It was 8:30 pm I believe, when Adam booked his trip the 19th for himself and his buddy Skeeter. They dropped into J-ville Fla. from Texas. And wanted to go fishin'.
This new moon tide has been strong (and will be even stronger in the second half of this report)
Basically a 3.9' tide with a 0.4 negative on the low. I round this
out to be 4.3 feet of water that has to get out of the river in 6 hrs.
Well, far up river the green algae bloom is now in effect. I seen it for myself. Particulates of green algae in the water everywhere. And this was in the same part of the river that after checking was completely FRESH water on the surface. No salt water in my tests.
And do you remember what a green algae boom does?? To remind you, it's kind of like Red Tide.
Both really hurts Fishing.
We didn't catch anything far up river.....and basically caught nothing till almost noon. It's funny how things are. In the river for me it's usually not till low does the bite turn on, and at the jetties and on the beach, it's all about the incoming tide, lately. At least it's this way for this Float-rigger.
Well, we found the fish eventually and had 20-25 Trout to 4 pounds. A mini Sheepshead that bit because Adam was hung on the range marker. And when the rig came free the mini 7 -striped jetty snapper was there on his hook. Then, a few Redbass at the jetties, and a Tarpon hook-up. Plus Ladyfish, Jacks and Croakers and Mangrove Snappers, of course.
Pretty good day, even though we could have just cut our looses and went out for 4 hrs late in the day and done the same thing.
They left out with a nice bag of Trout fillets.
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Then I had back on board, Monday the 20th the Richard H. crew. Richard, Richard, and 10 year old Ryan. Our last trip a few years ago was phenomenal. They caught Flounder, Trout, Reds, Drum, Croakers, Ladyfish, Jacks, you name it and all on one spot. But that was in June two years ago.
This year.....on the 20th.
Tide: 4.1' with a negative o.6 falling tide. I round that off. Add the two and come up with basically a 4.7' tide, that has to push out the jetties in 6 hrs.
Needless to say, we tried bottom fishing and float-rig fishing with minimal success. And really only had any decent bites at dead low tide. And most of them were Jacks and Ladyfish. One Speckled Trout and a couple okay sized Mangrove snappers hit the ice box. A lost "drag burner" Jack along the Navy base made things interesting, then we hit the jetties. And that's where a 19-1/2" Redbass got put in the fish box.
It was a really tough day with astronomical tides that really just plain screwed up things compared to yesterday. Then later in the day storm clouds loomed and we called it quits.
Now thanks to the Greater Jax Kingfish Tourney, I have a few days off. And as soon as it's over
I'll be right back in the thick of it, next weekend.
At least this week is the "1/2 way through the summer" marker for me. Usually things improve from here on out.
