Thursday, March 15, 2007

3/15 - Not a great day for the Speck Hunter...but rather the 'spot' Hunter







Ya wanna talk WIND,
I can tell ya all about wind!
Man, it was either just one hell of a blazing "sea-breeze" or just the start of this front coming through that would give ya' a rash on your face like road burn with out the pebbles stuck to your skin. WOW...is all I can say, as my face is still burning.
As you can see, I caught Fish. And I mean I caught some fish! For the kind of day it was.
I left out at 12:30pm and was back to the dock at 5:00pm. But first I went to the jetties...."Huge Mistake", because I didn't catch but one Trout, a real nice 20 incher. But the tide wasn't gonna be coming in and be 1/2 up (the way I wanted it) for a while. And the sheepherders out there are unreal.
(ALERT...ALERT, I sense a commentary brewing)
Do those fish ever get a break? I still haven't figured all that out yet. And we surely are celebrating the fact that this part of Florida "isn't" main stream Florida, with the Sheepshead declared the "King of inshore fish". I was really getting kinda sick of it after two days of reminders this last week. 1st - I was in the bait shop, and a long time acquaintance says, "are ya getting those Sheepshead?" I said, "you know, I don't target them, Jimmy." "What? Why not? Damn, Dave....bla....bla...bla...Then what the hell do ya fish for?" 2nd - I was getting gas at a station in Mayport, and I see the ole manager of the bait shop I go to with his wife.
We talked about how slow the pumps are, when he says...."ya getting on them Sheepshead?"
I don't have to tell you my responses. (end of commentary)
So to continue the way today went. I ran west from the jetties and right then the wind started howling. And it just got windier as the day went on. But, as I got inshore I found the tide REALLY LOW....I mean, so low that I was shocked. But not disappointed. There was white caps blowing across the top of the water up in the shallows, though.
And of course the falling tide was about over and even though the current was "bucked" by the SE wind, it barely had enough power to move my Float-Rig, which I was amazed.
I had up in 2-3 feet of water...
6-Redfish, mostly puppers, up to the one pictured that was 27 inches, and was BEAUTIFUL and donned a total of 28 spots (those tandem spots were really unique, huh?)
3- Trout total, a 20 incher at the Jetties, and a 20 incher (pictured) and a 16 incher, up in the shallows. I really wanted to find more of them, but I was a bit restricted, by the 25 kt Gusts!!!
5 - Flounder.....Man, do I wish I brought some ICE!!!!! All 5 were 16-20 inches and very fillet-able.
So, here I go. Starting a whole months worth of charters in a matter of the next two weeks, starting tomorrow. Yeah, you got that right, tomorrow it's supposed to rain. HEY, I DON'T PICK THE DAYS!!!!!!!!
Then on Saturday it's suppose to be 20 knots from the north, and get cold. (just a reminder that it's March not June!!)
You can easily see here on this Blog page. I don't pick them for myself, either. I just GO every other day with or without a charter. Some days are more challenging then others, but for me it's a walk in the park no matter what the weather compared to what it is for a total novice. I can't wait to see what the next 6 days in a row will be like. Some how I always get into this kind of schedule. I hear it's spring break??
Just remember...
It's Just Fishin'.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

3/13 - A New Face & Giant Shrimp Vs. T-routz











What a day!
I'm up and bright eyed and bushy headed at 0500 hrs this morning, so I decide to go fishing.
But remember, "again" the west coast bait shrimp guys are having some sort of problem, and there might not be any live shrimp today...
So at 6:15 I call the bait shop. "hey Rusty this is Dave, ya'll have some shrimp?" "Yeah we have shrimp, but they're big.", Says the owner. "Okay, I'll see ya alittle later".
So I finish my coffee ,while listening to my Clan ne Gael, CD. And load the boat with my swords (aka: Fishing rods). I get to the bait shop and Rusty wasn't kidding...The shrimp are like 6 inches long. Local Eatin' Sizers. But at least they are shrimp.....maybe 12-16 count types that were destined for the seafood market, but now destined for my hook.
(SEE THAT PHOTO OF THE SHRIMP ABOVE? Each one of those white stripes is an inch. I took the photo so you could see that the shrimp easily measure 6 inches long!!)
Actually, this wasn't a good thing, if your a Float Freak, trout hunter. They were WAY too big, and died easily on the return of a drift, they weigh too much and although in the other photo, you can see I could just reach in and pull out the shrimp from the trouts mouth, because even Fat and Healthy Ocean run Trout couldn't choke them down before I set the hook on them.
I had to let the float go under and then do at least a 5 count before striking on the fish.
I fished today from The jetties to Nassau Sound, and then back to the jetties. I caught Trout at both places. But "again", the falling tide was really weak. I started at the jetties and caught no Trout, so I bottom fished. I caught 3 Whiting and my first Stingray of the spring season, because there was no current. That's when I said "I think I'll run to the sound, and get out of here for a while".
I caught Trout up there on a new spot, didn't catch any on an old spot, and then moved to another old spot and had (5) 15-18 inchers in 5 casts just as soon as the anchor came tight, and then they just shut down......or I caught them all, either way. So I ran back to the Mayport jetties (both ways via the Ocean, damn my new boat rides the open ocean nice.)
The Bluefish are still chewing anything that moves at the jetties, but at least I found the Trout chewing too. And caught about 10 all between 18-20 inches. Lost a Sheepshead, and fed a very annoying seagull at least 4 giant shrimp. Or more like it stole 4 giant shrimp from me. Another huge annoyance.
So I had my 5 keepers, out of 22 Trout. (I wish they'd make the Sheepshead limit 5 and the Trout limit 10).
Now for the NEW FACE thing...I had one person actual say something today. Buck at B&M Bait and Tackle. My Face or more like cheeks have not seen day light in over 12 years, because I've been the "red bearded guy". So to update my image, I'm now a Goatee wearer. It's funny how only one person out of 5 that I spoke to face to face even noticed and said something. The problem is now I have to keep with it. The beard thing was because I'm lazy, and have always hated shaving. Maybe Goatee's...Can change my luck.
What weather were having huh? Ya'll missed another beautiful day.
I just hope that it stays decent for the run of trips I have starting on Friday. But most of all I hope we'll have some Normal size bait shrimp, and hope to have shrimp at all. Something always goes wrong with the Gulf coast Shrimp right when I have a whole month of charters crammed into a 10 day stretch.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

3/11 - Early Rising...Blurry eyed and Fogged




Had some really nice people aboard today. The Kennedy Clan. Mom, Dad, and bother and sister. Son, Sam I had on the boat back in February, with 3 of his Navy Buddies. But this time his family was visiting, so dad said, "Lets go fishin'". When Sam was out with me in Feb. we fished the falling tide on a cold but sunny day and we targeted Reds up in the shallows. This time we had a few hours of the falling tide, and not such a strong one either.
But Cappy Dave made do.
Pictured, is Sam's sister and dad. Between the (4) of them his sister caught all but one of the keeper size Trout. And as you can see we fished the jetties to start off. The current was really weak, and the scourge of the jetties the Bluefish were ravenous. But we picked and poked a few Keeper trout out of the spot, and had a TON of 14 inchers. And a small Sheepshead.
THIS IS THE SAME SPOT THAT LAST YEAR ON MARCH 6TH WE ABSOLUTELY SLAYED THE BIGGER TROUT. (I put up a photo of last March 6th's stinger...see the other posts)
But this ain't last year.
So we moved on so to not feed all to the dinks and Blues our precious live shrimp, Inwhich B&M bait and tackle had ZERO of. They were out on another gorgeous weekend. "OUCH...thats gotta hurt."
But by now the tide was coming in and we picked and poked around and caught more trout, again all dinks.
But we they had fun anyhow.
I knew it was a lot to ask, but I asked Delk, Sam's dad, to be at the boat ramp at 6:30am.
Add in the time change, and we all were loosing sleep.....I know after fishing till late yesterday, I was a ball of silly puddy this morning. Because I did yesterdays Blog entry at almost 11pm, and lost an hour of sleep and had to be up and boat loaded and at the ramp by at least 6:15am. So I arose at the prime hour of 5:00 am.
So I'm pretty tired right now. But I'm always on top of things concerning fishing, and my reports are fishing related, so there ya have it. This is a "must do" in my book. (all for you, the reader)
The river traffic was heavy, but not until after 10am.
We didn't end up leaving till 7:12am, because of it being so damn dark still and FOGGGGGY.
I mean thick stuff over the river. I was afraid to attempt a dark and foggy departure. I'm a Die-Hard, but not stupid. Especially with clients aboard.
So we caught some fish at least with the slow and death like tide. Totaling 25+ Trout and the Sheepshead, but with only 6-8 keeper Trout in the box.
I know slow tides mean, DINK-VILLE. But lately this is rediculas.
No reds up in my creek area....may have had a pupper hooked up but it got off.
This week the tides will continue to be slow till at least Thursday.
Then I have a Friday and Saturday & Monday reserved........"I HAVE SUNDAY OPEN..."
Which has near perfect tide times and flow. It's a 6 foot falling tide at 8am....WOW.
Anyone up for a Sunday Trout & Redbass trip??
I know I had a lot of you email me that you read the reports and want to go learn a new trick.
So Sunday 3/18, is your chance. (11am-5pm)
Lets see if any of the readship of this report page truely wants to pony-up a quality charter.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

3/10 - Late day falling tide, BLITZ









Took Tom W. out today for a late day falling tide whammo. The breeze from the N.E. was still up, but nothing like yesterday. Although it was still chilly.
Since we had a very weak tide (all this week).
And one Beldar Conehead after another, driving by us. It made for a very anxious start, for me since I hate other people in boats near me.
"I need to start fishing another part of this State to get some consideration". And I know where that is it'll just take me another 25 years to learn it as well as I know where I fish now. You can quote me on this: "You will not catch BIG TROUT very often where there is incessant boat traffic." I've R&D'd that topic to death, and that's my findings.
So we started out picking thru the small Trout, in between the pinfish bites. Because there wasn't any current, and the water temp is now a good 65 degrees. When you have big time current, and cold water, is when you will feed most of your bait to only the targeted species. But we're about out of that scene for now. So take more shrimp cuz you're gonna need it.
Either way, the later it got the more people went home....Thank you. And left some of my favorite spots wide open. We only went to (1) spot that didn't produce a single fish, and that's surely because of boat traffic all damn day.
So as you can see in the pics, Tom smoked me! I told him, I'm such a great "host & coach" I want him to catch all the fish, even though I fished right along with him. He caught the Redbass. Largest was 27" exactly and the other was 26-1/2". And we boxed a only 5 Trout, 16-19 inches.
But we must have had no less that 20 Trout total.......THERE WAS SO MANY DINKS!!!!!
But Tom had a Blast, and learned a lot, he said. Tom's a fisherman already. So he appreciated and understood the Saturday traffic, that's gonna get nothing but worse as the season progresses..
Tom and I observed, that there's a lot of people who need to go buy a chart of the river, because we watched no less that 5 boats drive into the bottom today. If these people had even a small clue that it takes water to float a boat, they wouldn't have gone there. And these are the people you drive next too in traffic....damn that's scary!
This is the way to go fishing (hint, hint) Take the tide that insure bites. (the one I've been talking about for weeks and months.) Take the best 4 hours. Plan your day. Get 4 dozen shrimp, leave when the tides right, fish those 4 hours, come home with more fish than you can eat in a week. And save yourself a lot of frustration.
Tomorrow......(4) people, bad tide, 6:30am start time, "God please let there be no 20 knot wind!"

































3/9 - Cold & Windy, and a follow-up story.

W-I-N-D-Y....was the word for today.

More like, "an airborne attack from the North East, at 20 knots Skipper, should we drive up the sails??"

I was out early. And should have just stayed home. Because my heart just wasn't into it. It was a waste of shrimp and fuel for me today, I just wasn't in the mood for fighting the weather once again. It seems that's all I do any more.

At high tide I went and caught a bunch of small Trout on a MirrOlure on a submerged Mud flat, and that was about it. And constantly wonder why this spot never holds a single Trout over 14 inches, no matter what. So I'm Xing it off of my Map.

But, to FOLLOW-UP on a previous story....

I was catching zero, and ready to go home, by the tide got low'ish. And Nick who fished with me last week to get some "pointers & tips", comes on by in his 17' SeaChaser the Red Drummer.

We talk as I sat on a rock hard spot, with two lines out with light lead looking to get a Sheepshead bite...(waiting on the falling tide) in which I received zero. So Nick took off and went float fishing in a creek, and later called and said he caught an 18" Flounder. But his float rig wouldn't stand up for some reason. Since my power of observation is very keen, I noticed his big ole Float was too big for his trout lead when he came by earlier. I said, "Your floats to big for your lead, that's why....come over here and get a lead off me."

I was wanting to pack it up and go home. So Nick pulled up minutes later and I gave him a few weights to try. Because when Float rigging, your float must stand up straight, on the drift. (It's a trial and error thing, because 99% of the floats out there do not tell ya what size lead to use. The only ones that do are Salmon Stalkers, by Premier Plastics found in Cabelas.)

So, as Nick and I shot the bull for a few more minutes, I pointed to an area that he ought to try. I said, "You need to go over there.....and anchor up along that bank in 8-9 foot of water because if you don't I might." Since EVERYTHING....EVERYTHING lately is about the low tide, there ought to be some Trout in there.

So Nick takes off, and I go home. I get a call a a few hours later, while slopping together some thing that resembles a supper for myself. It was Nick, and he said he caught Trout, some small, some good keepers. I said EMAIL A PIC TO ME. And I'll do a follow-up story.

PICTURED ABOVE...a 25 incher. That has to be a 5 pound Gator Trout?

Man, was I happy for him, and sad I didn't go over to that spot I sent him too, myself.

But the point is, a day or two of "Coaching" can go a long way....a very long way. Although there was still some coaching going on today too, the guidance he received on our two trips together was worth their weight in gold. I hope, Nick is on his way to being a Full Time Float Freak now. He's got good tackle, he bought a G. Loomis Popping rod, and a Abu Garcia Chrome rocket reel. He's got a good fishing boat, that drafts no water, but has BIG water capabilities too. And now he's got an idea pf what to follow to find his own good spots, and get his own groove going.

And best of all, when he buys two dozen shrimp for a 1/2 day trip after work, he'll come home with Fish, not with two dozen shrimp still in his live well.

This is what a Private one person weekday charter can do for you. If you want to improve on your skills......FAST!

I get a lot of e-mails, and people think it's a magic spot, a magic day. There's no such thing as Magic, you have to learn to make your own magic. And that's called local fishing knowledge.

Or you can do what one guy does to me, and others. He follows me around all the time. His name I think is Doug, and we call him "the shadow". He knows just enough to be dangerous and maybe someday he'll get his boat shot with a flare gun and sunk at the jetties, if he keeps pissing people off. THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT.

Nick's another happy angler on his way to "float-freakdom". Now maybe he can teach me to play the Bongo's or something. Since he is drummer (percussionist).



Thursday, March 8, 2007

3/8/07 The Weather Guessers


Looks like they had their
heads up their -----, again with the forecast.
Today is the "variable winds 5-10 knots" that I surely did not experience yesterday. Although that's what the Guessers said it would be.
More like 15kts west, than ESE!
Sure wish I went today rather than yesterday. The weather guessers can surely screw you over.
And another beautiful day, that we could have spent wackin' them......and if not at least having it EZ trying.
Bring a client, then you'll have a receipt that's tax deductible. I do receipts.
____________________________________
Monthly Charters:
6 or 12 months, once a month or more...perfect for companies. And with a payment in Full, you lock yourself into a discounted rate. And isn't that what every ones looking for, a good deal?
Weekly charters:
Reserve two trips in the same week and receive a $100 discount.
Single angler weekday charters:
Businessman's day off, or travelling and just stopping by J-ville for a day or two. Call for a special weekday single anglers rate.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

3/7/07 - Another beautiful day.







Well I went out solo again, on another beautiful day. Can't wait for someone to actually want to go when it's nice instead of blowin or cold.
Don't get all excited......That's James manager of B&M bait and tackle holding the 5+ pound Striper he caught early this morning down in "XXX creek" between Mayport and Palm Valley.

He came by and wanted me to take a picture of it for him, so I did.
Like I said here we had three fantastically nice days in a row.....had a call for this week, but I guess they couldn't pony-up.
I don't think people go to all my web site pages, because I just answered yet another email about prices. I think it's pretty plain and simple if you look at it on "my inshore-coastal trip page". It's "all inclusive".....meaning I supply you the very best tackle, ice, coolers, licenses, fish cleaning (filleting, deboning, skinning), just show up dressed for the day and with a bag containing your lunch if you feel the need to eat one. (most do, and most over do it)

Today, wasn't at all what they (the weather guessers) were calling for though. Remember I said that the tide carries and atmosphere with it? Well, I wish you were there, because I was happily catching one Trout after another on the high tide over a shell bar, and as soon as the tide changed the wind came up and blew 15 knots from a dead still morning, just an hour earlier. And it stayed that way for quite a while. Which made things really tough. Because it started out as a SW and turned Easterly as the day wore on. Due East and due West 15kts or better is a real bitch in the river. And the tide seemed to take forever before it actually got low (when I catch my best fish).

Again, I guess it's my wickedly bad azz boat, but I get so many stares I wanna shout, "take a damn picture it'll last longer" so again today I took no photos, because I don't feel like showing ever knuckle head out there my fish, I just caught. It's not EZ doing a self taken photo, without killing the fish.
Plus, it was so nice that 1/2 of Jacksonville didn't go to work, they were out on the river like it was a Holiday weekend. The absolute most inconsiderate idiots were drawn to me with a magnetic force, for some reason. Blowing by in 4 feet of water right across where I was fishing at full plane....(mind you, this was up in a creek!!) I guess the inconsiderate's act that way because they obviously were let out of their cage on a weekday.
All I can say is they'd hate life if I did that to them. And I'm gonna start doing it too.

I'm gonna do onto others as they do on to me.

So do not email me, or come up to me and complain, because every other idiot with that got a new boat for Christmas, just ruined it for you and me. I'm gonna do as they do me, and that's completely ignore that fact that your fishing a spot.
Besides all that I had a bunch of Trout...small ones and keeper sizers up to 19" being the largest. I never caught a Red, or a Flounder or anything else all day. I did hook a Sheepshead but lost it, because it "crunched my hook closed"....no wonder. They're Sheep!
I was in severe economy mode and never fished any further away from the boat ramp than maybe 2-3 miles. But probably had 25 Trout and finished up catching them on a MirrOlure 52MR.

I did go east of the boat ramp once. And re-confirmed why I haven't fished the Jetties area in almost 2 months.......BLUEFISH everywhere! Like swarms of roaches, pecking and pecking the shrimp into pieces. This already isn't the same March "out there" as last year was.
By the 6th of March last year it was a free for all on BIG Trout at the inlet. (THE OTHER PHOTO ON TOP OF PAGE, is Glen Feigum's Trip photo's......Him and his son in law wore them out in just one spot for hours up to 5 pounds! That's thier stringer of 15 keepers out of 30+ caught at the Inlet.)

Next up is a Sunday charter, and as far as my book says, there will be NO CURRENT, and if we want any falling tide at all, we'll have to depart at 6:30 in the morning, and being Daylight savings time, it'll be plenty dark still at that time. Then the rest of the day is an incoming tide.


Tuesday, March 6, 2007

3/6- Wonderful weather.....You Choose.






What would you rather be doing?

Out wackin them like the GUZZINO BOYS last March.....or walkin' the nasty streets of Blizzardville?


Have ya'll looked outside???
(locals)


8:30am Tuesday March 6th - did ya miss fishing today again?

Wind Direction (WDIR):
NNW ( 330 deg true )

Wind Speed (WSPD):
6.0 kts

Wind Gust (GST):
9.9 kts

Atmospheric Pressure (PRES):
30.35 in

Air Temperature (ATMP):
58.3 °F

Water Temperature (WTMP):
59.2 °F

Wind Chill (CHILL):
55.0 °F

SUN-LEVEL (fish-ability, and makes ya feel really good inside)
100%


C'mon people.....this is it. Don't call in July and think the inshore fishing is gonna be as good as it is right now.

Monday, March 5, 2007

3/5 - Figure this.....




Had Nick out again today, and it sure was a beautiful day, although kinda chilly at times.
But I felt confident, because I was out yesterday alone in that gale of wind, and put a hurting on some nice Redfish, in just a matter of 2+ hours. Although Nick's trip is to figure out this thing called "Float fishing", that we always talk about between each other, there's nothing like doing a trip or two so to have one hundred percent of the teachers attention. And that kind of personal guidance goes along way.
But get this, out of at least 12+ Redfish, not a single one was big enough to keep. AND WE EVEN HIT THE SAME SPOT I FISHED YESTERDAY, AT THE EXACT SAME TIDE. If you could figure this one out and be able to prove what the deal was, you'd never need a charter, and I wouldn't have to take you.
And the Trout? A lot of 14-3/4 inch Trout too, with 10 keepers between 16 to 18". I'm was hoping to get some bigger ones. But then again me hit some pretty diverse places, rather than going to just big Trout areas.
And it sort of worked out for us with Sheepshead and Black Drum instead. Plus, Nick got himself a Capt. Dave Approved Float rigging outfit. A G. Loomis Rod, matched with a Abu Garcia 6500 Chrome Rocket reel. Functionality, in a gorgeous but serious float'n package.
Nick should be all set now. You can read about it, you can practice on your own, but a little coaching goes a long way, especially with good tackle.
We finished up at the Ship Yard spanking some Trout (mixed sizes) in the least place most people would (except for me) fish for them, and used every single shrimp in the live well.
Nick said, he would buy 2 dozen sometimes and come back with almost 2 dozen at the end of the day.....he's never used every single shrimp before, till fishing with me.
And today, we scrounged and even used the tiny little hiders in the well, and caught fish right down to the last little shrimp.
Commentary: (oh no not commentary!!)
-as I told Nick today. When that water temp. gets into the "solid" 60's, look for all hell to break loose. The fishing is pretty damn good right now, and has been. Evident is the posts on this daily blog page of mine. And as you may or may not know, I fish about every other day with passengers or not....so I have zero reason to exaggerate. I don't have too. There's always tomorrow or the next day.
No one catches coolers full every single day...although some would make you believe they do. They're the ones that make me doubt every movement of their lips. But what's most important is having fun, sharing stories, and learning something new.
Damn, we had fun today and we even got sun burn too.
Rest of the pics from today are on my recent catch pages #1

Sunday, March 4, 2007

3/4-Blowing so hard there was seas in the creek




WOW WAS IT WINDY!
Just check out the seas in the creek I was fishing...(just a joke).
But my day started out, at 6am and as I let the dog out to the backyard, I could feel the wind. My back door faces Greenfield creek area, back behind Chico-pit. But I had no plans on fishing at all. I planned to go Monday. So I took a ride over to B&M bait and tackle (aka: the office) with a quick Coffee -Mocha-Java from the Zippy Mart accross the street from the shop.
And here comes the people or more like the weekend borg's...going no matter what because it was still the weekend. (I remember when I was in those shoes)
I was so bored yesterday, and I woke up bored as hell. So like the BORG, I told JB at B&M, get me 4 dozen shrimp preped, I'm going home to get the boat. I can't take this any longer I'm going stir crazy.....I gotta F-I-S-H! And in 15 minutes I was back at the bait shop and dumping my 48 count of shrimp into the livewell.
The tide was falling but still high enough. And the wind was sort of bareable. First spot, 19" Trout, and a small Redfish about 17". Next spot 3 small Trout. Remember when I say "spot", I mean next anchor location. Not a distant land from eachother. A move 50 yards, or 50 feet to me is a "next spot". Third spot, that area in the photo at the top of the page. The same place I see a lot of people park and chuck out baits, and then wait. But not this time, and not me.
First pitch into the current, 16" Trout....and then 4 Reds. Three were in a row. All "slot" fish in the 21-14" range. I WAS GONNA TAKE PHOTO'S BUT PEOPLE KEPT PASSING BY ME. And I do not show off fish when I'm catching them. So I never did any self potraits with my digital camera. (plus I was on the phone with a Blog reader at the time when I caught two of them.)
Fished two more spots and finished up my breif day. As the tide fellllower the wind got consistantly stronger. So I was out a whole 2.5 hours, and had enough to satisfy my primal urge to catch a few fish. And felt satisfied again. Remember, this addiction is a terrible desease to have to live with!
But that brings up a topic that many do not think about. TIDE & WIND. Do you realize that the river's tide and water movements carry an atmosphere along with it??
It does though. If you pay attention you will notice that on days like today when the sun is out and it's windy that as the tide falls the wind will get stronger. Many days when the tide changes you can feel the wind change direction. Because the incoming tide is cooler and makes the wind change direction. It's hard to explain, but believe it. The tide and the river's currents carry or change the atmosheric conditions many days enough to really feel/notice the effects.
Just and FYI kinda thing, incase you never noticed it. These are the kinds of things that you can just feel sometimes while out there, and the feel is sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Today it was real bad. As soon as that tide got real low (full moon low) I could tell, I had my fun, and it was time to just go home.
Finished up with about 6-8 Reds, and about 10-12 Trout, which 3 or 4 were good keepers. Just enough to have me wanting to go again tommarrow if the wind settles down.
Hey, lets go fishing. There's a few decent tide days left to choose from, in March and April is still about wide open. Everyone's dragging thier heels this spring I can tell.
Check my NEWS PAGE for details.
Breath the fresh air, and get some vitamin D in your system, along with some fresh fish.
It'll help that fishing desease!

Friday, March 2, 2007

3/2 - Reschedules, New's Page, and Your replies.


Well, lets see. I had a fella and his daughter scheduled for today....(first day of possible trout keeping) and this trip was a reschedule from last week. So we're on our third possible day, now.


Obviously we didn't fish today, "I didn't care....I own a rain jacket", but I gave him the opportunity to ask about rescheduling, as I always do. I let my customer pick the days.

That was some really BIG RAIN, we just had. And the wind seems intermittent though, as the storms pass thru.


(Capt Dave & Long Time client Ken Simpson pictured)

But per a conversation I had with a woman on the phone the other day, she asked if i had a schedule of days that are reserved already for the month, I said, "no I don't have that on my web site..........YET!"

So I put it up on my NEWS PAGE! But understand that there is always a "revision date" above it and things are seriously subject to change. But it'll give you a reference point at least.

PLUS, I put a schedule of events up there also. And mention bad tide dates, Holiday's and possible other dates of interest.



Your replies to my question; "does anyone read this Blog page?" was pretty numerous.

I think so far I had 16 replies, and comments total.

I appreciate them all. Iwas just what I needed to know.

Only one person liked the old "Forum" better.

And one person mentioned that you may have to refresh the page because your computer cashe's the page (remembers it) and you possibly may not see the most recent post, unless you hit "refresh". I said that sounds funny...so I asked my local computer guru, aka: Dad.

The reason that may happen is because "you" are visiting this Blog by way of your address bar on top of your screen in your Internet Explorer. NOT THE BEST WAY TO VISIT AN EVER CHANGING WEB PAGE, Dad said. Visit this page the way I was hoping "potential clients" may by via my web site. That's what kinda twerped me off about the forum when I had it. No one went to my web site, just the forum. And consistently missed the new recent catch page photos, the weather links, the rates & policies page. I knew that because, I'd get an e-mail about the report and a question at the same time concerning pricing, and where do I fish, from someone who stumbled thru and found the forum, and thought it was my web site alone. And the funny thing is I hardly ever advertised to the public just the forums address out in Cyberspace. So how that happened 20 times was beyond me.


As a regular viewer, yes you can come right here. But if you find the same report on top of the page you saw last week, it's because your computer just (CASHE) "memorized that page", and brought you to it as fast as it could, rather than returning via the newest page on this Google blog server. (does that make sense?? I hope so.)


You can easily page down and see the whole months reports, that's how I have it set up as per the months. If you want to read an old January report, it'll say January along the side bar of this page with a direct link to the archives I have produced over time.


Whewwwww.....that turned out to be a bigger mouthful than I intended.


Lets go catch us a mess of the Speckley Bastards!!!!!

Check the dates already reserved on the NEWS Page, and give me a call so we can hook up (pun indeed intended)


Damn, I'm ready to get into a riot of Trout mixed with Redbass, and toss in a 7-striped Jetty Snapper when the tide slows up.

_____________

"Inshore light tackle fishing is more one on one with your target species than offshore trolling, or even firing a bait down deep over a reef, in my book. Part of the offshore equation is just getting there, in the first place, and I'm not really a boater at heart, I'm an angler.

Inshore, just putting the boat in the water means; you're already there. Which equated to me, I can go more often.

Subtleties in your presentation, finesse, accuracy, small hooks and light leaders around massive structure, industrial waterery habitat's, patches of hard bottom under the shallows all make the challenge for me relaxing as well as frustrating at times. But because I fish my own back yard means I can go fishing more, and satisfy my addiction. And that's what I really suffer from isn't it? A very bad addiction."

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

2/28 - Trout re-opens tomarrow! With a windy start.....


You want to know what every single first week in March and the re-opening of the Speck's means?
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING...yeah sure. More like all day, probably.
Believe me, when I tell you, I know!
This is the "norm".
I have too many log books to flip thru, to prove it.
Right when you want to go full bore into Trout attack mode with some customers, here comes the wind. Plus, I have a guy who moved his charter from last Sunday (probably because of the forecast, to March 2nd..."so he could keep more fish", and now the forecast is worse, than last Sunday. (SCA-small craft advisory = one tough ass day!)
Went out today "solo" so I could look for a new spot if my "go to" creek area fails on Friday.
Caught 6 Redbass all about the size of the one in the picture, with I think one "mini" Red, at 15". A bunch of small Trout & 3 keeper sizers, and a 14" Flounder. Found a spot that should be a great Flounder haunt in the spring. That I could even wade fish, better than fishing in the boat. It's a sand bar in a creek, with a slew of water with oyster beds between a island that has a pond of water in the middle that drains into the slew........"whewww, I gotta keep my eye on that spot!"
I'm going reiterate something I said on my old Forum on a post I made. And something I learned while fishing with friend Nick on Monday. (if your here reading this for an educational purpose)
-do you realize, that there is a new hot spot, right next to an area you already fish?
**Most people think everything is about a "magic spot", when its not that at all.
-I'm usually in "Economy Mode" when I go out and fish solo. That means I want to spend a gallon or two of gas and that's all, so I go to an area very close, fish a good spot and then beat the area to death trying to find as many ways of fishing that same area as I can. Another oyster bed, a different bank, a shallower area next to the deep spot.
** I see people come in to an area, not catch anything and then get frustrated and take off to another so called great spot they heard about. That doesn't really work.
-Today, I never left the same 1/4 mile area. No further than a few miles from the boat ramp.
** that's how I learn the bottom, the topography, the currents, and where the fish are.
10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish, and 90% of the fish are in 10% of all the water.
MAN, DOES THIS REALLY APPLY TO INSHORE FISHING!
_______________________________________________________
My 23' MayCraft is sold........HURRAY!!!!!!!!! (it only took 6 months)
Sold thru Consignment Boat Sales, Ocean Street in Mayport.
A nice fella in Georgia that has a dock in a creek off the St. Marys River is gonna be the new owner. He's going to have a great do-all boat that's for sure. (and a brand new trailer to boot)
________________________________________________________
I'd love to know if anyone reads this new Daily Reports page, and if you like it better than the old Forum. If you have a minute e-mail me if you visit this part of my web site. I'm afraid no potential customers are finding it, or even look at it. I'd appreciate it.

Monday, February 26, 2007

2/26/07 - A really fun day with Nick











Whewwww....
Had to wait till Monday to go fishing.
Well, I actually had a weekend charter, but they ended up changing the date to March 2nd
when Speckled trout opens again. Plus there was the 300 boat El Cheapo Sheepshead Tournament on Saturday. I was a sponsor, had a free entry, and still never fished it.
I love fishing tournaments when they are 50 boats or even a 100 boats. BUT 300 boats??? Count me out.
That's what happened to the Redfish SPOTS tournament too.
I fished it, till it got way out of hand, then quit fishing it.
I'm not into crowds.

That's why I waited till Monday to go fishing.
And after seeing Nick Watson, drummer for my favorite band RATHKELTAIR, a Celtic Rock Band at the boat ramp the other day while he was out with his buddy from another Celtic rock band, SEVEN NATIONS and they didn't do so good, I called Nick and invited him out with me, because I wanted to help him out with some of the finer points of Float-rig fishing.
Nick and I always talk about Float-riggin', and I always like to hear what's the latest on the band, and what he's been up too lately. (I find the musician life interesting) and like Nick's willing to learn.
So we left out at 6:30am to go catch the falling tide in the creeks.
Low tide: 10:30
High tide: 4:30
(Mayport)
First spot was the one of my "go-to's" that I've been hitting because it's just so damn productive on the Redbass, since Trout season has been closed. I catch plenty of trout there, but sometimes I can really clean up on the nice slot reds. We had 3 good ones today from 23-26 inches.
A bunch of Trout to 18 inches....and of course a few pup reds.
Then since I was doing a little show and tell so Nick could pick up some tips, we moved around and went into a few more creeks. We had a "sea-breeze" problem on a certain spot, and couldn't even fish it, as the tide flooded in, and after that as it rose higher. Our fish catching was over.
Can't catch anything on a incoming tide soon as I get 2 hours or more into it. But we tried and picked up a small trout and a Flounder.
I had a really good time sharing some time with Nick. I wanted him to see the new boat, and how shallow I can go, the tackle, the techniques, and the areas to fish. I want him to take his musician friends out in his boat and "be the man", and get them hooked up on a few, next time.

The rest of the pictures (8) from our day are on Recent Catch Page 5 on my web site:
If you're wanting to learn more about float fishing for Reds & Trout, the time is now to reserve your day. Speckled Trout season opens in a few days, from the reprive from the Float Freak.
And March 's good tidal days are filling up fast.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

2/22/07 - Making Trails, then big time rod bending











How many times have a said, "I just can't find any decent bites on the incoming tide, since the water's cold"?

So why was I in the water and wanting to catch some fish at 8:30 am?

Today's Mayport tides:
Low tide: 6am
High tide: 12:17pm
Low tide: 6:07pm
So there I was, and I just knew it was a futile to beat this dead horse. So I went and utilized the $4,000.00 worth of electronics I have on my boat. I went and made "trails" on my chart-plotter, (a laymans term would be "bread crumb trails") up in the Hannah Mills area. I wanted to chart the way from Sisters Creek to Clapboard Creek. There is a miriad of creeks back there between the ICW and Clapboard creek, that are navigatable. And I haven't been up there for years, but found my way thru, and made a permanant "trail" to follow via using my color chart-plotter and GPS. MORE WINTER SPOTS TO TRY.
I did all this on the incoming tide. And by the time the tide turned, I went back to my "go to" area for some fish catching on the falling water.
And if you haven't kept up on it, the tides this week have been L-O-W.....I mean, there's areas that are going dry that haven't been that way for a long time.
But never fear......MY 26' Black Lab is here! The only 26' sea-going, rough water able, boat that can go in incredibily shallow water.
My new favorite spot is in shallow water.....that get's impassable for most boats my size on tides like we're having now. But I had this week, 2 charters up in there and had 4 anglers plus me in the boat and still got in and out. That's why I'm so happy. My boat does it all. What a great choice I made. I'll never fish fiberglass again!
Well, I had (all on the float-rig) in shallow water :
16- Speckled Trout to 4 pounds!
11- Redfish to 28 inches
1- Flounder 18"
All on one spot as the tide ebbed.
Then I left and went home.
As you can see in the photos, that's my anchor line and you can even see my anchor barely sticking out of the water. That's where I started out! I was anchored up there, and had to keep letting out anchor line so I wouldn't sit on the bottom, as the tide dropped.
I didn't get a picture of the big Trout because I booked 6 charters today alone, and half the time as the phone rang, I was reeling in a fish. It was a very busy phone day!
The wind was a real pain in the butt, blowing hard from the west. And the front (clouds) didn't clear till at least 11am. But afterwards it was sunny and warm.
Have I mentioned lately how effective and fun fishing the float rig is?
I had a blast.
And if it can't be caught on the float rig, it ain't worth catching.
But I catch it all on the float-rig.....so whats that mean?
It means, do I ever need to do anything else? NOPE.
I was watching a boat full of guys today, just casting out and sitting there like bumps on a log. And I was 200 yards away up in my shallow spot waxing the fish. I never saw them catch a thing. Too bad they don't know the ways of the float, and how to fish it. Then, I had a Kayaker come near, as I caught at least 5 fish insight of him. Never saw him get a bite. Why are the Kayakers fishing where the birds are wading? If the birds are wading around your Kayak, I think the fish maybe in a tad deeper water.
Wanna learn the tides, the currents, and the structure.....book a charter with the Float-Freak and you'll learn more than you will on your own in two years worth of poking around weekend after weekend staring at your rod tip.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

2/20/07 - Media General Corp. group charter

I WISH I TOOK A FEW PICTURES....sorry they had me running, and time was of the essence so I never got around to it.

But, I had a 4 boat 13-16 passenger trip that headed out Tuesday. It was in the planning since back in October before I even got my new boat.

BIG problems though, as usual. NO LIVE SHRIMP were to be had. Except on my boat, because I run a shrimp farm in my live well most of the time.
With the weekends cold cold weather no shrimp could be caught, so a few of the boats had to just "wing-it". And go with mud Minnows or dead shrimp.

I know I had plenty so a few of the big-wigs jumped on my boat, for a 1/2 day of float rigging.
They told me, "Dave, we have a big pot going for largest fish...so put us on them."

Just what ya wanna on a February charter huh? So I was under the gun.

On the first spot, and only spot I had that would produce "I.G." - instantaneous Gratification", we were on Trout the first drift of the float!
Then came a few more. For I think it was (3) 17-19 inchers.
Then a few pup reds, and then a 29", 8.5 pound Redbass.

I said, "Here's your winning fish!" As one of the guys took 15 minutes to get it to the boat.
(the fella who hooked into it wasn't by now means a Roland Martin type fisherman)

And then I think we picked up another small pup red again...and that was it. This spot was OVER and DONE with.

But what did we have yesterday?? The lowest tide of damn near all of 2006 and 2007.
The ICW was 10' deep in the middle, the creeks went dry, and by the time we left out of where we were, the tide was so low I couldn't go anywhere else in a creek, or if I went in the river the current was so strong we couldn't fish.

So we spent our nickle on that one spot.

One other boat did really well tossing jigs and Gulp and Mud Minnows, and caught Reds, Trout, and a nice fat Flounder while using the trolling motor up inside Hannah Mills area.

Now we still have no shrimp at the bait shop, No fiddler crabs, just clams....and here comes the JOSFC Sheepshead tournament this Saturday. I'm a sponsor and may or may not fish it.

But I will trade my entry for 20 dozen live shrimp...anyone??

Monday, February 19, 2007

2/19/07 - After the big Blow

That was some serious wind yesterday, huh?

Gale force gusts, in conjunction with some nice strong tides made for 'NO' water as I went over the ICW-Wonderwood Bridge and looked over the side as I always do while going and coming from B&M bait and tackle. The "ditch" was dry! A heavy duty west wind and a very low tide, made for some big time exposed shoreline.

I had to hurry up and get to B&M because I no sooner get home and had to pro-cure bait for a Monday charter, that I booked while walking the Miami Beach Convention Center halls, with Sam Kennedy who called and wanted to go fishing with 3 of his buddies.

The rush to B&M bait and tackle was because when there's seriously cold (hard Freeze type weather) You can bet there was NO live shrimp delivery in days. The shrimp just bury up, and no one catch's any. So I hoofed it quickly over there to get some for Today's charter and Tuesdays charter. I have keeping them warm, comfortable and alive for days down pat, thru obvious trial and error of many years. My secret "a heating pad"....yep, the same thing you may use on a bum knee, with a good slathering of BenGay.

And ya'll think, us fishing guides just go get bait, because it's always plentiful and just show up to go fishing in the morning huh? Naw....it's far from that many days in the "deep" winter. Babying bait, rushing to get bait before it's all gone, having a really tight relationship with the manager of the bait shop, and getting up at 3am to check on them is all things I have to do. And I did a lot of it last spring when no one was catching many shrimp. And then there's those holiday weekends and live shrimp are scarce, and people call and have no idea what hoops I have toi jump thru to make sure we have bait to use. But all that is another story.

Today, after yesterdays huge blow. And not fishing since last Thursday. I couldn't believe how fast the tide moved out today. I picked up Sam and three of his buddies at 11:30am to fish the falling tide all day.

And we float rig fished to start. And one spot produced...even though the tide was great. Low tide in the late part of the afternoon, perfect timing for a chilly day.

We caught a bunch of what you see in the picture. Small "pup" reds. And them had a double header of a pupper and a 23 incher. Our only keeper fish of the day.
I tried some clams at the jetties and just plain bottom fished. Good ole Bait-N-Wait fishing.
B-O-R-I-N-G...as hell. And the 4 guys aboard would agree. We had a few "pecks" but no Sheepshead which was the target species. So we stayed at the jetties and went back to Float Rig fishing and caught way too many small bluefish. (We never got any brown water)

It wasn't the festival I was wanting, of course. But on a short notice trip, and me not knowing what the deal would be, we did okay and caught a few fish, most were just very small.

Now, tomarrow it's a company group charter, 4 boats.

Man was it a beautiful day today though, it remained cool, but the wind went away, and the sun was nice and bright.....the waters still very cold though.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

2/16-2/18 - MIAMI'S SOUTH BEACH





MIAMI INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW - If you've never been there, and you like "water-sports" you just don't know what you are missing. The largest boat show on Earth....and held in maybe the 2nd CRAZIEST place on Earth. Miami's South Beach. (First CRAZIEST place I'm assuming is New York City.)

You can read more about it on my web sites NEWS PAGE. Just click on the home page link here on the BLOG page and then go to NEWS.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

2/13 - Something was goofy....




I don't know what the deal was today other than not having a strong tide, but either way something was goofy. (YEAH, LIKE THIS WACKO WEATHER!!)
But I went to my go skinny water spots and had to wait forever for the tide to move, I was there before the sun was up again. I cannot find any good action on an incoming tide. So all measures are taken to fish just falling water.
But, I did catch some fish. And that's a good thing. Just wanted some bigger Redbass really, instead I got a bunch of lil' pupper reds,a 20" Red and this 23 incher. Some small Trout, (I've been avoiding them) and 3 small 7-stripers from my go to Sheepshead spot in the I.C.W.
Fished from 6:30- 12:30. And even went down river to try my big time Trout and large Redbass on the float-rig spot, and it was dead.
The cloudiness made it feel funky, for some reason today. Maybe it was just me.
I wish the weather would make up it's mind. Like my buddy D.O.A. Rob says; "I love those really cold mornings up in the creeks, they really bite for me then" , I have to agree. The warm-cold-warm-cold thing isn't for me either. I can take the cold. I'm not in love with it, but I am when the fish are chewing.
And it's really funny or actually sad for me. The minute I go to make plans for heading to the Miami Boat Show, I get calls galore for that same weekend. This month has been dead as hell, so I figure get out of dodge for a few days, it'll shorten the closed Trout season if I'm not here thinking about them. Then as far as today, I've had a total of 6 calls for either this Friday, Saturday or Sunday, when I'll be in Miami!!!!! The one thing that's making me feel okay is that the weather here this weekend is gonna be for crap, with high winds and cold. So if anyone can take all these people out, "It's gonna be very challenging to say the least!"
I do not get a single vacation in three years, and when I do make plans to be gone for 3 days everyone wants to go those same 3 days out of a whopping 28.
I cannot figure the "public" out, and I never will.
I'm over and out till Tuesday of next week. Then is when I have a 4 boat company charter heading out for a 1/2 day trip 12-5pm.
I hope all my "homework" pays off.
I plan on having them catch Reds, Trout, Flounder and Sheepshead, but will be happy with 2 out of the 4 species.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

2/11 - Early bird gets a lot of FISH!






Ya gotta get up pretty damn early to beat this "4 minute kid" to the bait shop! 4 minute kid, because that's how long it takes me to get some live shrimp at the bait shop from my drive way, and then another 4 minutes to get to the boat ramp.
So when I'm on a mission......look out, I'm there!
I was on my spot at 0630 hrs. before the sun came up. Ready, and armed.
Yeah, another beautiful morning. And I had to go solo, because no one wants to go. I think next January and February I'll just go get a "real" j-o-b, like the rest of the world. Because as far as everyone thinks. The world just halts, because it's winter..."and that's total bull!" The world doesn't stop, it just keeps going. And the tough get going, because if ya wanna catch some fish, you better be tough. I've got zero tolerance for winter whiners.
As you can see from my self portraits, if you wanted any falling tide, you'd have to be on the spot before sun up. AND I WAS! It was cold, too. But I had new rods to try out. 8'3" Bad-azz G.LOOMIS Greenwater series rods. Remember, I said I was going l-0-n-g-e-r?????
We'll I did. And will now also have clients using longer 7'6" Greenwaters, rather than 7 footers.
Yes, 6 inches makes a lot of difference!
Low tide came early. And this is the only time I can catch anything worth going.
I tried the incoming tide 3 times earlier in the week. And didn't report on it because I had zero to report about! It's R&D, and let me tell ya'...If you wanna fish on an incoming tide, so be it. But YOU picked the day, not me. FALLING TIDE, IS IT RIGHT NOW, period.
Float fishing 4 feet of water. First drift of my float-Flounder. Second drift of my float - Redfish, Third drift of my float-BIGGER Redfish, Forth drift of my float-Speckled Trout. You get the picture. It was a riot.
Ended up with:
9 -Reds to 28"
1-Flounder 15"
7-Speckled Trout (had a limit of 5 easily)
1-Sheepshead 5 pounds
7-Yellowmouth Trout all 15"
I can go in such shallow water with my 26' boat, I'm amazed. If you really think an aluminum (plate alloy) boat is some kind of odd-ball boat, call me. I'll show ya. This is the best boat for my kind of fishing there possibly is. Super rough deep water to shallow. I can do it all. Think twice before you go out and shop for one of those "look-alike Euro Clorox bottles" the next time you want to upgrade. This baby is all fishing, any where you need to go. I'm loving it!

(Rest of the pics on my recent catch photo pages on my web site)

Sunday, February 4, 2007

2/4- SUPER FISH SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





WHERE WERE YOU?
Today, was a beautiful Sunday with low winds, blue skies, and yes it was cold...but real fisherman, don't really care.
I'm obviously tougher then a lot of you. More dedicated, yeah that's obvious.
I'm so hard core, wives hate me, and their husbands get defensive. Because I'm a bad influence on their domesticated husbands.
I used to make them wish they were in my shoes. Talk them into going fishing too much, spend too much money, and stay out too long. Yes, I'm a bad influence, so keep away if you want to stay married.
But I don't do that any more. I just go alone, I don't talk to many of these men much anymore. I do whatever I want when I want and don't have to share a phenomenal bite, like I had today with anyone.
Or was it because there was a foot ball game on, this evening? The water was nearly vacant? Or was it because it was cold this morning?
For what ever reason.........THANK YOU for staying home. Because I had a great day.
Today was a nearly perfect tidal day.
High Tide: 4.4 feet @ 10:05 Mayport
Low Tide: -0.3 @ 4:00 Mayport.
What's that make the tide height? A 4.7'.....just perfect! The wind, no concern at all. And the JEA plant smoke stacks? They were straight up, almost all day long. The cold? Well, it really wasn't all that bad.
First stop was up in a creek, and before the boat settled tight on the anchor I had 5 small reds and 5 small trout off a Oyster bar, using of course the float rig. That was on the last of the incoming tide. And I actually left because I just wanted to make sure they were there, for future reference. So I picked up and left.
I won't go thru each and ever move I made, but I'll tell ya I never fished in any water deeper than 4.5 feet all day long, no matter what the tide was. At one point I was in 2.5 feet of water, catching one Flounder after another fishing double Floats. The tide was easing along so perfectly. I cast out two float rigs and have them drift off the starboard side of the boat at the same time and just watched them drift on a slack line, till one of them went under.
Later, I caught a bunch more Reds in a hole, literally a hole or a pocket in a sandy bottom with a shell bar adjacent and behind it. I spent the whole rest of the day at the second area I went to.
It's a "way" of fishing actually. I refer to it as "tracking". Go to one spot, catch some fish, and when they stop biting, move 50, 75 or only a 100 feet to the next "likely" spot they'd be at.
This system works for me so well, it's absolutely incredible. Don't run around, especially if you found fish in an area. If they stop biting it's most likely they moved with the tide. (they do that ya' know??)
I arrived on the second spot I went too, at high tide. And by low tide between 4-6 hrs later, I was only 500 feet away from where I started. (I hope you caught that... because I'm giving away Pearls here.....)
This way of Float rig fishing insures you're learning the area, the way the water moves, the way the currents flow, it's subtleties, and with that it's usually the way the fish move too. Just do it. You'll be so surprised.
Today's catch was so good I started a tally on a piece of paper, to keep it all straight.
Redfish- 15 (Largest were 30", 28", 21". The rest were pups.)
Flounder - 7 (in a row, fishing double float-rigs.)
Trout - 12 (not even trying for them, could have had a nice limit from 18" to 20")
Sheepshead - 1 ( fought a 5 pounder class one all the way to the boat, then it got off the hook.)
It was another "Super Fish Sunday". Just like many other's I've had on Super Bowl Sunday's.
I thank the usual masses of weekenders for being (you know). Or more kindly discribed as..."being fair weather fishermen", and staying home.
My favorite game is played on the Fluid turf, in a big alloy plate platform, that I have found goes unbelievably shallow! And I even had 100 gallons of gas in her.
(rest of the photos are on my recent catch pages #6)

Saturday, February 3, 2007

2/3 - some tackle history...FYI




Always facinated by the dog-eat-dog world of the fishing tackle industry. I have an interest in the how's and why's of the G. Loomis company.
(I'd actually love to take a vacation and go to Woodland, Washington to the factory. And while there fish for Steelhead or Salmon on the local rivers. Ya' know they "float-fish" up there for those species! Plus hit Marysville, Washington where my 26' BlackLab Marine boat boat was built.)

I first became a Pro staff or Guide Program member for G. Loomis Rods about 5-6 years ago.
I remember always wanting a set of Loomis rods, when I was much younger. Because, G. Loomis for me was always thought of as an innovative company making high quality rods for specific anglers need. For specific fish, in specific places, for a demending angler.
Well, G. Loomis is celebrating it's 25th anniversary.

Here's a bit of history by Bruce Holt, who's been with the company since the beginning.

Gary Loomis has always been and will always be an avid outdoorsman. He is a unique individual. He is passionate, driven, opinionated and strong-willed. He is one of those individuals that hits the floor running and never slows down.Several years ago, he had a dream. He wanted to make the best ultra-light steelhead rod that money could buy and nobody in the world made anything close. As time went by, he refined his techniques and his rods and the next thing you know he started building blanks. Within a year or so, he started a blank company (Loomis Composites, Inc.) and a few years later, following a short hiatus from the fishing industry, he started making rod blanks under his own label...G.Loomis, Inc. That was January of 1982 and today, G.Loomis is recognized as one of the leaders in the fishing rod business, making very technical, high performance graphite rods for bass, walleye, trout, salmon, steelhead, bonefish, tarpon, redfish...well, you get the picture. In May of 1997, Shimano American Corporation purchased the company from Gary and today, it's bigger and better than ever. Gary still has an office here at the factory where he not-so-quietly takes on salmon fisheries issues © Copyright 2007 G Loomis, All Rights Reserved
With that said. BUY THE BEST EQUIPMENT YOU CAN AFFORD! At this point, it should be pretty clear that cutting corners on your equipment will ultimately be reflected in the number of fish you hook and land. Plain and simple, fishing garbage gear will cost you fish! Pay attention to detail, eliminate every controllable variable, and most importantly, buy the very best equipment that you can afford. As technology rockets forward at break-neck speed, most of us “average Joes” will quickly come to realize that constantly upgrading our fishing equipment is just not economically feasible. So where do you draw the line? Before parting with my hard earned cash, I like to ask myself one simple question: “does this purchase have the potential to either enhance my equipments performance or raise my confidence level?” If the answer is a resounding “yes,” then I think its money well spent. Without a doubt, the equipment advantage is one of the fastest and easiest ways to improve your Trout, Flounder and Redfish or (what ever species) success rate! 2007 G. oomis all rights reserved

And believe me when I tell you. That I have friends that didn't always have the highest grade of tackle. And they caught plenty of fish. Now, as they have progressed. You ought to see what they catch thier fish with now. One of those guys that comes to mind is my buddy, nick-named "DOA Rob", (that's him up there at the top of the page in his Bad-azz Hobie Kayak). He has a nice boat, a wow-factor Hobie Kayak, and now some serious tackle. And this guy has specialty tackle for fishing his favorite lure of all, a 1/4oz. DOA shrimp. Now that's what I'm talking about! Once you figure out what works best for you, and your favorite kind of fishing, go ahead and make the upgrade. And that's where Loomis rods come into play.

And that's why you'll use all G.Loomis rods when aboard my boat, because I want you to have the best performing equipment, and the highest confidence level. Because, you can float fish with anything. But then there's specialized float fishing tackle, that'll never let you down.

Friday, February 2, 2007

2/2 - Bored to tears...large enough to surf. Cyber surf that is.

Well the weather screwed me!!!!
Had a charter call yesterday, for today.....(gotta love the late notice crowd) Yeah there was loads of planning going into that trip, huh?

It was blowing 25 knots yesterday and I looked at the weather that morning and today it was supposed to blow hard too. So I said to the guy, "I think the winds gonna be way to strong", but now of course it isn't.

So I was sitting surfing the web. And checked out Yahoo, to see my listing. Then, found where I come up in the search listings. Then saw a tab for "more information" so I clicked on it.

Soooooo, this is where people get all that old stuff from. I recieve calls all the time where people tell me they are looking at my web site and telling me that they see _____. When that stuff hasn't been on my web site in 8 years!!!

I'm not all that search engine savvy, but now I get it. And either is half the callers I get.
They click on anything that moves, obviously.

Well, I found VERY old archived pages of my web site. Now remember, I've had a web site before there was Google and Yahoo. My dad (35 years in the computer field) started me a one page web site, the minute the Internet was public. When was that....over 10 years ago??
Now look at the world wide web, huh?
I always say, "I had a web page back when web pages weren't cool!"

So of course I have many, many generations of web pages out there floating in cyber space.

That explains the "what are you looking at.....?" reaction you'll get from me when I hear your looking at a page from 10 years ago. Which today is ANCIENT history.

You may or may not notice I change things on my web site almost weekly. "I had a good teacher". I go in and tweek pages all the time.

But I found these from surfing around on Yahoo:
http://www.captdaves.com/Article.htm

You may find this a bunch or crappola, or interesting educational reading, as many did back in the day. But yes, I did have a complete articles page for a while. Because I did 6 years worth of monthly columns for the Jacksonville Fisherman Magazine. That's a lot of fishing stories.

That seems like a life time ago, now. When even the charter biz in Jacksonville seemed different. And I had such a "following readership" also. I guess the Internet kind of sterilized that kind of relationship between readers and writers. Now, there's too much out there. But still, here I am!
Cooking along, as a survivor.

Rusty, owner of B&M bait and tackle keeps asking me when I'm going to do a Newspaper article again, like in the Beaches Leader Newspaper. I tell him no one bothers to ask, and like the military it's all political, I'm sure. Plus, since my literary mentor is Tred Barta (back page of Sport Fishing Magazine, and author of The best and worst of Tred Barta, and host of his own TV show)

I may not always tell it the way people want to hear it either.....like Tred.
I'm an opinionated SOB, just like him.