9/7-9/9 - working hard:

Ya know by now, if you frequent my reports page. I have a case for fishing for Blacktip & Spinner sharks. Because, it's FUN. And no where will anyone get a PULL, like that. Anywhere else in coastal waters.

Plus, as I always say..."It's what's HOT".

So, over the weekend I had the same plans. Shrimp boat running. And if all worked out right. Some anchoring up, laying out the big GUN tackle. And seeing what kind of trout we could get into.

So Saturday comes and I have Dave & James aboard. Great crew. They were up for about anything.
First off we head out the inlet and it's a soup sandwich! Serious back to back folding 4 footers.
We see a shrimp boat out there about a miles or so.

Well that turned out to be one long mile! The seas were what felt like 2 seconds apart. And I came up with a song...."we're all going fishing in a SILVER submarine, a silver submarine...." Because we got soaked. I couldn't make any speed at all, and the North East 15+ knots was blowing ever single breaking swell into the boat.

We got there. And had one small bite and that was it. I could barely keep up with the shrimp boat. It was 60+ feet and weighed 20 tons. Compared to us in what felt like a alloy bobber!

So our "anything goes" trip had us back at the Jetties. With some live Pogy's now in the well. I re-rigged the HD spin tackle up with 1/2 ounce jig heads, and we pinned live pogies on and cast them out off the South jetty.

SLAM DUNK. The drag smokers were home!!!

Sharks, spinners or Blacktips jumping and handing the guys their butts on a silver platter. While only boating a few smaller sharks. And then the action faded.

So we went and got more Pogies and anchored in 15-20' of water as massive Pogy schools surrounded the boat and had a ball watching them eat out live "surface" baits, on balloons. They were all small 2' long, but thick bodied youngster Blacktips.

Then, as the wind seemed to lay, we headed out again to the Shrimp boats. Not fast, but we got there and had multiple hook ups on the "speedy" Sharks, the Sharpnoses that Dave and James thought were the size of JAWS. But had fun with.

So our anything goes kinda day, was a "Anything went" kinda day. And these two guys were a blast to have aboard, for sure. James was visiting from the Canary Islands where he lives. And really didn't know how us mainlanders have to do things, since he sits in the Pacific Ocean with a thousand feet of water surrounding him.

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Next day, Sunday. The wind never ever let up. The swells at the inlet seemed even worse. My crew was into flat waters, and at this point so was I.

So, we left the Mayport Jetties and went to Nassau Sound...."sort of". Actually, Nassau River behind Amelia Island. A little bottom fishing, with hopes for a big Shark or Tarpon on the Heavy Tackle.

So as we got there, we saw Tarpon feeding on jumping ribbon fish.  So we anchored up and just dropped some dead shrimp down, as I put out the big rod. It was Catfish after Catfish!!!

No Whiting, no nothing. Just "Kitty Kats". I even "bait'ized" a Catfish and put it out looking for that big Blacktip shark.

But we were in calm waters for sure. No boat traffic, No jetski's, No Tugboats, No Ships...."I love it up there."

But there were no fish.

So we moved around, went out and looked into the sound it's self, and it was rough. We anchored a few times, caught nothing but more Catfish and small Jacks, and a solo Whiting that was very small.

Nassau bit me in the butt......AGAIN!
Every time I go there. I get bit and claim I'll never ever fish there again.

So we headed back to the St. Johns and bottom fished as the tide started to fall and boxed a dozen.....what else, WHITING. While hoping for a Big River Redfish.

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Monday- There was NO WAY, I was working toward the Ocean. And my two guys wanted Redfish, Trout or Flounder INSHORE fishing. Russ and Larry were a great crew. So I wanted to fill-up on live mullet for them. Instead of tossing early morning top water plugs. I'd use the first hour or so and see if I could actually catch some decent baits.

I went to the docks where I usually get my live mullet, and the tide was just starting to rise. As we pulled up there was schools of them right at the docks.

I tied off, jumped out with the cast net and after an hour, maybe caught 14 good 3" live Mullet!!!!
We had to move on at this point.

I ran 6 miles or more up river and we first jigged Matrix Shads on a deep drop rocky bank. Not a sniff.
So we moved on. Doing 10 minutes per spot. On the third area. The tide wasn't coming in yet, but we were getting a back-eddy of good current. Jigs and shrimp, the guys caught Mangrove Snappers, and dang Pufferfish in 3 foot of water...Time to stay in the same area and fish deeper.

That's where we all hoped to find any signs of TROUT LIFE!!!!!
Because, this is now 2 trips as far as I can usually go on a regular day to my usual Trout stomping grounds and have a hard time finding them.

We ended up getting a 21" Redbass, a few small Trout, a 17" Trout and decent keeper Flounder for the box, while releasing a dozen small Flounder. The small Flounder were thick. And this is the spot that ended up being the only real "hot" spot.

We worked all the live shrimp in the well and used all the finger Mullet we had, and between the Ladyfish and Mangrove Snappers, and small Flounder. By noon we were out of bait, sop we headed back to clean a solo slam.

It was fun. But the fish just aren't there. I had a good buddy who's an excellent angler come up pretty much skunked. When he came by us to see what was going on.

So, it looks like the Inlet, beach, and behind the Shrimp boats is where I'll be.  Have a few more days this week coming up. Hope the inlet and ocean lays down.

NOTE:
didn't get any photos or video, because I was just too busy hunting  them the last three days.