Sunday, I had plans to mix it up a bit. Head to the Jetties, bottom fish around. Show Brian and Kelly the "wild, wild west" of Jacksonville's inshore fishing. Well, Saturday's east breeze later in the day and night did a little damage out at the jetties. There was some serious "swell, slop, and chop" out there early in the morning as the last of the falling tide pushed against, Mother Ocean.
I could tell while sittting at the dock, before Brian and Kelly arrived. If it's got some serious roll at the jetties. My boat tied off to the dock will go up and down slightly...."yes, you can notice it, even 2 miles inland." But, we went to investigate anyhow.
The jetties lately (the last 2-4 weeks) have been tough to get too. But as we rode on out, and then spun around and pulled up where I'd want to drop anchor. Kelly, didn't think this was all too appealing. And I kinda knew it. It would have taken some serious sealegs to sit inside the rocks this morning. Evidence was, we were the only boat out there even thinking about it!
The "wild, wild west of inshore fishing" was rearing up it's ugly head, one more weekend! So, we headed back down river in search of calmer waters. We stopped along the little jetties and tried fishing a certain spot looking for a Black Drum or Redbass. But instead the bait stealers, small Seabass, Croakers, and the ever present Pinfish were wearing us out.
I pulled anchor and said to Brian, "what ya think about going back to the trusty Float-rigs and catching BIG Trout?"
As if he cared if we just bottom fished all day or not.......after seeing what the float can do yesterday. He replied, "IT WORKS FOR US!"
I picked up the anchor and we blasted to the next locale. As we pulled up, I gave them the low down on the shoreline that we'd fish, and what to expect. We got into position, and I took a rod baited up and said, "this is what I want ya'll to do exactly......."
When the float disappeared and I handed the rod to Brian, "here ya go!!!!!!!!!!"
I.G. - instantaneous gratification! First drift of the float-rig, and 15 feet behind the boat, first Trout! Brian worked the fish expertly along side the boat and it was a nice big fattie. Much larger than those "creek trout" we had yesterday.
"YEAH, now that's a beautiful river Trout", I yelled. Big water, big fish. That's how it sometimes works out.
And from here on out, it was time to box some fatties! And in between the Trout, the Reds were chewin, too.
I told Brian and Kelly that the Reds here will be larger and meaner than the "creek" Reds. And they were. As Kelly wore her arms out on a her's.
The action was pretty steady. But as the morning wore on, the cruising motor yachts, and Tug boat wakes started to really KILL my beautiful spot....which par for the course in this river. CALM WATER and steady current, is what keeps these fish catchable here. NOT, giant wakes, ghetto cruisers, tugs and ship traffic. But this is our river. Not know for it's easy, calm water fishin'. Especially on a weekend.
We finished up on this spot, after the fish SHUT DOWN, and moved on boxing a half dozen and letting the rest go, to catch another day.
We worked on more spot as the falling tide died. Didn't really get any action there. So we headed back to the dock. Brian and Kelly were catching a plane home around 4:00pm, back to Chicago. Kelly said, "back to the cold weather".
They both sure had a action packed weekend, with perfect fall N.E. Florida weather. No high winds, never hot, and filled with bright sun. Sometimes you can get lucky like this.
But, as Brian did. He did his home work. Read my reports, asked question via e-mail and made quick decisions, then booked his charters during the absolute best time of year.
He was the, "Model Charter Client!" And I really hope to have them back aboard the JETTYWOLF again in the future.
Thanks Brian and Kelly, it was MY pleasure.
