Friday, December 9, 2011

12/8 - On "Mother Natures" time line.

Well, the last three days have surely been some of the craziest weather.

"Let's see....Tuesday, hot sunny, no wind, PERFECTION!!!!  Then, Wednesday blowing like crazy from a wacky direction for winter time. SW 20-25, then over cast, then rain. Yep, that was the front coming through. Then, Thursday. COLD, a bit breezy, but not too bad, even though I was dressed in all my foul weather gear."

Let it be known though, that last year on this exact date it was a record for the year so far. December 8, 2010 it was 24 degrees in the morning!!!  It was C-O-L-D this morning, but it wasn't that cold.

DO WE ALL REMEMBER THE WINTER OF 2010, OR HAVE WE ALREADY FORGOTTEN?

I HAVEN'T.

When it rains it pours, so of course I had three days booked in a row this week. And today I had Doug and Cheryl on board the Jettywolf.  My plans;  FLOAT-RIG FISH...that's it!  Nothing else.

My crew just moved here from Maryland in October. They have a boat. So first off, if they were to go fishing on their own they need to know #1, the lay of the land, and what to do with it. Besides bottom fishing. The next best thing that will TEACH them something is learning the mighty float-rig system. The traditional way of easily fishing the BIG St. Johns.

And as I have stated many times before. Float-rigging will teach you; Tides, Current, Anchoring, Structure Fishing, and do it all on light tackle, for maximum FUN.  Anyone can bottom fish, by just anchoring up and chucking a shrimp to the bottom!

So we left out and the tide was still a bit too high, as the N.E. 15-20 kts pushed on the water in the river. I hit an acclimation spot, and went through all the in's and out's of float-rig fishing, as we waited for the tide to really get going. Yeah, I had time to waste.....

Spot one, ZIP.....Spot two....a Bluefish.  True evidence, there was still too much water in the creek(s) we tried. But good practice, handling the tackle and fishing the float's.

Time to make a move. And travel a bit.

Got to destination #3, and we're all set. The moon's look aligned with Venus..........but are they really???

This area we're fishing has some "ground rules". But, the rules so far this week really haven't mattered at all. The fish have been around here and as you can see in my earlier reports, they're FAT and hungry.

Without going into the dirty details of my spots.......Doug and Cheryl fished and fished, and Doug caught one little Bluefish!
Ut Oh? Is this weather going to mess up the bite today?  It could, easily. This is POST "front".  With all this crazy weather, we could easily get completely SHUT OUT.  It's not like I haven't seen it happen before.

Remember, I DON'T PICK THE DAYS. MY CUSTOMERS PICK THE DAYS.

I tell Doug and Cheryl that this spot has a few ground rules. Or better yet, a rule of thumb to go by. And I learned these rules from some serious "Trial and Error" over the years.

So no matter what, "we ain't leaving jus' yet".  A less patient, and less experienced fisherman would have already been gone. But today it looks as if the "rules" will most definately apply.  So we stuck it out.

And at the stroke of 1:00pm the fish started CHEWIN!!!!!

18-19-20 inch TROUTZ!

























"WE WERE ON MOMMA NATURES TIME-LINE, TODAY."


The fatties started stackin up in the fish box.


I was on the phone with a call from someone from Ohio, who wanted to go Shark & Tarpon fishing while here in J-ville, so I set my rod in the side rod holder of the boat as I discribed that I had three layers of clothes on, and if you want a Tarpon..."Go to Key West!!!", if ya want Trout and Redbass, call me back.

Because, Doug looked over and saw my rod bending over and grabbed it while I was up on the bow on the phone. This 26-7/8th's inch Redbass came from under the boat. I had to get off the phone, I yelled "sorry....we have a big fish hooked up!"  Doug finessed this Redbass around from under the boat and I netted it as I hung up from the phone call.  What a catch!!

A large Croaka' even came on a live shrimp and float-rig.

GET OUT THE SKILLET!!!

We finished off the tide with another Redbass around 22-23". The fish box was packed. Time to head in on a high note.

Back at the dock I cleaned up all the fish and wow it was a big heavy bag of fillets. Doug & Cheryl, took some of the trout fillets and went over to Singletons' Seafood Shack and had them cooked up for dinner.

A perfect way to un-wind, and reminise about the big day out on the water. I was glad to hear Doug say, he's been on many fishing charters, and today was by far the best.

I know they both probably learned more than they actually bargained for. But my goal is to have people head home, and feel no matter how the fish bite, that they got their money's worth, and had a great experience aboard the Jettywolf.