Sunday, May 2, 2010

5/1- S.E.Sea Breeze & Sun burn.

May 1, the date says, "summer in Jax" to me. Doesn't matter when the calender says Summer is. May first has always been the break out time. Then, why the heck was I kinda cold this morning in a T-shirt, as Steve H. and his father Warren loaded up and we headed towards the jetties? Cause it was an iffy morning. The clouds were thick, and the wind was blowing hard as I baited up at 6am at B&M bait and tackle. Good thing that I knew it was just that clump of clouds on the radar that would pass in a few hours. And when it did. Here came the sun shine, and warm air, finally.

The conditions had it where I felt our "best bet" was to just keep it simple. So again, the Jettywolf went Sheepshead fishing. Yes, that's twice in a row. I can't believe it either. Steve's dad needed my big plushy deck chair. So we got him up along the gunnel of the boat so he could just drop over the side. But the first several stops produced nothing but a, Jack Crevalle. Still in a bit of the full moon influence, it seemed to take forever for the incoming current to make a steady push in the river. And I could tell the jetties were a bit windy and nasty by the ammount of the boats stacked up along the carrier basin point. It was a "boats attracting boats" situation. Because no one was tearing them up, that's for sure.

So we moved around. And that still didn't work. I told Steve, "Ya know, I have a good feeling if we could get to the jetties, there's a spot during the flooding tide where we could get yellowmouths, and Reds. But it's gonna be rough as a C-O-B!"  At this point, Steve was all about trying anything. It was probably 9am already, and we hadn't caught any Sheepshead.. So we picked up the anchor and headed that way. I knew, all I had to do is get the right tide and get settled on a spot, and all would be good. That's the situation sometimes. Not everyday is it going to be instantaneous gratification.

The end of the jetty was a USDA Grade washing machine.  I pointed to where I caught them last Saturday, and again on Thursday evening. It was pure white water! Steve didn't feel his dad could be in that kind of water, even if he had the big deck chair under him.

So I tried a spot along the inside of the N. Jetty. And there is where we had all our action. No sooner we dropped lines over and Steve had the first Sheepshead. Second drop, BAM.....another.
 

And there we sat, with some decent action catching a few Sheeps, a pup Black Drum, and even a few throwback Sheepshead that were too small. Even tried a float-rig down the rocks. And a "azz hander" 12 Lb. Redbass, burned drag doing all it could, to break off in the structure.
  

I don't claim to be a super Sheepshead master. But even this "float freak" can find some, which is good. My usual Sheepshead fishing, is fishing deep, especially this time of year. Because during the spawn many of the all out big sow's will be out in the mud, sand, or on channel ledges. I fish slower current, heavier tackle, and use clam and crabs. That's how I usually target them. So today's "rock dabbing" worked for me. Although we did have a fair share of snags in the rocks. I fotgot all about that. Which is maybe why I don't do the "dabbing" all that much.

When the tide started to fall, we made a move to see if we could get, just one more. And that's when the wind started to howl......aka: Mother Nature saying, "go home" is what the wind was really saying. So after a few rock blennies, snags and mini seabass. That's what we did. Headed back to the dock to clean what we kept.

  It was a good day, for a Saturday afternoon. Ya know, I'm more ""keen"" on Monday mornings. But ya have to do what ya have to do. Hope to have Steve and his pop's back again. Maybe next time we'll go Trout chasin.

THINK, RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVE PLANS ON FISHING ANY DAY NEAR THE MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY.  Do not wait till the last minute!! (holidays should be booked 30 days in advance)