5/9 - Liking Monday's

Had Charlie W. and son in law George aboard the Jettywolf today. After this weekend, it sure was nice to be out on a Monday. Although any more, it really doesn't matter. The boat ramp was full, for even a Monday by days end. But no one was around earlier this morning, which was nice.

Tried to really schedule our trip per the tide. Wanted to fish the rising water, but have some wiggle room this morning to get plenty of bait. Those pogies can take minutes or hours, it seems. But lucky for us. Today, it was only minutes.

I'm really happy with my new livewells, especially the one I turned into a "pogie tank". It maybe only a 14 gallon Keepalive tank. But, it holds enough pogies for me. Today, they were much larger baits than I've had swimming in it, on past trips. And it still worked good. Besides utilizing the keepalive out-flow and in-flow fittings on the tank, I also have the pump that recirculates the water hooked up to a timer. On for one minute, and off for either 1, 3, 5, or 7 minutes. Saving on pump wear and tear, and battery power. After flushing the tank good with a steady flow, the pogies happily lived swimming around with the tank re-circulating water every 3 minutes, than as we used a few. I dropped it down to recirculating every five minutes. http://www.keepalive.net/ is where the really nice tanks, tanks with aerator-ventury pumps, and livewell fitting can be found.

We anchored up along the jetty and I pitched out the big pogies on a standard bottom rig. Wanting some good pushing incoming tide, the Reds would arrive as soon as the current started. Charlie was first-up.


"ALL" these Redbass will and were over-sized.

IT'S REDBASS SEASON! LARGE BRAWNY AND FULL OF FIGHT.

YOU WANT A NO LONG BOAT RIDE, ROD BENDING CHARTER?

THIS IS IT!

So, getting a keeper wasn't really in the game plan. Although it sure would have been nice. I didn't bother bring the float-rigs. Just because it's been so damn slow lately. I was hoping to keep action going today. Rather than working every crevise of the rocks with out many bites.

Charlie was on a roll.... the next Red was a locomotive! It ran so hard and fast I almost thought it might be a Stingray. The only difference is Stingers don't buck the rod tip. But wow this was one powerful fish. And Charlie being a very experienced angler handled the fish with no problem. Playing it out, till it came to the side of the boat and gave up completely.

At 22 pounds it was the "Brutus T. Redbass" that Charlie was looking for. George had a few swing and misses. But next it was his turn. And again it was a 30 plus incher. What most of these fish will always be.

You can see, it was a slick calm light breeze day with lots of sun. But was never scourching hot at all. We started to get short on Pogies, so we tried a few Pogie pieces, and they got ate by either Bluefish or StingRays. George had a stinger hand him his butt. And it wrapped in the anchor line, sat on the bottom and then it was all hands on deck as I pulled the anchor released the ray and unravelled it from the anchor line. NEVER a dull moment at the jetties. Somethings always gonna happen, and there's always some kind of sea monster that's gonna mess with ya.


Bowed over Ugly Stik's....I love it!
Another "over slot" sized Redbass. These fish had no problems eating the large Pogies.

I chucked out a Mullet head on the bottom and who else would come along...A Nurse shark of course. But no matter what, they will give you weak arms and a pain in the back because they may not run but they sure are strong! Charlie got his arms worked out on this one.

All our Pogies were gone. So I had a real easy plan. Drift down the south-side of the south jetty and cast net some of the Mullet that have been pouring down the rocks for a few weeks. Again, that didn't take long at all, either. Charlie and George were the spotters up on the bow, and as the boat slowly drifted just off the rocks. I stood ready to toss the net. In two throws I had more Mullet than we needed. So we then went and achored up on a spot that's always been a good "spring Redbass, with live bait spot, on the last of the rising tide."

Oh, but it was slow as all get-out. We had a few Mullet molested. But no takers. Yes, how things can change. Maybe it's because we're really not "in spring" any longer. Spring lasted about a week this year. With Tarpon rolling at the rocks, I believe we're in the summer season!

The tide started to slow. And that's when they should bite. And one did. And Charlie took care of that one.

It was about time to pack it in. We had a few more "sniffs" and as one bait was still out on the bottom as we were about to call it a day. The rod doubled over. Charlie fought it, and the fish got down around some structure and the leader popped!  That's structure fishing for ya. And we were fishing just off a deep wreck with plenty of that!

So we headed in, back to the dock.

I really enjoyed having Charlie and George aboard today. Two guys, that could fish and were out to enjoy themselves. It would have been nice to target some "keeper sized" fish. But at the same time, the action may not have been as good. It's going with the flow of the seasons. And since it's now 100% summer. And I can see how this summer is shaping up for my Trout fishing.....not very good. I'll stick to getting ACTION.