8/26 - CHAPTER 2, w/ Kirk, in from Peru

Okay, if you read the report proceeding this one. You learned that Kirk M. and I have fished alot together. And he's back in Jax, for a few days from Peru. Alrighty.....now let's get to the meat and potato's of our second day together on the big St. Johns.

Okay, this gets really good.

By 11:00am Kirk and I are out of shrimp, we have 2 limits of trout to 4 pounds, 2- Reds, 18-21", two Flounder, and two Mangrove Snappers.......IN THE COOLER. And caught a bunch of throw back trout too. I MEAN A LOT, of throw back Trout!!!

There was no sun anyhow, it was on & off windy and overcast all morning long. Felt great actually.

Kirk ain't here to play games. He fishes 12 hrs or that isn't called a fishing day. He just isn't farking around!! He wants to fish, period!

The weather is what "we" call PERFECT. And that's why we were ripping the fish!!! They put on a serious feed bag before the blow coming on Thursday/Friday.

We go back to the dock. We unload all of our fish, Kirk takes them home. And he them stops by the bait shop and comes back to the boat with 15 dozen live shrimp!!!!

I told ya, he ain't messing around.

I believe we're gonna do a second trip of the day?

Yep!

So we leave the dock for the second time. After purchasing 27 dozen shrimp.

So back to where we left off. But now, with a different tide. But it didn't matter. The fish were chewing the bottom of the boat. We stopped at 2 spots and had our limit of Speckled Trout already and no less that 30-40 throw-backs.

They're heading my way. Towards the EAST!

I'll give ya'll a hint. When I see small shrimp boats dragging the river. That's where I fish.

We slam-dunked another 2 person limit. with Trout up to 3 pounds. Picked off another Flounder, lost a Flounder, and I caught a exact 27 inch Redbass on a jig and Creme Litl' Fishie, soft plastic lure.

Toss in a few more Mangroves and we were soon out of 15 doz. of our afternoon bait.

We easily caught a HUNDRED or more Trout today, between Kirk and I on our two different trips, today. No kidding! And I arrived at home well after dark.

I almost felt as if I was in Louisiana. (where I was supposed to be this week anyhow)

Was today and omen or something? Was the Speckled Trout gods shining on Kirk and I, knowing that he's been stuck in Lima Peru. Where he can't fish. And I was supposed to be over in Louisiana slaughtering Trout and Reds right now.

KINDA SPOOKY HUH?

I have to admit, when the suns shining, the winds calm, there's no chance of rain and it's June through September. That those days ARE NOT my favorite days to be out fishing.

Because everyone else is out also. And I always do better on a day when the weather's a bit off. We usually refer to it as a Barometric pressure change in the fishing world. And I believe we had it today, for sure.

Thanks Kirk.

I'm sure this won't be the last time we "wack'em and stack'em", as usual.

See ya soon, and take care buddy.

EPIC, EPIC, DAY....

NOW THAT I THINK BACK AND TELL FRIENDS ABOUT IT. I WOULDN'T HAVE RATHER HAD A DAY LIKE THIS WITH ANYONE ELSE.

KIRK'S ROCK, next time? (and that's another story, hahahahahaha)

8/23 - FISH, caught everywhere.

Had Kirk M. aboard today. Kirk's fished with me many, many times before. BUT, usually in either the fall, winter or spring. So he's used to a bit of a different scenario. I don't think he's ever been on my boat when it's 90 degrees.

But he was in town, from Lima, Peru. Where the U.S. Navy has him spending a few years. And he's just thrilled with that, BTW. So fishing is an activity in which he has been severely lacking.

He wanted to go, but I thought I was going to be in the great state of Louisiana fishing for a week. So when I had to cancel on the La. trip at the last minute, I emailed Kirk and said, "I'm now open to fish Sunday the 23rd."

To my disappointment, I'll be possibly fishing the river here for a few more years, before I can fish the "oh so bountiful" Louisiana inshore waters.

We caught fish at every single spot we went too. There's no lack of bites. We even gave bottom fishing a try again. But was there after the big Redfish bite was about over. 20 boats of all sizes were jam packed into a small area. I initially went in there just to say HI to some friends. Instead we caught small Yellowmouth Trout. As we talked with my friends. And the big Red bite was about done, so when the current went wacky we moved on.

We did try the jetties, earlier. The water temp on the incoming tide was 75 degrees. We were one of 3 boats fishing the rocks. The tide was pouring in, and Kirk hooked a Ass-Hander! Probably a really big Jack. And it ripped him down the jetty and around the corner and then shut the door.

My Ugly Stik "Striper rods"....which are my new charter Float-rigging rods, got a super horseshoe put in the one that Kirk had in his hands, on this fish. Bowed up and drag smoking. It was super cool. But once the big fish hooked around the jetty. It was over, when the light 15# leader popped.

We were looking for some incoming tide Redbass, of course. But the jetties just didn't feel really right for some reason. And that cool water was suspect.

That was about it out there, so back down river we went. Yep, we did some back and forth stuff. But settled in around Blount Island to the Dames Point bridge area.

In the river we caught Speckled Trout about everywhere. But most of them were shorts, 14-12" Trout. Out of maybe 25 total we kept six of the largest. A 14" Yellowmouth,. and two Mangrove Snappers.

But the really good thing is every spot we fished (Float-rig) we caught fish. Even a quick stop up in a shallow cove in 2 feet of water, we still caught Trout. Small ones, but they were Trout.
(we were looking for a red....even a pup red)

Hey, at least my Speckly friends are all over the place in the river. That's a good thing.

The ratio of keeper sized Trout was a bit of a bummer. I bought no less than 10 dozen live shrimp. So we were ready!
I thought.

The incoming tide came very quickly this morning and by the time the tide turned and we had ebbing water again, and were on a decent bite good Specks, we ran out of live shrimp.
We had keeper Trout from 15 inches to 20" being the largest.















Kirk thinks while he's here that we maybe able to sneak out around 3pm again this week, after he's done Navy business over at Jax NAS. I'm all up to that. Late afternoon falling tide bite? Yeah baby! Hmmm, I think I have a few "top water" spots I'd want to try.

C'C'mon.....Kirk!!!

8/21 - BIG FAT RAIN

While towing a boat today, it rained. At one point I couldn't see the bow of the boat I was on, it was so dark and coming down so hard, at 5:00pm.

Here's going under the Dames Point Bridge, after it backed off. Sheets of water were pouring thru the drain holes up on the bridge. Looked really cool in person.

8/20 - you think aluminum is odd?

Yeah, it's years later now, but I still get looks, stares and stupid human comments about having an alloy plate boat. The only real reason is because mine isn't painted.

Well, over on my other site. (aluminumalloyboats.com) we had a member post a really serious fishing machine, sitting in Biloxi, Miss. Currently docked outside the Palace Casino.

Trinity yachts supposedly has them lined up to be built. Yeah, aluminum boats!!

That's if you really want to call these boats, at 122 feet long with a 24 foot beam!!

And it's all aluminum...go figure, huh? So when you think I'm some sort of odd-ball, think again. Or the next time you see a maga-yacht come in the St. Johns River.....think again.

Just because it's painted. You may be fooled.

http://www.trinityyachts.com/news-06-19-06.asp

8/18 - A really nice day on the river!

Yeah, it may have been a bit breezy. It has been for a few days now. But that's what kept it cooler. The sun may have bumped in and out because of the clouds. But that's what kept it cooler.
And yeah, we may have gotten really wet because of a short rain shower that snuck up on us.
But again, that really cooled us off.

Had Louise H. and her son Garrett aboard today, visiting from the Lone Star state. And actually quite close to the good ole Gulf of Mexico, one seriously fishy body of water. But as Louise told me in the beginning...."we're not fishing people". But heck they wanted to give it a try.

And I think they were very pleased that they did. Because we had a really great day. And even though they may have been fishin' rookies, they both did exceptionally well. And as usual, when I have the gals aboard, they're the fish magnets!!

After I shagged off my morning "stow-away", we took off just after 8am.

We headed up river. At the first stop, I try to find a nice calm easy to fish spot. So everyone on board gets acclimated to the tackle and gives me a chance to teach them about float-rig fishing.

And we were on our spot 5 minutes with lines in the water about 30 seconds when Garrett hooks the first fish of the morning. "I.G" - instantaneous gratification!!! That's what I like to see. And coming to boat is the first Speckled Trout. Not a keeper, but it doesn't matter at this point.

Then it was mom's turn, and Louise reels one on in.


Right then, we started to get some falling tide current, so we shifted on over to an area that had good steady current, straight behind the boat. But that had the wind straight to our stern, and we wobbled around a lot on anchor. But we got the job done, and started catching Trout right away.

We were fishing now, no more than an hour maybe and already caught 6 and had 3 up to 19-7/8ths of and inch, in the fish box. Again, not bad for my float-rigging newbies. They both got into the rhythm and that means fish!!


































After boxing some nice Trout up to 20 inches, we moved on and tried our hand at some bottom fishing for a big red. But it's still summer and the first hook up was a monster Stingray that smoked off line so fast there was no stopping the big "dumpster-lid", and it broke off.

My patience for this is about a foot long. Starring at the rod tips, (I hate stinger fishing...) so we moved on and went back to float-rig fishing and catching good fish. But the next spot was short lived. Here came the clouds and ran us off to a safe haven, but as I ran there, we ran straight into the big rain. We got wet, but during the down pour the boat was safely tied up and we took cover with a handful of other fisherman under a roof that was close by.

After the shower we found a nice calm river and a lesser breeze on the next spot. Caught some more throw back Trout and boxed even more up to 20 inches, again. Along with plenty of Ladyfish and jacks, and the days only Mangrove Snapper at 14 inches, that hit the ice along with a double limit of beautiful Specks. I know, I couldn't believe it either.....only one Mangrove?? We really didn't have many problems with the "shrimp snatchers" much at all, today. Maybe because I fished deeper waters, further away from the hard structures.





























Louise was the "hot rod" all day. And it was well deserved. She was on her game.
I believe, she should fish more often. She might get really hooked.

They ended their day by taking a bag of freshly caught trout all filleted, de-boned and skinned by their guide to Singletons Seafood Shack and having them cooked up for them. They just don't get fresher than that. Louise gave me some also, because they had more than enough and when I got home and put everything away I was reminded of what a nice day we had with a big plate of fresh fried Speckled Trout myself for supper. Ahhhh, the fruits of our FUN. sure did taste good.


See ya out there...

8/16 - In Between Fishing

In between seeing me on my Big Alloy Boat, wave when ya see me on this big red boat. And hopefully it won't be a "waving me down", because you in need of a tow, fuel, or a jump start. Or to be pulled off a sand bar.


Yep, in between fishing charters I'll sometimes be in the red TOWBOAT/US boat.


















It's not Big Alloy. And I almost forgot the way F'glass feels on the water. But I'll have to let it slide, this time.


























Next up: Tuesday's charter, then maybe Saturday and then a definate Sunday charter.

8/14 - Almost one year ago......

Remember Tropical Storm Fay? Or "Faye" as some spelled it.
It was last year, NEXT WEEK.

Myself and DOA Rob went out the first day afterwards that was calm enough and not raining and I caught my largest Redbass to date; 50-55 pounds.




















Tropical Storm Fay was a real belly washer and from there on out the season basically began.
The "fall'ish" season I mean.

The Reds were about everywhere, and so was the bait.....CROAKERS. Yep, that's what I used,. them and cut Ladyfish (cuts down the population of the slimey jumpers.....no pun intended, hahahahahahah)

I read these stupid reports about going and catching 175 Croakers, as if that's some kind of super charter fishing day. Yeah, who's cleaning all them damn things. It's not like they are 15 inches a piece. Your guide isn't.

That's all fine and dandy for some, but I'll catch my larger Croakers on the float-rig and a live shrimp, like I usually do. And be happy with 5-10 big ones up to 17", then move on.

Because all the waiting thru the 99 degree temps, scrounging and putting together new tackle all summer long, is all for the preparation of SEPTEMBER.

The days are shorter, we've usually had some significant storms, the water's cooling off and it's all about.....

The first week of last September Paul M. from New England caught this beautiful 6-1/2 pound Trout.









We're loosing basically a minute a day of daylight. Wish I could speed that up a bit and make fall get here even sooner.

8/10 -Tavern Wisdom

8/3 - No sooner ya turn around......

No sooner ya turn around and it's August!!

Wow, I'm glad days fly by in the summer. Because it's all that shorter of a wait till winter. And I can tell ya right now. I'm ready for shorter days, cooler temps, and BIG FAT TROUT at the jetties.

But, I can not go through a summer without sharing with you a Poem my dad wrote back on December 19, 1992, when I used to troll offshore. The poem is all about a "N.E. Florida summer routine".

I can tell ya honestly I was always a better "dead" bait guy. My dad may have done this Pogie Poem, but I lived by the saying "a 5 pound box of frozen cigar minnows, don't leave the dock without them".

Here ya go.....

Pogie Heaven by Don Sipler

Around the end of the rocks we raced

Back to the beach, warm air in our face.

In the distance we saw the birds fly

we scanned the surface with a keen eye.

There they are! First one then many, other boats are coming, quick get
ready!

They're in front of us! So throw it straight.

A good cast yielded a bounty of bait.

We turned the boat slowly to the open sea.

Happy the Pogies were where we wanted them to be.......

I believe this said it all.

7/31 - how to burn 8 dozen shrimp....FAST!

Really, how do you burn 8 dozen of the finest fat & local, live Nassau River shrimp in short order?
Just take two fish crazed young boys fishing for what ever bites. Yeah, my goal was to stretch some strings. And did we!


Had Charlie H. grandpa of Finn (8 years old) and his brother Elijah (6 years old) on board today.

If every charter day went as good as this one, I'd be one "Happy Cappy". The problem was I spoiled these kids. Because we weren't on location and lines in the water 5 minutes before a rod was bent and a drag was getting yanked.


Ladyfish and Jacks, throw in a Mangrove Snapper or two and we had 30-40 fish to the boat, with some lost and there went the first few hours. So went it came time to try and put a decent "keeper" in the fish box which took patience, the boys told me, "we don't like this spot!"


The action wasn't fast enough. So Grandpa Charlie and I had to tell them about the word, Patience. And with a little we ended up with a nice sized Mangrove Snapper and a box sized Black Drum. Which was targeted species at the last spot of the day.


The boys learned how to Float-rig fish and watch for their float to disappear. And then later how to feel the bite as we bottom fished with a light lead and a long leader.

Float-rig fishing is the perfect technique for anyone, and even more perfect for the youngest of fisherman. Just let the current take the float, and when it goes under, start reeling! And the fish is ON. And the battle ensues.


The boys had double hook-ups all day. It was perfect weather. And when the dark clouds came, we were out of live shrimp by then. So I ran fast back to the dock, so as to stay ahead of a storm coming from the west. And got the fish cleaned, and bagged and they were on there way back home just as the first rain drops fell and the wind got strong.

Perfect timing!

7/29 - Another Adventure with Tim from Tampa

Thanks to all who came out to Dick's Wings last night for the Float-rig fishing seminar I did. And thanks to fellow local angler and owner Chip Davis for having me.

Chip said, he felt that about 25 people were in attendance on the stormy night.

You sometimes have to watch out for what ya wish for when you include "Dave" in something like this,.......is what I was thinking. I can pontificate on for hours, and did. But your delving deep into my world when handing me a microphone and say...."talk fishing Dave". Even though I felt, I was a bit rusty. Since it's been awhile since I've talked to a large crowd.

I love what I do. And have no problems with teaching people anything I have learned over the years and passing on info.

I heard billionaire casino owner Steve Wynne say there's two different kinds of FREEDOM; there's "Rich Freedom", like owning and building casino's in Las Vegas. And there's Poor Freedom, like being a beach bum surfer dude. Mr. Wynne always wanted rich freedom to do what he wanted. Well, I guess "Fisherman" falls into that poor freedom category, like a beach bum surfer dude.

But either way, it's Freedom, right? I have no interest in owning big buildings, and having thousands of employees. Instead, I have people all over the globe that love to do exactly the same thing I love to do. And that's F-I-S-H. And that means a lot to ME.

-----------------------------

Today, at 9:30am I met "Tim from Tampa" at the boat ramp. I wanted to get started on the first of the incoming tide. And I wanted to go....."somewhere else". So we went North.

Tim has fished with me many times. Our last time was two days in a row. And it was like NO other two days in the summer that I've ever had before. We some how got involved in a mass confluence of Redbass of all sizes at the jetties, like I have never seen before in June.

Here's links to those two days, if you'd like to read more about them:
http://jacksonvillefishingreports.blogspot.com/2009/06/611-redbass-redbass-redbass-tarpon.html

http://jacksonvillefishingreports.blogspot.com/2009/06/610-fishing-in-aquarium.html

So since I told Tim, that I doubt we'll have a day like either one of those, this time. We're going else where. But no matter what kind of trouble Tim and I get into, it's always an adventure!

We went float-rigging......naturally. So that meant trying to catch "summer Trout" and whatever else. Well, we got into a Trout bite and right as we thought we were in the MEAT, the bite quite.

Four nice Specks, behind the surf. Yeah, summer beach Trout!! Damn, I love that. Clean, green, shallow water. But no sooner the bite started, then the wind started to blow. Which I believe was responsible for shutting down the trout bite as soon as it really started. The water was basically slick, no surf, and oh so calm. Then came some S.E. wind that chopped up the water, that started a bit of surf swell.

But the fish were fatties.

Yeah "Fatties".....look at this Trouts belly!!!

Here's a close-up.

Looks like the fish swallowed a tennis ball! The fishes belly was all distorted. Well, it turned out to have huge roe sacks, being a female. And instead of tubular roe sacks, they were big and round. Obviously, something went wrong with their formation. And the eggs were dark green rather than dark yellow. We checked it all out, while I cleaned the fish. It was something I had never seen before, that's for sure. That Trout probably felt like me after eating a giant Dicks Wings Cheeseburger and waffle fries and 3 big glasses of iced tea at 10:30 pm!!!

Tim ended up catching a total of 4 keepers and 4 - 14 inchers during the day. In between Jacks, Ladyfish. We ended up hunting around the rest of the day. But it sure was fun.

I caught either the worlds smallest Flounder, or the worlds "hungriest" Potato chip.

But as the afternoon went on. We had a few diversions from my master plan for the day.

Some included lightning, rain, wind and utter gloom & doom.

So plan "B", turned into plan "F", seeing how I had no control of what was going to happen with our wonderful day on the water.

Yep, we skirted rain, winds, lightning, temp drops, and clouds that looked like "Jesus fingers" coming down from the sky to snatch us up and take us to Kansas!

So needless to say. We moved around a lot. But that turned out to be a good thing. As I moved away from the dark skies and rain, I went to areas I have been to in years.

And Tim and I caught more Trout, Jacks and Ladyfish. And had some surprises while doing so.

At one point we were anchored up on a shallow bank with oyster bars and a nice shallow sand bank tapering into deeper water. Tim hooked a Ladyfish and had it just disappear from his hook....along with the hook. "hmmmm, what the heck was that??" It wasn't like the fish came off the hook, or broke the leader. There was a definite weird wake or something behind the fish. We just thought that was odd, and kept fishing.

Then I went to reel in and check my bait, and had the water open up a hole behind my float. "wow, that was a big fish, I almost had!" And we kept fishing.

Then a few other weird things happened, and again we just kept float-rig fishing. Then, right as I was talking about not catching a Trout for awhile, my float went down. I reeled, lifted and had me a Trout coming to the boat.......I thought!

But that Trout took off, after a giant boil appeared in the water, and I thought I saw a huge silver fish. As my reel smoked I was hooked up to a drag burner. TARPON!!!!! I yelled. Tim's face lit up, and I had it still hooked up for a minute. With my tiny hook and 15# mono leader. Then it broke off. I thought.

No it didn't.....I still had something on. But as I reeled in, we quickly learned, this was no Tarpon bite.

I had a Trout alright, but someone else thought it was dinner!

So I quickly said to Tim, "were gonna catch this dude!" So, I rigged up a not so heavy bottom rod with a heavy leader and a 12/0 circle hook, with no weight.

Tim re-baited with a live shrimp and I baited up this half eaten Trout and we pitched out behind the boat.

I no sooner got the Trout out behind the boat drifting away in the current, when Tim's float went down with a fish (probably another Trout) and he came tight, and my 1/2 Trout baited rod, doubled over. Tim's toothy friend came to the surface and ate his fish, and broke off the entire float rig, and my rig with the half trout took off and then went slack. My hook was bite clean off an 80 pound leader. Tim's float drifted off behind the boat. Well, that's $5.50, so we pulled anchor to go retrieve it.

Okay, we found the fish, and some more trout. But in this small piece of water along a shallow bank near the oyster bank was also where a set of JAWS was fishing. And "IT" found us.

We thought these were sharks busting holes in the water around our floats. But remember I said I saw a SILVER fish, and thought it was a Tarpon???

Well, now that I had time to think about it. This reminds me of a few days ago at the jetties. When we were catching big Mangrove Snappers. And a monster silver fish came in and slashed through the area while my clients reeled in Mangrove Snappers. And it was a big BARRACUDA!

This FISH, or FISHES, weren't sharks. But rather Cuda's or a single, CUDA! Up in the shallows near and oyster bed!! HOLY......."Snaggle toothed Ledge Trout". CUDA'S????

Now that's another first for ME!! Wow, what an adventure.

Well after loosing the float and going to get it as it floated away in the current. We decided to head home. Because this was bearing down on us. Storm number 4!!

It was one heck of a fun day. And I always enjoy having Tim aboard. He's up for about anything, and is flexible, along with being a good angler.


We ran through some super sloppy, rough water on the way home. Proving the "mettle" of the big Alloy boat, because I gave it holy hell, so to get some distance between us, and the next set of rolling "Jesus fingers" that was chasing us home.

Why I Iove 'em, while trying to understand them.

Friend and "fellow Trout Tracker" DOA Rob, has a friend Greg that was down in Guana Lake the other day. Greg saw a little commotion on the surface of the water, so he went over to investigate.

And found this Trout, which turned out to be 7 - 1/2 pounds, with a mullet stuck in it's throat. The Trout was barely alive, and the mullet had been stuck in it's throat for awhile Greg said, because the "forward" half was a bit decomposed. But the mullet still weighed in at a 1/2 pound.


















Gator's, Hawgs, whatever you call'em, big Trout provided stories and proof like this from time to time. The photo isn't all that great, but you can see the tail of the mullet sticking out this fat trout's mouth.

(Greg also said the nasty green algae at Guana's 6-mile boat ramp was so thick he had to "row" his jon-boat threw it)

Had lunch with DOA Rob today, and we both agreed that it's a real rarity to catch any Trout around here on a bait that large. I told Rob, "I've used small live pogies, pilchards, mullet and Croaker, all less that 6 inches, and can count on one hand how many Trout I've caught. But then use a live shrimp and BAMMMM........I'll then catch that GATOR Trout."

Rob pretty much agreed with me and has had similar experiences.

7/25-26 Summer's Pinnacle.....

Last week was a "marker" for me. Because I see the photos everyday of different summers, as I shuffle through my thousands of fish pictures on my computer. Comparing then to now, isn't all that healthy of an activity. Let me tell ya'. It makes for second guess-itis. Because some summers seem as if I was in a whole different world.

In bazzarro world nothing is ever the same. At least not the things I look forward too.

One thing that's the same is the Algae bloom in the river once again......yeah, crap like that is always the same in that poor river during the summer.

But last weekend like many summer weekends we struggled to catch enough decent fish. So what's the difference between right now and what was going on in this photo??


















Obviously a WHOLE LOT!!! Yep, that was 7/14/07.

HUGE difference, huh?
The secret was then, and probably now also, is "GET OUT OF THE RIVER!!!"
These fish above, in this photo came from no where near the St. Johns River.

This weekend I worked really hard and this weekend's fruits of our labor, were some Trout to 19" and lots of 14 inchers with Don M. and Jamie and Eric on Saturday. We finished up our 12 dozen live shrimp with Mangrove Snappers about 12 of them to 16".


















It's just not my kind of summer when Mangrove Snappers make for the majority of the catches and the fish in the box at the end of the day. I want better and more that Mango's!

But, then on Sunday I had Ray L. Sr & Ray Jr. along with Ray Jr.'s friend. In the morning we fished the river for zero. That's where we had strings of algae on our lines and plenty of the particulates of it in the water. NOT GOOD!

We ended up at the jetties where Ray Sr. lost a Speckled Trout along the rocks .(WOW, Speck #2 at the jetties so far this summer) lots of small Jacks, and then finally one that was big enough to put up a fight. And then later we ran out of 12 dozen live shrimp after catching about 10 Mangrove Snappers for the fish box.






















I'm going again on Tuesday and Wednesday. And I'm thinking....."NOT in the St. Johns River".

When we reach this time of year. I believe the river gets to where it's begging for a summer flush. Usually Tropical Storms or passing Hurricanes take care of all that.


You'd think that the astronomical tides we're having right now would flush that river. The New moon tides this month are some serious ones. Upwards of 5.5 feet of water movement in 6 hrs. Hope things are better afterwards. I'll be able to tell.

Looking forward to fishing some where else for a change. In less than 30 days, I'll be heading to Venice Louisiana for a week. Totally different enviroment over there, thats for sure. I'm so excited!!

And Tuesday 7/28 , we'll be talking techniques at Dick Wings on Beach Blvd. Come on by, the topic is Float-Rig Fishing. Need more info: email me or call.

7/22 - YEAH THIS...one of these!

THIS IS REFEREED TO AS A "CROWD PLEASER".

YES, IT'S A TARPON....A GENUINE KING OF FISHES THERE IS NO DOUBT.

THIS ONE WAS 33' AND 10-12 POUNDS, I REALLY CANNOT REMEMBER.

But every trip to the jetties right now we have a chance at one.

The problem is, most are not "crowd pleaser" sizes.

"Crowd Pleaser" is defined as; no special tackle is needed, no massive hooks, no 200 pound leaders.

And the "Captain Pleaser" part of it all is no running around on a damn "snipe hunt!!"

They are right there. Right where we're fishing for Redbass, Jacks, Mangrove Snappers, Margates.

This one was caught on a 15-20 pound leader on the float-rig, and a G. Loomis 7' poppin cork rod.

With a live shrimp, at 8am in the morning.

We hook'em all the time. Tarpon that is. Just last Sunday we had one on for a nano-second.

Then we had one hooked up again on the 8th of this month.........while jetty fishing.

SO WHAT'S THE DEAL ???

Why can't any of these be landed???

The truth be told is that most people I have on board are completely shocked when a Tarpon eats their live shrimp and hauls ass for Europe. And even if they snapped to it and held on, usually the fish is way too big, for the tackle we're using.

And lastly, even if the Tarpon is small enough (crowd pleaser size) not many have the skills to battle a fish like a Tarpon on "LIGHT TACKLE".

BUT, the reason they're getting BIT, is because they are using LIGHT TACKLE in the first place.

Light and small hooks, light leaders and a frisky live shrimp will always get eaten by a persnickety Tarpon.

The tide stage is why they are there. Right where we are. Because that's where I want to be, and that's the tide I want to be there on. And Tarpon feel the same way at the Mayport Jetties.

Remember, I'm talking FLOAT-RIG fishing in the day time at the jetties.

NOT: Bottom fishing, casting jigs, or fishing via the moon at midnight. Don't think mom and dad and 9 year old Sally from Indiana want to go out at 12:00pm.

So, starting Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday's charter I will have aboard "heavier" light tackle and some one will be chosen, when the time is right to use this tackle. For one thing. That Tarpon bite that we'll probably get. If they want too, that is.

I've had plenty of people catch Tarpon over the years, but only one or two have been at the Mayport Jetties. Because it's hard, that's why I'll keep trying. Plus I'm there already!

Why run all over, when my chances are the same along the big rocks.

You can make a mistake with a Trout on. And you can make a mistake with a Redfish on. But don't make a single mistake if you have that Tarpon on for awhile. There's no room for errors.

Even with a "Crowd Pleaser".

Because Trout and Redfish don't do back flips 5 feet off the water's surface!

7/19 then the 20th

Signs of the times.....booking trips with hardly any notice. And you know by now I like to plan!

It was 8:30 pm I believe, when Adam booked his trip the 19th for himself and his buddy Skeeter. They dropped into J-ville Fla. from Texas. And wanted to go fishin'.


This new moon tide has been strong (and will be even stronger in the second half of this report)

Basically a 3.9' tide with a 0.4 negative on the low. I round this
out to be 4.3 feet of water that has to get out of the river in 6 hrs.

Well, far up river the green algae bloom is now in effect. I seen it for myself. Particulates of green algae in the water everywhere. And this was in the same part of the river that after checking was completely FRESH water on the surface. No salt water in my tests.

And do you remember what a green algae boom does?? To remind you, it's kind of like Red Tide.
Both really hurts Fishing.

We didn't catch anything far up river.....and basically caught nothing till almost noon. It's funny how things are. In the river for me it's usually not till low does the bite turn on, and at the jetties and on the beach, it's all about the incoming tide, lately. At least it's this way for this Float-rigger.
Well, we found the fish eventually and had 20-25 Trout to 4 pounds. A mini Sheepshead that bit because Adam was hung on the range marker. And when the rig came free the mini 7 -striped jetty snapper was there on his hook. Then, a few Redbass at the jetties, and a Tarpon hook-up. Plus Ladyfish, Jacks and Croakers and Mangrove Snappers, of course.























Pretty good day, even though we could have just cut our looses and went out for 4 hrs late in the day and done the same thing.

They left out with a nice bag of Trout fillets.


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Then I had back on board, Monday the 20th the Richard H. crew. Richard, Richard, and 10 year old Ryan. Our last trip a few years ago was phenomenal. They caught Flounder, Trout, Reds, Drum, Croakers, Ladyfish, Jacks, you name it and all on one spot. But that was in June two years ago.


This year.....on the 20th.

Tide: 4.1' with a negative o.6 falling tide. I round that off. Add the two and come up with basically a 4.7' tide, that has to push out the jetties in 6 hrs.

Needless to say, we tried bottom fishing and float-rig fishing with minimal success. And really only had any decent bites at dead low tide. And most of them were Jacks and Ladyfish. One Speckled Trout and a couple okay sized Mangrove snappers hit the ice box. A lost "drag burner" Jack along the Navy base made things interesting, then we hit the jetties. And that's where a 19-1/2" Redbass got put in the fish box.

It was a really tough day with astronomical tides that really just plain screwed up things compared to yesterday. Then later in the day storm clouds loomed and we called it quits.

Now thanks to the Greater Jax Kingfish Tourney, I have a few days off. And as soon as it's over
I'll be right back in the thick of it, next weekend.

At least this week is the "1/2 way through the summer" marker for me. Usually things improve from here on out.

9/14 - Just not enough action

Had George and Peter back aboard today. The game plane was to go after Sharks and or Tarpon. Ran the shrimp boats right off the bat, ZERO. Then eventually caught a small "whatever" shark.
Then a buddy called me and said,

"Dave the Pogies are thick, all along Hanna Park."

We ran south and got Pogies on a scattered pod, filling a fish basket full. Then ran a bit further south and there was my friend Mike. Hooked up to a Tarpon already. We drifted the pogie pods (acres) and had Tarpon occasionally rolling the surface around us. I tried the bottom, the top, chumming, and not chumming. How the hell can you get 3-4 Tarpon's attention when the baits so thick. I don't know, but Mike was slow trolling the outsides of the Pogie pods with his trolling motor. We were engine off drifting through the pods.

We caught a few more sharks. Certainly not the 100 pounders I was wanting. So after hours of drifting around the Pogie pods with no big Sharks or Tarpon, we went back to the jetties.

The tide was almost high. So we fished the inside of the jetty. The tide was pretty high and the current pretty good as the sea breeze kicked up. At this point there wasn't much else to do or places to go, so we stuck out a near nonexistent fishery during this time of day at the inlet.

But did manage a 19-1/2 inch Redbass. And many lost sinkers and rigs in the jetty rocks.


So been there, done that....won't be doing it again. I may go and do some Kingfishing on the reefs. But I'll be hanging up my beach Shark and Tarpon, search. I just don't have the patience.

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It's official, barring any weather problems I will be heading to Venice, Louisiana for a week starting AUGUST 23rd. The mother-land....where the limit on Trout is 25 per person because they have that many Trout. Oil rig structure, and the Mississippi River providing fresh water 24/7 is the difference between here and there. Plus it's the Gulf of Mexico. A totally different animal then the Atlantic.........THEY CATCH LIMITS OF SPECKLED TROUT ALL SUMMER LONG IN THE HEAT!

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Remember to come on by Dicks Wings & Grill, Beach Blvd at San Pablo rd. (next to old Walmart in shopping center) July 28th @ 7pm where the talk won't be Kingfish, but rather a seminar on, all you need to know about Float-rig fishing and probably more that ya want to know about Float-rig fishing. I'll be there to answer your questions, show you my rigs and we'll talk shop.

Here's a reminder of the why and how.......

I'd like to thank Jim Sutton of the Florida Times Union newspaper for the great article in the Sunday (12/21) "outdoors" section of the paper."ya just won't believe how long that article, or our day on the water took, to get right."

If you didn't see or read it, Jim pretty much hit the nail on the head! And damn we caught some seriously fine "jetty" specks that day. All in one spot! Many of my tackle secrets are out'a the bag, now......but, I still have a few things (tackle items) that I've kept to myself.

Already getting emails about the Salmon Stalker Floats, too. I guess that will be good for Premier Plastics Inc. But not me...they don't do anything for me. (Best place to purchase is Cabela's.)

One thing that he or we didn't touch on is that when you see someone like myself wackin the fatties along the rocks, breaking out your poppin' cork, or Cajun Thunder thing, isn't going to be the same.

We have a saying on my boat;

"OKAY, I SEE THE POPPING CORKS ARE NOW BUSTED OUT OF THE TACKLE BOX"

(these are not float-rigs!!)

Were referring to people in other boats, that may think that's it's all about some kind of float.When it really has to do with "where" your bait is, depth wise.I love the float-rig because my people can fish the rocks and not be hung up every two seconds.And they don't have to feel a bite, all they have to do is not see their float any longer and just reel, and they'll have the fish. Be it a Redbass, Trout, Sheepshead, or whatever.I'm not a trolling motor kinda guy either....I'm an "ANCHORER" .

Back when I had three boats at one time (aptly named: "my 3 wives") I did the trolling motor deal up and down the jetty rocks. And it was quite tiring. So I went back to the basics, when I gave all that up. "I always loved fishing my cork."

This nice lady from California never ever caught a fish before let alone handled any fishing tackle...

But the float-rig enabled her to do some whoop-ass, at the jetties!

One thing that Jim said in the article that's oh so true is...

"IT'S THE ZEN OF THE FLOAT IN WHICH SIPLER CAN PONTIFICATE FOR HOURS..."

That's why you should come on by Dicks Wings and Grill on July 28th at 7pm.

Here's Jim's article: "JUST DON'T CALL IT A BOBBER"

Link: http://jacksonville.com/sports/outdoors/2008-12-21/outdoors_just_dont_call_it_a_bobber

7/13 - Calm and Warm

Had Don Z. and his son Greg aboard today. It was Greg's Birthday present from Dad.

Fishin'.....Always a good Birthday idea. Greg had a plane to catch late in the day, so we rammed & jammed all we could into our day, and Don & Greg were on time, and we departed promptly at 7am.

Took off down river. Tried to catch a few Black Drum on the first spot just bottom bumping a bit. But the Croaker's were having their way with us. And wouldn't leave our shrimp alone, long enough for a Drum to find it. Also caught a few decent sized "Spots".

So we moved on. And got into a bunch of Specks. I caught the first one right behind the boat, and it was a "boxer". Then the guys figured out right where they were. But they were mostly "shorts". Small males, in the 14 - 14-1/2 inch range. So we picked through them and put about 4 in the box, with a few Yellowmouth Trout.

But, it just didn't look like we were going to pull a big Momma out this area, that's for sure.

But we didn't have enough time or live shrimp to waste them on other areas infested with 9" Mangrove Snappers. So I ran to the closest big Trout spot, that didn't produce but one small Trout and a.........Mangrove Snapper, of course!

For every rock, dock, or submerged structure in the river there's 1000 Mangrove Snapper's living there. Am I going crazy, or are these lil' bait stealers becoming more prevalent over the years?

Do other Trout Trackers like myself, feel the same way? I just don't know. Yeah, they sort of saved the day last Thursday with Kevin and Tom. But then again, we had them up to 16 inches also.

We went and tried a spot that one day in late June, Dave C. and I got into 6-8 big fat Specks, all in a row of consecutive drifts of the float. Trout up to 23 inches. Well, today we hit it on a tide the same as that day in June. Many times the current is so fast here, you have to wait till it slows. I think I pulled the only Trout from the structure, and again it was a short male fish. I'll keep trying it though. I know 2- guys who pulled 10 pounders from this one spot in 22 feet of water, so it has history. No doubt about that!

So we headed to the jetties. The water was clean, green, and we had good current. The water temp was back to 80 degrees. Last week, from either all the rain or another summer time cool water inversion, the ocean temp on the beach was 75-76 again. And I could tell, because the catching was tough to slim up on the jetty rocks with that cool water.

But today, you would have never have know that the water was warm again. Because the action was really slow. A Mangrove bite here, a Lookdown there.....and mostly Rock Blennies eating shrimp that cost almost a quarter a piece!!!

I hate to 2nd guess a decision, but I should have headed out that way while the tide was still falling and went to my Jack Crevalle spot on the near low tide. Like I did on Friday, when Will caught that 10 pound Jack, that made his day, and his whole year!

Greg would have loved tangling with one of those. He and his dad Don were both good fisherman and bait casters, too. Don's fished with me in March before, on a cool day and hung a 22 pound Red, and some big Sheepshead and caught several big Trout. So Don knows what it can be like. And I know, he can handle good fish.

I believe half of the bites we had today at the jetties were again, BLACK MARGATES.

Because you'd no sooner set the hook, they'd be on and then break us off. It doesn't take much with the 15# Ande leader, I use. That's probably more like 20#, really. I like light leaders, small hooks, and a lively shrimp. I refer to my live-well in the summer as the ICU - Intensive Care Unit. Keep them cool, well aerated, and out of the direct sun light. Because it's all about a shrimps presentation. Just like a lure or a fly for a fly flinger. Make it look the best you can. Especially when the going is tough already. Like in the deep summer months.

Don, after multiple break-off's finally got one of them rock dwellers to the boat. I SWEAR THESE MARGATES ARE THE ONES THAT WILL BREAK YOU OFF IN THE ROCKS IN A HEART BEAT.


















Don doesn't eat fish, so when we were back at the dock and I was cleaning the fish.
He took all the Speckled & Yellowmouth Trout and left me with the rest of the fish. Mangroves, Spots, a Margate and a Croaker.

I don't care what they are really, (although I do prefer nice fat Trout fillets) they all fry up real good with Zaterains Country Fish Fry Mix, and Olive oil. I had enough to make 4 small fish sandwiches tonight for dinner. And Mmm, they were good!




SHARK, TARPON, anything that pulls super hard......that's what is up next on Tuesday with George and Peter. They requested this trip after I told them about Runnin' and Gunnin' the shrimp boats out of Mayport last year in July. But this year there isn't many Shrimp boats in the chum hole right now. I saw a few today. I hope there is tomorrow.