THE WIND....now that was another story!
Our faces were beat red, from the suns glare and wind. But we didn't see much sun till almost noon.
By days end it had to be gusting over 20 knots out of the NNE. And made for a serious struggle all day long. Anchoring was a real pain, and staying anchored was even tougher on many hard bottom spots. Then, the current of the New Moon was a real blaster. But we prevailed.
The big fish was a 23 inch Trout, that I caught. We worked from down river to the Mayport area. And later in the day we poked our way close enough to the jetties to see the North rocks being washed over with white water coming from the ocean side.
Here's a few pics of the day.
(yeah, two jackets, fleece pants!!)
We caught lots of "short" Trout, Yellowmouths, Mangroves, and a Flounder. Just enough for two fish fries for Nick and I. So when I got home. I fried up a few pounds of fish.
Not all that bad of a day for the first real cold morning of 2009 fall.
So at the end of the day I called George M. My charter for Tuesday. I wanted to warn him of the possible cold weather. I'd hate to see him show up in shorts and a T-shirt if it was going to be like this.
I didn't know, that on Tuesday the weather would change...more like the temp would change. But the wind was still going to be a factor.
10/20
So George was nice and early at the dock....I like that. And we took off on Tuesday right on time.
Just like Monday, the incoming tide and NE wind made for a real K.O.D - "kiss of death" morning.
We tried all the way past the Dames Point area. Working spots for a bite here and a bite there. On a real old Trout spot that I don't hit very often, I told George. "I come here to get my butt handed to me", it's usually Trout if you have good current. But working dock piling that are really close together mans "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!!" if a big fish takes your live shrimp.
And that's just what happened to me. I drifted my float-rig up against a concrete piling close to shore and BAM...I was hooked up to something I couldn't stop. My float rod bent in the shape of a horse shoe as I reeled and pulled as hard as I could. Fish off! And when I reeled in to inspect the damage. George and I stared at a straightened out hook. Oh well, it's not like I didn't expect it. No other bites, so we moved on.
We caught a few Mangroves, Croakers and Yellowmouth Trout. Sheepshead. Bottom fished a spot for awhile looking for a Big Red for George, while waiting for the tide to turn.
Then, after it did we got into a few Specks, but they were small. The wind was really blowing now. At least 15-20. But we stuck it out.
Did I mention, it wasn't as cold either. I was back to shorts and a sweatshirt. Now this is what I like. Cooler, without the BURN.
We boxed a few Specks, a Sheepshead, some Mangroves and just before the current sort of died on the spot we were on George hooked into something massive. Drag burning runs, and heavy.
It was a Redbass. And a big one on the light Ugly Stik Striper rod. I pleaded with George to take it easy on the fish, no heavy drag and reel down and ease up on it. This is the fish of the day, so we don't want to loose it.
George was all smiles!
And after he finally got it to the boat it turned out to be a super nice fish on Light Tackle.
A 33 inch Redbass. And on the float-rig with a #6 hook and out of deep water!
I brought some fried Trout with me today, and let George have a few tastes. Even cold the fish is great. I gave him my simple procedure of how to fry fish up, and he was all about wanting to give it a try this evening.
So, I got a email from George just before I sat down to write this report and it read:
"Thanks for a great day. We had the most amazingly delicious, epic fish fry tonight - it was awesome!!!"
