a sit-com that had re-runs for 25 years.

Actually, it was quite refreshing, not struggling to fish in that river today. Because the weekends out there are getting to be down right rediculas. If I was a fish, I certainly wouldn't be hanging around "the hub" with all that boat traffic.

Oh, how I love winter!!


I brought the big deck chairs for comfort, and went soft peddling our way from the jetties to the Dames Point, around Blount Island, then to Ft. George and back.

The ICW north, was a joke! Jet ski's everywhere playing stupid human tricks. Saw one guy riding with his back to where he was going sitting on the handle bars of the jetski. They run around like flies. I was just waiting for one to run into me, as I idled along. I can tell ya this, "don't even think about fishing anywhere around Ft. George on a weekend in the summer." It's basically off limits for me.

I gave my group the low down on as much as I could. And glad I paid attention to what I've learned by local historian and "Sea Daddy", Capt. Randall, the Timicuan Trader. A sea-daddy, is a guy you go to for answers. And Capt Randall is my "SD". He also knows a lot about Timicaun Indians, the the first Europeans settlers the Spanish and French. And local river folklore.

We left out from Mayport at about 11am, and were back around 2pm. And by then the wind was up. But by the afternoon, it was no 10 knots out of the SE, thats for sure. The sea-breeze was whipping really good.

My phone started ringing for late notice Monday trips at 11am and then again at 4pm. I guess these folks haven't seen the local weather reports.

The first thing I do when planning any fishing trip is I look at the weather.

Here's what I see:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS52.KJAX.html

They've been harping about the weather, so I'm leaning toward believing them. If did go, we'd have to leave at 6:00am and I'd need to make a long run.

MONDAY: NORTH WINDS 25 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET BUILDINGTO 6 TO 8 FEET IN THE AFTERNOON. INLAND WATERS ROUGH. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS.

MONDAY NIGHT: NORTHEAST WINDS 25 TO 30 KNOTS WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS TO 35 KNOTS LATE. SEAS 6 TO 9 FEET. INLAND WATERS ROUGH. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS.

TUESDAY: NORTHEAST WINDS 30 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 40 KNOTS. SEAS 6 TO 9 FEET. INLAND WATERS VERY ROUGH. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS.

......if so, good gawd is this gonna screw up everything near the jetties and especially any headway we've made toward summer, along the beach!! (POGIES, COBIA, KINGS!!!)

Set-backs, here we come.

To tell you the truth, you know who I'm thinking about?
The people who reserved their charter weeks to months in advance. And the ones I take every year, at this time. My steady customers, I see year in and year out. They're the ones that are on my mind right now, while looking ahead to Thursday and Friday's forecast.