5/7 - how small is too small

Had a trip today with two women and a 3 year old lil' girl. They requested a 1/2 day, and I said I can do as long or as short as you'd like.

I met them at 10am this morning. And went out along the beach to get some "live" Pogies.
But didn't have alot of time to dedicate to finding bait, so I gave it my best shot right along the Navy base. All the while I had some fresh dead Pogies from the day before that'll work in a pinch.

Needless to say I didn't find any, so we came back to the jetties. And right as I was cruising along the inside of the North Jetty 4 Coastie boats, a Navy ship, a Seatractor tug, and the pilot boat were heading out.

Is it just me or is the United States Navy, and their Seatractor tugs, not responsible for their wakes??

Because as all this traffic passed, the wakes had to be no less than 8 footers back to back.
I can imagine a small 17' Jon-boat sitting along the jetties getting swamped, rocked up, capsized or even worse someone being killed.

One of the women on my boat had sort of a look on her face of disbelief. I told her, the general rule is "you are responsible for your wake", but that doesn't seem to apply to the US Navy or their contractors.

The 3 year old lil' girl was sitting in the other woman's lap. And as we got into the river the lil' girl seemed to be just fine. But mom said, "I think we should just go in."
I believe they may have thought the river/inlet to be a different situation. I explained I just wanted to get fresh live baits, so we could maybe catch them a nice Red. And let's not go in but just go up river a little bit and try some fishing. She agreed.

I went to the lil' Jetties anchored up, and pitched out two dead pogies on the bottom. I've caught some beautiful reds here this week, already. The 3 year old I guess was getting a bit rammy and Mom said, "let's go in, she doesn't seem to be doing well."

So I pulled anchor and she called their ride to come pick them up. And I made the short trip back to the boat ramp.

Day Done.

The point here is, I've had youngster the same age aboard before that were boys, and man were they into it. Of course, in a 3 year old "into it" kinda way. And I've had 5 year old lil' boys outfish their own fathers.

But really, no younger than 8-10 is my rule. And 10-12 for an all day'er.

I don't frown on taking the kids. I just had four nine year old boys on the boat back on April 25th and we had a blast trolling for Spanish Mac's and Blues at the jetties and along the rip line outside the rocks.

I tell people all the time, I have a (2 hour) kids trip posted on my rates page. Especially for the real little ones. That's kinda what we did today, but when it was booked they requested a 1/2 day fishing.

Each day is different, a different challenge, different people. It keeps you on your toes for sure!!

Oh well.......onward I head.

Please think NOW, if you are thinking Memorial day week. Plan ahead, reserve in advance.
It makes for a happy cappy, because I will be planning for your day.

Tomorrow;
2- guys, 8 hrs. One never fished in Saltwater before.
No holes barred....Full Moon.......the challenges never end, do they?
HOOO-RAWWW!

5/5 - Sporte at the Big Rocks

Had George M. and his buddy Peter visiting from NY, aboard the Jettywolf today.

Decided right out of the gate to turn due east and head out the inlet in search of the magical "POGIE". Them little slimmers are the ticket for big reds. And I had a plan all laid out.

"Go get some Pogies, then hit the inside of the jetties. Anchor up, and as the tide fell we'd pull reds to the boat"....yeah, just like last Saturday.

Well the jetties were a mess. Slop City!

And as I rounded the south tip of the rocks, the wind hit us in the face, and so did the salty spray of a nice wind chop on what I was hoping to be "Lake Atlantic".

First mistake....listening to forecasts!

So we ran around the rocks and to the beach. I marked all kinds of small scattered little fish on my sounder. And let me say on thing about bottom scopes. The most valuable thing on my machine is the A-scope feature, when scanning the bottom for a nest of Pogies. It gives a view of what is exactly under the boat, versus the history while building the screen. If you ever need a new bottom scope, make sure it has an A-scope feature. I love mine, because it works!

I made a few tosses with the cast net and came up with some "horn bellies", little jack like bait fish not good for anything in my book. So was the horn bellies what I was marking?
Hmmmm, could be.

About that time, the Pelicans were coming from off the beach. "Time for breakfast!"

Usually they are your best friend when searching for Pogies. They have a way better vantage point than you do. A few dove towards some Pogies, obvious only to them. But....in the sloppy seas. I saw zero. But as the sun got higher, I spotted a few flips on the surface.

"There they are boys", I told George and Pete. A boat ahead of us took off south, I suppose not willing to patiently wait it out. Well, I'm frugal, and have more patience than fuel to waste riding in this chop.

I made two tosses of the net, and hit pay dirt.....all the pogies we'd need. Back to the jetties we went.

HOLY MOTHER OF ALL CREATURES....the swell was at least 4-6 feet and folding in the middle of the channel between the jetty rocks. I went to where I wanted to anchor. Hemmed and hawed and went back on inside. No way we can fish in that! Then, I felt I was second guessing myself. So I turned back around and went back on out for a second look. I could have anchored where I wanted too. But would it be worth it? That's the big question.

There goes my plans!!!

As usual, I sided with caution and headed back over to the south Jetty. It was relatively calm and nice just outside the south tip. So we anchored up. Tossed out a few Pogies and sat.

Well, the reason you hire me, is not for what I do, obviously not because I try to have the very best in tackle for you (most people wouldn't know the difference) But the biggest reason should be; T.O.W - "time on the water." And the short and sweet of that is, the GUT feelings I get.

And my Gut told me, we were wasting our time here after 15 minutes. The current was all wrong.

So we bid farewell to the jetties and headed up river.

I immediately knew exactly where I wanted to go. Because with all that time farting around getting the Pogies, the tide fell dramatically (Full moon is on Friday!!) and this next spot should be "IT".

And "IT" it was......

We weren't there long at all, and before ya know it the rods started to double over.

I've been using my custom Biscayne Float-rig rods with their Shimano Curado 300 DSV's for light bottom fishing the past few trips. And man do I love those rigs. It's an absolute pleasure fishing good ole fiberglass rods again.

Here's George with his biggest Red to date a 31" 12 pounder that kicked his butt!

These Redfish were super copper colored. The deep dark bronze fish are pure "river reds".

So after releasing this fish carefully, it was time for another quickly because we could loose the slight current we had at any moment. That's the way this spot is.

And then it was Pete's turn.

I'm not really liking having to use my camera phone for taking charter photos.

These two are the only photos out of 5 I took that turned out. The screen is way too small to see what I'm taking photos of.

Looking forward to getting my boat camera back from repairs.

As I knew, the current quite right after Pete's 28-1/2 inch Redbass. So we made a move.
Hoping for more "sweet lips" as George called the Reds, we ended up in a nest of 4-5 pound Jacks. Which wasn't a bad thing, George and Pete had fun with them. Or at least the ones that actually ate our Pogies. Most of the time they just ripped the pogies to shreds. But we still caught a handful of "pullers".

By now it was getting really low tide. So the guys tried their hands at Float-rig fishing. And found that it wasn't as easy as fishing a pole holder and a circle hook for the Reds.

But after a few spots they caught a couple Trout, a Ladyfish and a pupper Red.

The tide was flooding in by now so we had a sandwich and headed back to the dock.

I told George and Pete that in the year 2009 so far, I believe I've had actually 2 to 4 what I would call windless days. Ten knots or less from any direction would be considered windless.
Or at least calm days at the jetties....I'll add that too.

But persistence and patience paid off today for sure when it came to catching good Redbass bait.

Next up:
Thursday, 2 adults and a three year old (???) half'ish day.
Friday, two guys ready to fish.


----
Memorial day fishing plans?????
Reserve NOW!!!

5/2 - Birthday present from his wife

Eric B. all the way from Tallahassee sure is lucky to have a wife, that when it came to a birthday present for Eric, she thought "FISHIN".

Yep, the whole family came to Jacksonville, including Eric's father who was also coming on the trip. All the way from out west. For our 8am departure. A 172 mile ride I think Eric said, from his house.

So Nawwwww...I wasn't under any pressure!!

A birthday trip plus 172 mile early morning ride. Heck, I did have a customer come from Tampa twice to fish with a friend, here in J-ville. And I was blown away by that...twice!

I was thinking let's see if there's any "butt handers" (blacktip sharks) behind the shrimp boats. So I took off we went out the inlet in the residual swell from yesterdays 20 knot SE breeze. And when we got to the shrimp boats I could just tell, not much was going on. The first thing I looks for is Dolphins in a frenzy. And lots of them. We looked behind two shrimp boats, a small one and a big one. And both had maybe a 1/2 dozen Dolphins following as if visiting the hot dog vendor on the street corner. No real excitement was going on. The Shrimpers were out deep too. Not up close to the beach.

So we moved on.....Plan B, was to go get some pogies. The choice bait of the season. Chit-Chat on the radio was they were all the way down by Jax beach pier and THICK.

So from offshore of the chum hole, we ran all the way to the pier. And thanks to friend Pete, he pointed them out to me and with one toss of my castnet I had all I'd even need. My 8' net swam away jam packed with Pogies. A 1/4 of them went into the livewell, and 2/3rds went into my chum bag to store them.

Before moving, I made a cast out with two rods with live pogies on each one and made a drift across the front of the pier, while cutting and tossing some pogies overboard. I wasn't leaving here yet, till I'd see if any big monster beach Redfish were around.

The drift lines got hit by Bluefish....that's all. So we ran back to the jetties. I thought the tide would have changed over by now with an 8:30am low. But I was surprised to see current still running between the jetty rocks. So I quickly navigated a pack of Coasties, one Submarine, and a tug boat to get to the other side of the jetties. (Do you ever notice that on weekends is when the Navy stuff is going on? They have all week, don't they?)

So I got to my spot, tossed out the anchor and before the boat came completely tight on the anchor line I pitched out a Pogie to the bottom. Two seconds later......there was a rod shaped like a horse shoe in the starboard side rod holder and my Curado 300 DSV, was smokin'!!!

Eric a fresh water lake fisherman was up. And this ain't no bass. It's a Redbass, "Brutus T. Redbass" in the deep water heading East.

And I told Eric's father, "That livewell full of frisky pogies is the reason why we're hooked up after being here two seconds!"

Well, the bite didn't stop there.

I rebaited as fast as I could after snapping a shot with my camera phone, and got baits out again.

Instant, DOUBLE HEADER!

These fish ranged from 28-31 inches. But our goal was a few keepers. (under 27")

So we stayed at it and kept the bite going getting re-baited and back in the water as soon as we could.

The school of Reds were right behind the boat. And made for some

"I.G."

kind of action,

"Instantaneous

Gratification."

We ended up getting our 3 keepers from 26-27 inches, and finished the last of the falling tide current with 7 Redfish and when the current slacked, one big ugly stingray. The bite would be over till the tide turned and the clean green water flooded between the jetties.

Eric's father was feeling seasick in the slow swell, so we packed it in to go clean our 3 Reds.

You can see from this shot, I'm not all that good yet using this phone camera. But it gets the job done at least.

I sent my boat use, water proof camera in to get fixed yesterday.

When the pogies are around, I like to feed them pogies! Even if it means having to go get them a good distance away, that's the part I don't like though.

4/30 Good Bye April.....good bye early

-----BOOK NOW FOR MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY WEEK, DON'T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE.---------------


Have some pre-booked trips coming up. So I went out and just wanted to check the "state of the Trout". Yeah, after today it's pretty much confirmed.

No more Trout fishing in Mayport.....they're GONE?

And man, was it fast and way too early.

If you don't know, here's the deal. On our coast it's Trout nearer the inlets in the cool water, and when the water warms up, the further away from the inlet's they go. That's the quick and dirty way of describing it. But, since this really isn't a massive freshwater river we have flowing through our coastal zone here in J-ville the Trout want some freshwater to spawn and follow the shrimp up river.

So I watch it like a hawk, waiting for when the disappear along the jetties and Mayport area, and head to places like down-town, or all the way to Orange Park, FL!!

Believe me, I'm not happy about it, either. I used twice to three times the fuel in the boat, and twice the bait, and need more hours in a charter day if that's what we have to do to catch'em.

But "IF" this was actually a big time freshwater flowing river......take the BIG Mississippi for example, with huge amounts of fresh water flowing 24 hrs a day. The fish (Trout and others included) would run to salty water, rather than what they do here. Which is run towards sweeter water.

Believe me, I'm amazed in the complete 180 it is here compared to other areas with big time rivers. Our St. Johns, really is like just one big salty path-way in the Jacksonville area. Not a river in the sense of the word. Or what rivers are to others in different parts of the country.

So with that said, I went to the jetties to really check. But first, I hit the rip line and looked for Tripletail outside the jetties on the last of the falling tide. It was sloppy and choppy, because of the high EAST winds the last few days. And of course, I'm always doing this by myself. Which couldn't be any harder. Run the boat, watch the ripline, be ready to cast. All while slopping around bobbin' and weaving through the rip.

RIPLINE; defined as the last of the falling tide coming out the inlet, where the dark river water meets the clean green ocean water. Different temps, clarity, salinity, current. Basically, to the fish, "it's structure".

Here's the color change line, aka: RIP.

See the color change on the right side of the photo?

The rip is where all kinds of junk collects. Weed, trash, foam, you name it, collects on the Rip.

But most importantly.....BAIT. And I sure saw bait. Threadfin Herring love the Ripline. And so do Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Cobia, King Mackerel, Tarpon, Redfish, and Tripletail. That's what I was looking for.

Here's the first one I ever caught sight casting from the Rip, back on March 12th.

An odd looking fish that is GREAT EATS!

Notice that it looks to have 3 tails, hence it's name.

They lay on their sides and float along, looking like a piece of debris. Which attracts small bait fish, seeking protection. Which in turn, they eat those bait fish!

Dark gray, to almost black makes them easy to spot along the Rip line.

So as I slopped around along the Rip. That's what I was looking for. And I saw two of them.

One was about 18" and another was over two feet long! I use a small cork above a stout hook, where I pin a live shrimp. When I see one, I try and judge the current, and make a cast near the Tripletail, so the live shrimp drifts right up to it. They are quite aggressive, and if they don't get spooked by a slapping boat hull or engine noise, they suck up that live shrimp like a fun size Snickers bar!!

Well, I made a cast to each one I saw. But like I said, in the choppy sea and alone it's not the easiest thing to do. The boat scared the smaller fish. And the big Tripletail I saw I don't believe even saw my live shrimp pass by it, before it moved away down deeper.

You can spend literally hours doing this, and I did. And only got two chances at casting to the the Tripltails I saw. I milled around till the green water come up on the south jetty as the tide rose.

And another sign of some seriously EARLY activity was the 3 foot long Barracuda I witnessed stalking mullet on the end of the south jetty. Holy crap....It's not even May and the cuda's are at the rocks already!!!!!

The end of the south jetty was crashing with monster swells and was down right nasty. Consecutive days of high East winds really messes things up, let me tell ya!

EAST winds.... I really hate!

I anchored up as the tide flooded and tried my hand at some float-rigging down the rocks. Yellowmouth Trout and Speckled Trout....I've caught them here right into May in the past.

But I never lost a single Shrimp. No Trout, they're probably gone already I said to myself.

Yeah, this certainly isn't my favorite time of year,. let just tell ya'll that!! Heat of summer, and having to travel so far to my favorite fish, if I can find them in good numbers at all, is not something I relish and dream about.

So I left the jetties and traveled up river.....on the incoming tide. Which was as much fun as a slap to the face everywhere I went. Undesirables, on ever single stop. From Jacks to Blues to small Spanish Mackerel. (well, undesirable to me, when I want Trout.)

I finally ended up about 12 miles west of the boat ramp on a favorite dock of mine. And here is where the "ass handings" took place. The wind was blowing "EASTERLY", and was a genuine pain, but I got anchored up good. I sent my float-rig and live shrimp into the depths of this dock and had 3 fish I couldn't pull from underneath it. I had them on and heading my way. But man were they strong and the pilings sharp. I believe at least one of them to be a really big Trout!! I got a glimpse of it, as the fish made its way across the top of the water around a piling. The other two fish, could have been Reds, or Jacks. And now after seeing DOA Rob's huge Snook....ya never know. I could be loosing a Snook on docks like this one. Really out of the way, hidden, and full of fish sometimes.

I did pull 3 Ladyfish and 5 Trout from this dock, but only two of the trout were keepers.

So I moved on, as the tide started to turn. I hit a really old spot, that I never see anyone fishing anymore that's always been a Trout on a lure spot for me. And here is where I finally caught my (5) Trout limit, a few on a MirrOlure, and the rest of live shrimp. And had to work through 20 small 14 inchers to get the keepers.

Take this into consideration when booking a charter, (I know ya won't, but I hope....)

If we have to fish the river, we'll need a falling tide, period!!! I've been out doing R&D twice now in the last week or so on an incoming tide and didn't catch what I was targeting on the incoming. And as my dad always says, "if you aren't catching them, how am I supposed too....." And he's right! I know exactly what I'm doing, compared to a "learner".

Coming up this week:

Saturday: solo'ist, one man charter. We'll be staying coastal.....Spinners & Blacktip Sharks? Yeah! I wanna do it so badly.

Next Tuesday: 2 guys, on a falling tide. I believe we may mix it up a bit. Some river, some beach fishing.

Next Friday: 2 guys, incoming full moon tide. Beach fishing...Pogy pods, shrimp boats? If there's no EAST WINDS!

--------BOOK NOW FOR MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY WEEK, DON'T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE---------