7/13 - the hunt for Brown Marlin & Coastal Silver

Had a very enjoyable day with Jimbo V. today from Texas. Jimbo just wanted some "PULL", and I was happy to help out with that. And if we could get a "Tarpoooon"......all the better! So off we went and caught a big bag of those "lil' slimers", known as the ever illusive POGIE. We needed enough for an all day chum fest. But that was after running the shrimp boats for an easy hook-up, first. But there was only 3 shrimp boats dragging the whole area outside the inlet. So we hit the closest. There wasn't hardly a single Dolphin behind the Capt Richard boat, so it certainly didn't look good. But I made a cast and was talking to Jimbo, when the rod was about ripped out of my hand. But the shark got off.

Now it was Jim's turn. He had one hook up, lost. Must be small sharks, I said. Then another bit, and it got the bait. So we kept trying and Jim got a small what I think are Atlantic Sharp nose. Then, the shrimp boat stopped and pulled it's nets up........"oh here we go", I thought. But nothing happened.

I like shrimp boats with tons of Dolphins behind it, and I like to see the sharks chasing the boat too. A slow moving shrimper the better it seems to me. So we ran up to another boat and gave it a try. It was dead, too.

I also like it when there's 20 shrimpers working the same area, early in the morning. But some days are better than others, and this wasn't one of them. So off we headed.

I ran to Nassau Sound. And ran into one of the "slews" with 20+ feet of water between two shallow sand bars. A boat was already there, hooking up. Sharks probably. So we moved into the inside of them in the slew and I started chumming. The tide was high and there wasn't any current at all. Just like Trout fishing, the rules are the same. No current, no fish....no sharks/tarpon.

So we picked up and ran north to the beach outside Amelia Island, around the Ritz Carlton hotel area. We started a drift in 14 feet of water, and with the south west wind it would take us out to deeper water. Just what I wanted. Make our own current, I guess you could say.

I saw a boat coming out of the sound as we passed by, something about it was different as I spied on it from far far away. It was Capt Tom, my fellow BlackLab Marine 26' CC, plate aluminum boat owner. I haven't seen Tom in a long while. He lives on the inside of Amelia Island. So he pulled up in his super duty tricked out boat. It's like mine, but as I said....it's, tricked out! Mine is kinda basic.


















After chatting with Tom and crew, I thought to myself. "Dang, Tom is the only person I can relate too when it comes to boats around here."  He, as we say in the alloy boat world is one of the guys who, "gets it".

So as Tom took off, I feverishly chummed and as we drifted out to around 30 feet, I glanced at my 12" sounder screen and saw nothing but bait, probably Pogies balled up on the bottom. And this is when it was Game-On.

Jimbo was into "PULLERS". Many were Atlantic Sharp nose around 4 feet, but a few were larger Blacktips and a Spinner or two that put on the Brown Marlin show for us. Exploding the water and then skipping and spinning across the water to do nothing but chew up, 200 pound test mono. Those big Spinners are some bad mammer-jammers.

It's really hard to get quality photos of a fish that is 100 feet away and jumping and splashing as I cleared the other line. But I did get a few decent pics, with my new camera.

Jimbo was sweating, and so was I after accidentally picking up a rod that was bowed over with drag screaming. But we had fun and the action was HOT as we continued our drifting with hardly a breeze.

But we never saw any Tarpon in the slick, but we gave it one hell of a try. All the sharks action proved we were doing everything right. Maybe just not the right spot. But my theory is, do not leave fish to find fish elsewhere.

We headed in and still had about 5 pounds or so of Pogies out of probably 25 pounds I caught in my cast net, in the morning.

Next up:  Thursday morning 1/2 day, with Roger J. and his 6 & 8 year old sons. Then, Friday with regular and "veteran Jettywolf'er" Don M. and his guest. We may do a bit of sharking, but if it's slow we're gonna stick to LT fishing (light tackle) at the inlet and in the river.  Then, a Saturday 1/2 day, with Charlie H. and his grandsons.

7/12 - Lots of work

Been busy....did and offshore trip that turned out to be a real bummer, after several hours of trolling. With no action. Chris M. and I took off and went to three different reefs on the 8th and had two clip off's on Cigar Minnows, a slam on a King Getter, and a Cuda that came off a Drone spoon. We even drifted cigar minnows over the ole Acosta Bridge rubble out there at Busey's Bonanza. Chris caught a small shark on the drift, and that was it. We were after Kings, not small sharks. We saw a whole lot of football sized schools of Bonita's, and they were haulin butt so fast there was no keeping up with them.

So eventually we just headed in. I was all about doing some "run and gun" behind the shrimp boats, but Chris had Kingfish on his mind. We tried it as we headed in and it was just plain too late in the day. No sharks like I've seen lately in the morning, were behind any of the smaller shrimp boats out there. So we chunked some dead cigar minnows at the end of the north Jetty for a few minutes, but the tide was dead and not moving. So we called it a day.

I must have went 70 miles or more, with all the trolling we did. At a good clip too. Dead cigars I troll at 3 knots.  And was as if there weren't any fish out there on BB, PG, and MR reefs.

I'm so over the "trolling thang", I took that off my web site's rates page. A slow day of inshore fishing is way better than a day of endless trolling in my book. All those hours on the engine....if I continued doing much more of that, I'm sure someday in the future I'll regret it. Honda 225's aren't getting any cheaper!

Then on Friday I took off to Hilton Head S.C. with the folks. Went up there to haul back some beds and framesa that my Aunt & Uncle didn't want or had the room for. So Friday and all of Saturday was shot. But before we left for S.C. we had to pull my dad's motor cycle trailer out of my garage. And that's when my aged garage door popped, snapped and flew off the tracks. So dad and I blew and extra hour securing it so it wouldn't completely fall down while I was gone.

Since Sunday I have been moving beds, and tearing down a garage door......sounds simple huh? Not so.
Beds had to be moved, and then have them stored nd ready for pick-up by the Salvation Army. Then the garage door had to come down and be cut up to be hauled away. Then, I had to spend alot of money I don't have and get a new garage door put up.

All the while I have people calling for days, and they want them so it sounds, then they don't book them. Then the calls come in for last minute charters, for days I do have booked. Oh it's a riot!

But on Tuesday the 14th,  I have Jimbo from Texas.......a Trout fisherman, a Texas wade fishing Trout fisherman! And I can't even show him any big Trout here. Last month he said he fly fished for trout to 33 inches in Laguna Madre.

Ya read that right, 33 INCHES!!!! In June!!!!  

Yeah, we're the only ones in the south that do not catch monsters in the heat. Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, all catch big Trout in the heat of the summer...."oh but that's the Gulf, not the Atlantic. I forgot".

Saw this on La. Sportsman Magazines web site:

















$5.00 on Ebay. Yeah, someone's gonna make something out of the disaster.
Some one on the La. Sportsman reports forum asked if the proceeds will be given to a charity to help La. Fisherman.

Now, it's all about where and when you can fish over in Louisiana. They are closing and opening fishing daily. In Lake Pontchatrain, there is no oil yet, and fishing is closed. So Capt Eric Dumas and a bunch of others are going anyhow to protest, "the La. Fish & Game can't write us all tickets...."

That's what it's turned into now. Protesting, Catch & release fishing only, Hearings, Fights, Testing fish, and so much more.

Good gawd what a mess!

BTW, I finally got my replacement digital camera before I left for S.C. the other day. So I can finally get back into taking GOOD photos. What are reports without photos? Just a bunch of w-o-r-d-s, thats what.

7/7 - Big day upon the seas....

Had back on the boat Steve W. and his two sons. Last time, they were out on the JETTYWOLF we hit the shrimp boats out in the chum hole and had us a big day of the boys pulling on sharks as they screamed drag off the twin drag Accurate reels. Well, guess what they wanted to do today?

You got it......SHARKS.

I told Steve, "I've been behind those shrimp boats out there 4 times and have yet to even see a Sharks let alone catch one."

So as we left the dock, I turned down river versus out the river eastward. We had the last of the falling tide ahead of us, so I figured we burn off some old Cigar Minnows on the bottom and get us a few big Reds.

Upon arrival on the spot, the tide was great, the morning wasn't all that hot with a due east breeze coming off the ocean, all seemed to be perfect. Glitch in the game plan.....bait stealers galore! Eating our baits on the bottom in 36 feet of water faster than I could keep two rods out and lines in the water.

No Redbass bites. Yeah....how hard could it be to catch a decently big Redbass on a falling tide in good current along the Lil Jetties?
OBVIOUSLY PRETTY HARD, in bazzarro world.

So I said hell with this and picked up and headed east out the jetties. Big Swells against the east wind were at the end of the north rocks, but outside the current it was really nice. We saw shrimp boats WAYYYY out there a few miles offshore. So I dropped two plugs and two dead cigar minnows over the side and trolled the "rip-line" out to the shrimpers looking for a Kingfish or Cuda bite, which was also a "fish-wish".

We arrived at the shrimp boats all gathered in one area, so I pulled all the trolling lines and headed over to them with a rod all rigged up. I use a 4" Pear shaped float with 4 feet of 200# test and a 13/0 to 16/0 Mustad circle hook  on the end of the rig. Everything is crimped. I also file the bend of the hooks and create a notch in the steel, because most of the time I'm not going to get that hook back. ( I like having hands and fingers) So giving the sharks a bit of help with hook degrading-rusting, as soon as possible.

We pulled up behind the first shrimper and what did we see??? A pack of 50 sharks from 3 foot to 6 foot or better all chasing the boat on top of the nets. I freaked....."LOOK AT ALL THOSE SHARKS!!!"
The boys were ready, too. The sharks were boiling the water, even. Fins and tails were everywhere.
I made a cast into the pack and in seconds it was game on!

I believe we hooked up at least 8-10 and put at least half to the side of the boat, thanks to some never die angling of the boys, and the meat stik'ness of my big Ugly Stik rods. Young anglers don't need to go "light tackle" here. Because several times at the side of the boat when a sharks in the 4-5 foot catagory and anywhere from 40-70 pounds would lunge, that rod was smacked on the side of the gunnel, plenty!
But the Uglies can take it. 

You have no idea how big or bad the sharks that's gonna eat the bait will be, till you hook it. But one thing we are TARGETING is the Blacktips/Spinner sharks that are the largest of the pack and are the HIGH FLYERS!

Yes, now that's exciting. Hook shark up, sharks smokes line sizzling through the water, sharks flies across the water sideways in the air, "cork screwing" and lands and does it all over again. If you still have this animal on after all that, you're lucky! I call 'em, BROWN MARLIN.

We weren't all that lucky today. After the arial displays our fish was lost, by either a bit off hook right through 200# mono, or the whole rig was just plain g-o-n-e. Yeah, I lost loads of tackle, today. But that's the game.

Then, re-rig and get back in and do it again. Most boated sharks were Atlantic Sharpnose, and a few smaller Blacktips.

I was busy doing all the de-hooking and or cutting the leader, while holding the sharks for a photo. So I didn't get many shark pics today. And the pics I did take were with my camera on my phone. Yes, today while I was fishing my replacement for my broke digital camera was delivered....but a signiture was needed. So I still have no real camera.

So these are the shots I took. Steve was supposed to send me all he took. But I have not recieved them yet.

Next up: A solo'ist Chris M. on 7/8 another returning past customer. Last time he fished with me it was in January and was freezing. Now he's trying the flip-side.

Heading offshore for Kingfish is the plan, then come back in and hit the shrimp boats for some more "run & gun" sharkin'.

7/5 - It's over.

Whewwww....The madness is over. Now, it's hopefully back to normal. Even thought this holiday wasn't the best weather wise. Maybe now when folks contact me, it will actually be because they "want" to go fishing, rather than tire kick, around.


This weeks forecast as of today:

TODAY - EAST WINDS 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INLAND WATERS A
LIGHT CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

TONIGHT - EAST WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. INLAND
WATERS MOSTLY SMOOTH.

TUESDAY - EAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INLAND
WATERS A LIGHT CHOP.

TUESDAY NIGHT - EAST WINDS 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INLAND
WATERS MOSTLY SMOOTH.

WEDNESDAY - EAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET. INLAND
WATERS A LIGHT CHOP.

Hummmmm, EAST WINDS HUH?
That's not right. My next pre-booked trip is on Wednesday.


OBSERVATIONS:

I have not seen the first Tarpon at the jetties yet. They may be there. But I haven't seen one. All I've seen tucked up in the rocks is lines of cuda's facing into the current. Did you know that they will take a "top water plug"? Yep, years ago I worked on them for hours. Then finally caught a 15 pounder on a Storm Chug Bug.

They're way to smart to follow a plug away from the rocks too long. I had them following for a few feet. But C'mon....what baitfish swims into open water to get eaten? Later in the day as the sun started to get closer to the horizon, I guess you could say "in lower light conditions" same as top water Trout. I made a few casts parallel along the rocks. Yes, a bait fish struggling would be up in the rocks seeking some kind of shelter, right? And that was the ticket! Half way back to the boat the "following" cuda blasted the top water plug. Flying out of the water with a mouthful of sharp treble hooks. And I got it! Can't say I know anyone else who's caught them SNAGGLE TOOTH JETTY TROUT, on top water, along the big rocks!

Heck with sharks.....these dudes are the scarey ones.









































 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
I prefer sic'n the wolfie on them, myself....."let's go get us some"

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-Bring that blonde in the little bikini ........

7/2 - Boys day out.

Had Greg T. and his two sons, brother-in-law Bruce and his son.....same crew as last year. And the son's ages are from 6-8 years old. I always try to keep the boys as busy as I can. So after I picked them up at the Sisters Creek boat ramp we headed not far away to toss out some shrimp and start catching some fish.

We weren't on the spot but minutes and the boys started reeling fish in. From giant Pinfish to a Spadefish, a pup Black Drum and alot more Pinfish. (looks as if the Pinners have taken over where the Mangrove Snappers would be if it wasn't for this past winter's cold taking care of the river's plague of mini-mangroves, along every rocks, bump and dock piling in the St. Johns river.) 

The tide started to slack and the boat started to swing around on anchor. So I made a pitch to a spot where I always pull a Redfish out of, with a light rod, small hook and a piece of dead shrimp. I felt bump, bump, and handed the rod to Bruce. This was an adult size fish! But Bruce and his son shared the reel in of a very nice light tackle catch of a 30 inch Redfish.

My Verizon phone camera didn't do so good with this picture today. I can't wait to get my replacement digital camera, replacement number 2 in two years. SeaLife dive cameras.....save your time and buy a Olympia "TOUGH" digital water proof, instead. (http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1483)  I wish I did. I would have taken more photos, but I was a bit busy with the boys and fish today.














As the tide really started to pour, we swung around perfectly. Time for heavier lead, and heavier rods. And big Reds in strong current. So I busted out the dead Cigar Minnows I had on the boat yesterday and cut them in half, pinned them on some circle hooks. Just like yesterday, the first Red slammed the bait, I picked up the rod and yelled for one of the boys.......then the fish was gone. It came off the hook somehow. Big time current and deep water can be that way with these fish, sometimes.

Next up was Wes, the rod doubled again and he was reeling and pulling as drag smoked off the spool and the fish got him over the ledge behind the boat and cut the Mason hard type nylon 30# leader.

Waiting on more big fish wasn't the three boy's forte, so as the anchor slipped I drug it up and we made a move. The next spot was pinfish and more pinfish. But the boys didn't care.....their favorite fish of the day probably wasn't the 30 inch Red, but rather the puffer Greg hooked up for them.

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

I had so many emails and phone calls for this weekend, but people have a hard time committing. But inquire all the same. I don't get that? The weather is gonna get windy as this front finally goes over us by Sunday.
So I made plans to head to Hilton Head, N.C. with the folks and visit my aunt and uncle.

But as I made my way back from Sisters Creek boat ramp after the charter, dad called and said his transmission was acting funny in his truck that we were taking. So now no trip to N.C. this weekend and no bookings either.

Next up, is Tuesday the 7th.......Steve W.  and his two boys.      

JULY 1 - World Tour

Had the Don B. and his family my favorite "regulars", aboard the Jettywolf again. Always glad to have them, as we always have a good time no matter what happens. Well, today was one of those "best laid plans, gone awry." Let me define, for the vacabulary handicapped;  AWRY - "away from the correct or expected course; "something has gone awry in our plans."

And that usually means Nassua Sound! I ride all the way up there, because we weren't looking for any box fish, I just wanted big time pullers. Drag smokers, via relatively light tackle. And by the way, that meant SHARKS. Be it the small 2-3' Blacktips, or the 20 pound Bonnetheads. When I have the Brandts aboard, they just want to catch, and enjoy the day out.  The last time I was up at Nassua Sound on a kids trip, we had 30 or so Whiting and a few light tackle rod doublers we never even saw, before the hook was bit off the leader. So that's what I had in mind. But I came prepared. And even brought Chum to secure the bite, if we got into a good one.

Twelve inch Whiting are fine for a 6 year old, as long as there's loads of them. But c'c'mon....adults ain't getting any thrill out of a 12 inch fish. So after my 18 mile long run via the ICW, we arrived as the last of the falling tide just started to switch. Bites we had.....12" Whiting, and one after another 12" Sharks.

Did ya get that? I said 12 INCH Sharks!!!!! The nursury. Romper room, Sesame Street crap. I moved around 3 times. Same deal.

The water temp in the sound on my machine was 72 degrees!  IT'S JULY 1ST, AND HERE WE ARE IN 72 DEGREE WATER? Yes, another summer time happening in bazzaro world N.E. Florida. Cold water in summer. Usually a good thing for the shark hunter. But obviously not today. So after a good handful of 12" Sharks and dink Whiting. We all agreed, "it's time to get the hell outa here." So I made the run all the way back to the St. Johns River.

On the way back, I thought of a good spot and if the tide was right we could catch some big Redbass. And damn if I didn't pull up, drop the anchor set out two rods rigged with circle hooks and pinned on some thawd cut Cigar Minnows and the first rod bent over. I.G. - instantaneous gratification. Bill, Don's dad was sitting right next to the rod when it took a bow. Hooked it up and then it got off.....OH NO MR. BILL!! I believe the fish didn't have long enough to eat up the cigar minnow, as Bill reeled it up and everything but the head was gone.

That's the tricky thing when fishing circle hooks for gamefish that eat their baits whole. Give them time to take it and then double the rod over with the reel spool peeling line out. There's no need to hurry, the fish ain't going no where.  Unless the fish eats the bait and swims towards the boat, like big reds will do. Then you have to take up the slack, feeeeel, feeeel some more. Then reel like your hand is a Black & Decker, as you lift against the fish.  Not always as easy as it sounds. But lots of experience, will do the trick.

That rod wasn't out 2 minutes and we already had one on. Things were looking alot better than Nassua Sound already!

Then came a precession of bites from some super pretty and dark copper colored "RB's" - (Redbass')

(the camera crew getting ready)

(not bad photos from my Verizon phone, after a bit of tweaking)
We had some other bites. No Stingrays, thank goodness. But as fast as the action came, it was over. I bet if we were there just an hour or so sonner we would have been in the whole bite, instead of the tail end.

We made a few moves, but couldn't get any more "love" out of a Redbass. So eventually we headed back to the dock. The weather was calm all day, almost too calm. But we did watch the clouds come in later in the day. I had kind of a sinus headache. So something was happening. That's always my clue that there's a change on the way.

That change will happen for tomarrows trip. From no wind today too N.E. wind shifts on Friday up to 20 knots by afternoon. I'll be doing a 1/2 day with Greg T. and his two youngsters, and his Brother-in-law and his youngster. Five, and me. Thank goodness the kids are light weights.

No more Nassua Sound for Cappy Dave. I try to only let that place "burn me" a few times each year. And when it does, it does it royally. 

6/28 - Not new...for summer

Had Richard H. from Japan along with his 11 yr old son Ryan, his dad Richard Sr. and Richard's niece Sarah aboard on Monday. I've been taking Richard his dad and his son for years. They've caught big reds, big Trout, drum, Ladyfish, Jacks, and even a really nice Flounder. Usually Float-rig fishing in the river.

But since it's been so hot, and this year the river just hasn't been producing like years before we headed offshore for Kingfish. I picked them up on the northside, and we ran out to (MR) - Montgomery's Reef.
I started out just surveying the area by pulling some Russelures, in HOT pink..














Eleven year old Ryan, wanted a BIG FISH, as all kids (and Dad's too) even though Ryan has caught some big fish before, I figured a Cuda on my really big heavy rods would put different thoughts in his head. So we trolled and trollled. The surface water temp was 74 degrees out there! Was it from the big belly washer rain we had last night, we all thought?

We even saw huge schools of small cigar minnows. I circled them, and circled them. "Man, you'd think a Cuda attack would be forth coming."

But we had not one strike. So we beat ourselves against a really close swell as we made a move to (BB) - Busy's Bonanza Reef. More bait schools, so I rigged up my go-to baits. Dead Cigar minnows, rigged for a quick 3 knot troll with a 6 oz. trolling lead, to get it down. And more nothing.

Finally as I rounded another school of bait, a rod went off. Sarah was up and she's never caught a fish before so she had plenty of instructors aboard telling her what to do. It turned out to be about a 8-10 pound Bonita.

(NO PHOTOS......broke camera)

We continued on and even trolled  from BB to Nine Mile Reef. Like most kids, Ryan was laying on the deck, head down. Sarah was laying up on the bow casting platform. Richard Sr. was sitting up front on the cooler, and Richard Jr. and I were the only two really paying attention to what was going on.

I checked the baits a few times. And if I have to say myself, "My Cigar minnows looked as if they were gonna come off the hook and join the schools, they were swimming so life like."

So, no bites wasn't from my baits not "lookin' good". That's for sure!

We just made a three reef run, and covered acres and acres of ocean. The surface temp when we decided to leave and head in.......basically because of the kids. The water temp on the top was about 78 degrees.

But rumors of a summer "thermo-cline" is all I'm hearing about, lately. From the bait shop to the local Wally-world where I bumped into a friend.

So.......it's just a normal summer? No close Pogies, and cold water, again?  Yep, par for the course. I don't keep my thumb on the party ground reefs like I do the river or the inlet. And since I fish out there seasonally, because it's Kingfish time. I learn from doing, going, and alot of travelling.

We bagged up the Bonita in my Kingfish bag with some ice and headed in. Richard's wife wanted the Bonita, they eat sushi.

We got to the jetties and it was slack high tide, but tried a little bottom fishing then headed back to the boat ramp.

Don't know if it was the Full Moon, or cool water on the reefs, but compared to my last offshore day. It sure was the opposite. I was hoping for a load of Kingfish bites, like I had before on the 19th with Tim P.   

6/26 - Capt. Dave's Fishing Day Camp

Starting mid summer I hardly do a single trip without someone under 10 on the boat. And we joked about that today as I had John Paul. S. his father in law Joe, and two boys Bryce 9 and Zach 7 years old aboard.
Since it was a Saturday, I figured it was time to get outa "Dodge city" and go north to Nassau Sound, and have the boys catch some Whiting and whatever else we could get into.

It was a perfect day. A leisurely ride up the ICW and we were there in no time. First spot, and we started catching medium sized Whiting, right away.

No photo's as I had to send my underwater "dive" camera back to the manufacture for the 2nd time, to get a replacement once again. So reports without photos in my book just plain aren't good reports anyhow. But to make it short and sweet, "we had a really good time." 

The boys reeled in alot of Whiting, even though things got a little slow when we had to sit through the tide change. J.P. reeled in the couple Bonnethead sharks that were way too big, fast and strong for kids this young, while the boys stuck to catching a few baby Blacktips less than 20" long.

GOT KIDS TO UNDER 10 TO TAKE FISHING THIS SUMMER? Have them join Capt Dave's fishing day camp. And we'll head up to the "sound" and just plain catch fish.

We got back to the dock and I cleaned about 30 Whiting, and the crew went straight over to Singleton's Seafood Shack for a fish fry lunch with what the boys caught. A perfect end to a perfect day. 

Next up: Monday I have my regulars the Hostetters from Japan. And we'll probably head off to catch some Kings on the "hardware" and dead cigar minnows while trolling.  ( I guess I'll have to use that camera on my phone and take a few photos....)

6/24 - Big week....way more to come.

Since my last report, I've had a few trips. I had Mike and Phil aboard the Jettywolf for an offshore King Mackerel trip. And when we got offshore about 10 miles, and I was idling along readying the lines that dreaded sound we all hate to hear went off within the workings of my big bad Honda 225.......
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Yep, an alarm. An over heat alarm. So, I shut her down and then tried again.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Okay, that's it, we're done! I called Sea-Tow and we sat anchored up and caught two small sharks while waiting for our tow boat to take us back to the dock.

This was last Thursday, and I had another charter booked for Saturday morning. So I worked fast. All new water pump, that looked perfect. Checked brand new 2 week old T-stats. Checked and cleaned temp sensors. While there, changed the oil, even. Took boat back to the water and she ran just fine.

I GUESS I FIXED THE PROBLEM? Or was it one of those freak alarms going off for the hell of it?

Saturday came. 8am, I had John B. and his 8 year old daughter aboard. (not all trips this time of year are hard core manly adults) We were supposed to do a short day, a cruise mixed with a "tad" of fishing. So we left the dock and I headed for the shrimp boats to show her the packs of Dolphins behind each one. She thought that was pretty cool, and it is. Dad was amazed too. Then we hit the jetties. I anchored up and tossed out a few baited rods. And then we hear, "I don't feel good, I wanna go."

Our short day just got alot shorter. I headed back to the dock. Total trip, one hour 20 minutes.

Then came Thursday evening and I had Ray R. and his son for a evening/night Trout fishing trip, 6/24-25.
We left the dock at 6pm. The wind was HOWLING and a full blown Southeast sea breeze was in effect.
Wanted to start at the jetties, hunt up a Redbass then move in and up river before dark thirty. But of course plans changed after looking at the water crashing over the rocks.

Headed up river, tried a good acclimation spot. A few bait stealer bites. Moved on. Went to one of my favorite go-to trout spots......at least it has been other years. Nothing going on, but after the sun fell, I hit 3 small trout with a hook in the mouth while Ray and his son were working on their first good bite. Hours went by, I moved around the spot that was lit up from massive lights on a dock. My crew finally connected with a few small sand trout.

But as usual this year, NOT ONE SINGLE TATTLE-TALE FISH. Jacks, Ladyfish....if you are catching them, you know you are at least in the right area for TROUT. The lack of these two species has been the topic of my discussions lately. I'm not out to catch alot of them. But I know for a fact that if I am catching those two species....Trout are usually also around. I remember years when I fished the heat of the day down river, and caught Trout after Trout, in between the Jacks and Ladyfish and the ever present Mangrove Snapper bait stealing monsters. This year, I have not caught a single Mangrove Snapper. Like the Trout, I believe they took a swift kick in the shorts, from this winters frigid temps. That's my theory. And have not had a single person prove me wrong, yet.

So, it's now 11:45pm and I'm sort of heading back to the Mayport boat ramp dock. When I pass a spot I have not fished in a few years. I anchor up and my crew starts getting bit. We have a few short Trout, then 2 or 3 fall off the hook at the side of the boat. Then, land 5 keepers from 15 to 18 inches. The area is really small. We're backed up to some big structure, space is limited and the guys are drifting the float-rigs with live shrimp under a dock.

Trout are busting the water, but under the dock and way over in a corner. The current is about as goofy as it can get, and I'm hanging by a finger nail on my anchor. We get a gust of wind, a ship wake and the anchor slips back. Ray is using the last shrimp out of 10 dozen, with a die off of probably a dozen, so the last one of 9 dozen shrimp. I start the engine, Ray checks his shrimp it's about d-e-a-d, barely kickin. As I pull away from the dock and go slack on the anchor, his float goes down and he brings the 6th Trout to the back of the boat. These fish REALLY don't care about outboard noise, that's for sure!

We soft peddle back to the boat ramp and I get a photo of them.

















My piece of crap water proof digital camera takes this blurry photo, because it's supposed to be "shock proof, water proof ", and now isn't working right. Dammit! The screen is so small on the camera, it was hard to tell last night (at now) 2am that the photos was all blurry.  But I guess you can tell they're holding 6 Speckled Trout. (getting new camera, T-O-D-A-Y!)

So this was the official first evening/night trout fishing trip of the summer. Catching, loosing and releasing about 12 trout . And I'm not super impressed with the Trout action. I haven't been since December, and only hope it will eventually get back to it's old self.

Next up: Saturday with one adult and two small boys. Heading to Nassua Sound at high tide. And then more "pre-4 of July" in the heat trips. Heading out for Kingfish again, too.

P.S. - I have come up with the easiest way to pull dead cigar minnows that I have ever seen. I love a box 'O cigars....always have. And this year put some real effort into EZ rigging of them. I may do a post here later of the why's & how's of my Cigar Minnow EZ King Mac rig. So stay tuned!

6/18 - 6/19 - the turn-around.

Had Gunner M. aboard for a late notice river trip on Friday the 18th. We left out at 10am to catch the incoming tide. Right off the "get-go" I could tell something was wrong as we sent Float-Rigs down the big Jetty rocks. NOT ONE SNIFF.....

So we made a move. Not a sniff, again.

We ran up into the river, and still could not give a shrimp away. I did run down the beach to the south a little bit and looked for the EVER absent Pogie. To use as bait for a big Redbass on LT-light tackle. But like the other people I saw looking. I didn't catch any, or see any. From what I hear now, they're all the way up on the north-side of Nassua Sound. Probably in the same ole hole they end up in every year, off American beach.

So we tried pitching live shrimp around the little Jetties........NADA!

And I had a 2-3 passenger trip on Saturday morning too, along with a Sunday charter. The river was so dead, I guess it's time to "turn-around" the tackle. Time to head offshore to the reefs and troll up some "slimey's".....Kingfish!

So on Saturday morning with a Kingfish tournament going on since Friday, the Mayport boat ramp was a zoo. But I awoke at 4:45am and was at B&M to get ice and a box orf cigar ninnows by 5:35am and almost didn't get in there either. Remember......."weekends are twice the work for me, and there's twice the people around. I really don't like them. That's for sure." 

So Sam and Tim found me, since I was at the ramp for an hour and a half, just so I could get a parking spot!
I was really ready to leave.

We went to MR reef first. I drug the "hardware", planers and spoons with the HD - heavy duty tackle. No bites. So we moved on to BB reef, and that's where we picked up a Cuda on the spoon. Finally a strike.
My goal was what I refer to as the half way mark on the party grounds, East Fourteen reef. And when we got there, it was time to bust out the lighter rods and dead cigar minnows to troll with.

It didn't take long. We got plenty of strikes like the fish switch was thrown. Kingfish, kingfish, kingfish....we had a total of  "three" double headers, (two kings on at once.) I was getting flash backs from years ago when I was a Cigar Minnow troller from hell. And it all came back to me.

Since this originally was supposed to be a inshore trip with Tim and Sam, I was sooooo happy to get some serious action, now. The guys also reeled in a Bonita, foul hooked of course and it kicked Tim's butt. Most of the 10-12 Kingfish we caught were all in what is refered to as "snake" class. But I didn't care, it was Kings. The targeted species. It's been a long while since I've done a whole day of cigar minnow trolling. So it felt good. And Tim and Sam were having loads of "reel" time.

We actually had a breeze, and the water wasn't "window pane" slick, but had some ripples and a tiny swell, which is much better than glassy. We'd mark the kings on my sounder, and then the drags on t6he reels would buzzzzz, Fish-On!

Here's some photos of the day along with one of me gaffing a King, through Tim's polarized sunglasses so you can see the fish in the water...."good idea Tim!"

All Kings were released except for two.
I'll be at it again on Sunday. Heading to look at the shrimp boats for sharks....100 pounders. Then off to a reef, with more Cigar Minnows ready to troll. Stay tuned.

6/15 - R&D...Shark fishing?

I have been talking sharks. I like runnin' & gunnin' behind the shrimp boats.

Myself and my buddy Nick hit the shrimp boats yesterday morning.

Armed with just HD tackle only we did some run & gun behind the shrimp boats in the Chum Hole.

ZEROOO....100 pound Blacktips. 10 Shrimp boats workin the area and we hit at least 4 and never saw a shark, let alone got bit.

So, being that I had the need to do alot of "R&D", to see how this summer really is so far, we headed to MR - Montgomery's Reef. 7.5 miles N.E. off our Chum Hole location.

Not for sharks, but rather to drag some Drone spoons around for a Kingfish or Cuda. Any kinda of action would be okay action, I guess.

Had no other tackle aboard, just serious meat moving rods, that also double as spoon trollers, with 10 & 12oz. trolling leads. I need to get me some planers instead. No cigar minnows (I'm an ole cigar troller, actually.) Catching Live bait takes up a ton of t-i-m-e, on charters, especially if they pick a day there is no pogies around.

So a 1/2 mile from my destination we dropped over the spoon rigs, it was 0930 hrs. Within 5 minutes the drag slips and the clicker sounds...BITE. We were using my giant 8" Drones. They're huge and flash like a large distressed fish, but attacks are not always hook-ups. Alot of "teeth clacking" goes on with these spoons.
http://www.dronespoons.com/


But two minutes later, Nicks hooked up! Man handling the not so "sporte" tackle, and reeling the fish in was a sweaty ordeal.

But Nick catches a 10 pound Cuda. I'm hand-lining it in as the boat's moving forward, and some dude in another boat wants to play chicken, and drives accross my bow.....yeah, there's some real jokers out there too.

We filmed the whole operation, with Nicks super cool Mini camera. From the shrimp boats to the now trolling....a video will follow in near future of our exlpoits.

We approach a wreck, and now it's my turn. Reel squeels and now I have something. A small snake King. Probably 6-7 pounds. I call that an "eater". No one needs a lot of Kingfish, and neither do Nick and I. It doesn't keep well, and is only "okay" when really fresh.

So since we were flying by the seat of our pants, today. We have to take all the drinks out the larger cooler in my bow, and switch the usual fish box cooler to drink cooler and drop my little King into the larger cooler.
I didn't have my fish bag, no lighter tackle, no other bait just 4 meat moving HD rods and reels, and my spoon gear and shark gear.

By 11am it was REALLY hot! We kept trolling, changing the spoons from shallow to really deep, and with VERY limited "waypoints" in my GPS, kept hunting for a few wrecks. (I had 1000's of LORAN #'s from years of offshore fishing in the past that I never switched over.....hell I go offshore maybe twice a year, these days.Remember....I'm an inshore Guide at heart.)

We arrived and the surface water was 76 degrees, by now it's 80 degrees. All bites on the spoons STOPPED. Which we had lots of, but limited hook-ups. Cuda's like the spoons about as much as eating King Mackerel from under your boat, but I don't care I would have taken more.....heck it was just R&D. I'm not choosey.

It was DEAD calm out there. I ran into some friends and they had some Pogies and were leaving, so they gave us their pogs and we bottom fished a bit over the MR culverts.

SHARKS...Oh we finally found them! But 2 foot Sharks is not what we had in mind. It's all we could catch. So time to move on.

We also saw a big Manta Ray skimming for plankton on the surface...SERIOUSLY cool! It was follow-able as it just swam past my boat a few times. So we followed it. And it had 2 remora's and ONE Cobia with it. The Cob was MAYBE legal, so I pitched a bait to it over and over again on my heavy leader bottom rig and it wouldn't give it but two looks and then run back to the Manta. (We have some great pics that Nick too, that I'll post when he sends them, to me)

If the Cob would have bit, it would have been a "netter". The fish was so close to the boat a few times I could have "free-gaffed" it. But, that's not cool....If it was a 50 pounder...that dude would have met a Gaff Hook, if it didn't want to e-a-t.

After the bottom frenzy of sharks, we went back to the spoons and recieved a few more bites and one more hook-up and Nick had the fish come off the spoon.

Spoon trolling on the inshore reefs like this isn't the what the pro's call the very best way to trolling success, but like Float-rig fishing in the river...it's EZ, and you can cover some serious water. We had no other bait, and keeps a bit of a breeze going thru your ears, at least versus that slow trolling live baits, or trying to drift with no wind.

We came back to the river and took some dead Pogies and dropped them down outside the navy base, and guess what?????

More 2' long, sharks! Add about 5 feet and about 95 pounds and they would have been what we originally went to catch.

So, don't tell me...a summer with no sharks to catch behind the shrimpers? I don't like that too much. Well I guess I'll just continue with my standard river/inlet light tackle and large Redbass fishing.

Remember; the tide the day you choose to go is what I have to work with. And first and foremost, I really like less hunting around, and more.....just plain keeping bait on our hooks. Today was like I said a "fly by the seat of our pants R & D trip with a buddy", and it made us certainly not want to give up our light tackle jetty fishing any time soon, by no means.

More info on spooning it, for Kings and other reef inhabitants:
http://www.dronespoons.com/PDFs/trollingwithplaners.pdf

6/14 - WANTED: 2 Nocturnal anglers?

Boy, it's really becoming that time of the year to NOT deal with the HEAT. And can you believe I get calls from people wanting to take little kids out in that heat all day? Six, eight, or even 10 year olds don't need to be out in that all day. Refer to my 2 hr. "Kids Trip": http://www.fish-jacksonville-fishing.com/

What I'd like to do is some evening/night trips.....especially on these crazy summer weekends.
















No boat ramp crowds, and no one really around anywhere.  But of course, it takes a bit of planning on your part. I can't be up to 2am, and have a charter the next day. So give me some heads-up. I know that's tough this time of year. Because I get calls day after day for "RIGHT NOW" charters. The closer to my bedtime someone calls, the larger the deposit becomes. Most are just "spur of the moment" fishing ideas, folks have. And hardly ever pan-out. Because if they were serious, they'd be ready to chunk down the deposit I ask for, on the charter.

With "feel like" temps in the high nineties, to one hundred, even on the coast. By July, I usually try to start as early as possible and be done by 1:00pm for a inshore 6 hr. day trip.

I haven't had anyone requesting any Kingfish trips so far. I guess I'll have to grab a few buddies and go hit the S.E. Hole and a few inshore reefs and see what's going on. Reports from the S.E. hole lately have been KINGFISH.....and even SAILFISH! Yeah, close-in SAILS. This time of year the by-product of slow trolling for Kings can be a Sail behind the boat. Been there done that, in the past myself. It's pretty exciting.
But, the hotter it gets, it seems like the harder it gets every year to easily cast-net some quick and close Pogies, behind the surf. I think I've seen thicker Pogie schools back in March. As they tightly hugged the Jetty rocks, while I was out there hoping to catch some Speckled Trout that never came. (Just Yellowmouths)

 In the past I've mixed a little trolling, with a morning of Shark fishing behind the shrimp boats. A little run & gun looking to see if there's Blacktip action behind the shrimpers.

Than, skip off to a close reef for a bit of trolling for some kings and of course the "snaggle toothed ledge Trout", also known as CUDA'S.

No, this trip isn't the cheaper charter. Boxes of Cigar Minnows/ Boston Mackerel, and the extra gas, is my major expenditure.

So, as the summer progress', these are your opportunities.
Call to inquire: 904-642-9546

6/12 - Saturday morning avoided....

Had Dave B. and his buddy out for what I'd assume to be a great idea. Leave late, catch the incoming tide, and avoid the Saturday morning mayhem at the boat ramp, along with any extra traffic because of a Kingfish tournament going on.

So, we agreed to not depart till 2:30pm, at low tide. And fish the clean-green-cooler flooding tide at the big Jetties.

We got into position, and after a brief "how-to" lesson about the float-rig. The guys picked it up right away.
Waiting for the flooding tide to make it's way down the jetty rocks, and before the real current even started, Dave gets a FLOAT down!  The Red makes a few good runs, and into the boat is our "targeted fish".

















Okay things are looking up and the tide isn't really even moving yet. But eventually the clean-green water heads our way. And I even start making a few drifts. Bait stealers are about the only thing I'm getting bit by.

Then comes something I have never seen before, this bad. Literal herds of Stingrays, like flocks of swimming birds start coming by, splitting around the boat. I'm talking 30, 40 at a time, wave after wave of them. They swim right into our lines and of course because I'm the only one with Polorized sun glasses on, I'm the only one seeing them. They snag into the lines on almost every single drift of the float. It became had to actually fish.

Plague like porportions of them are pour down the rocks with the flood tide. Every time the guys sent thier floats down the jetty rocks, the rays would come by and they'd have to straight line the rods and bust off the stingers. They aren't eating the shrimp, just getting snagged. And on the light float-rig rods and reels, they'd smoke off with a line dumping run.

But in between, no Redbass bites at all.....and believe me when I tell ya we stayed on the spot and feverishly worked the rocks.  But I could just feel it. There was no mojo here. If I can't even hook-up, how was my guys supposed to. That's my measurement of a spot. After a few hours, nothing but the one Red and one Ring-tailed Porgie and a few rock blennies were caught.

The SE sea breeze was up, the water was flowing. It was cooler and actually quite nice. No boats hounding us. No boat traffic and  no bites. So we headed over to the North Jetty. Set up on two different spots, and the micro-bluefish were eating every single live shrimp we put out.

Wow, I tried my best to pick the best part of the day. And we can't catch a break, only 8" Bluefish. Something is terribly wrong with this picture. Was it that the 5'8" incoming tide New Moon tide the problem? I guess so, because it had the water alive with creatures. Mullet schools swam by the boat too. So we headed back to the south jetty, and the water was so high that we didn't get any drifts down the rocks, but rather into the rocks, because the tide was so high the water was pouring through the rocks rather then along them.        

We quickly went through 10 dozen live shrimp, and as the sun started to go down, we ran out of bait. My best educated guess, and best attempt at fishing the jetties for Reds with light tackle for maximum fun. Ended up being just that, an attempt. 

But I'm not going to let it stop me. This week I'll fish the incoming morning tide, if I'm going. Because I still believe that the clean-green-cooler rising tide is our best bet. 

6/13-18 - My Top Pick

This week coming up will have the best TIDES, in my opinion of the whole month. "IF", I was wanting to book a summer fishing charter for LT - "light tackle fishing". This is when I'd do it.

Starting Saturday: New Moon
The flood tide will be 5.8 feet from 3pm till 9pm. That's a whopper for this time of year!

This past week I've been busier than a one armed angler. And of course, it's vacationer time. So, no one really pays attention to what is expected to to have a good day.

I know, I want.....A CLEAN, GREEN, COOL RISING TIDE.

These photo's were taken on days when we had exactly what I'm talking about. And I'm not talking a kids trip, I'm talking ADULTS who want to fish:

6/8 - River Caverns, and what lives in them?

Had a crew on board from Idaho. Standard Operating procedure for summer river fishing. Go get some live wigglers in the way of Pogies, then head back into the river and fish them. Well the Pogies were just behind the bar on the beach......in four feet of water. Thank goodness the swell was small. They were bigger than the other day, and I got about 20, and dropped them into my little 14 gallon bait tank. Had shrimp in my 2nd tank, or I should have split them up.

Loren, Paul, and Jeremy were ready. This was the crew that makes ya glad to be in the charter biz. The wives were at some kind of class or conference down-town, so it was a boys day out in sunny FLA.

We fished the last of the falling tide in the river, right where I have been lately, and doing well on the Redbass.
Some days it's big fish well over 20 pounds, and someday it's fish in their teens. We had bite after bite after bite. And Paul catches one.

The problem was, that a 7/0  circle hook and a live Pogie was getting slam dunked. But the fish wouldn't stay hooked up. They were getting off, almost every time.

Then as the tide finally turned......I'm really not liking the falling tide either, both with consistent easterly flow winds. It bucks the tide, and makes for a difficult day. But heck, I get what I'm dealt. So since we started late at 9am, it gave us the tide change to fish too.

When the tide slowed, it was time to break out the new Shakespeare Ugly stik "Catfish" Rods....yep, they call 'em the kittycat rods. I call'em light tackle Brutus T. Redbass rods! They handle up to 3-4 oz leads. That's just what I was looking for. So I pitch behind the boat, two of the light tackle (LT-for short) just as the tide has us swinging on the anchor. My big Pogies all died on my by now. They were too crowded in the tank.
So I cut small chunks and pin them on the light hooks. A rod doubles over.....Loren grabs it. Drags smoking....fish is dumping line off the Shimano Cruxis low pro reel. Fish gone!

This now has set the precedence for the rest of the day, as the tide floods in. Let me just say, "I believe there could be alot more Jewfish in the river than we think."      

We ended up fishing a place that just a small area. But if you take away all the water, as local fisherman we'd be astonished of what the structure looks like on this spot. I've fished on it before. And the same thing happened, many moons ago. Lime rock ledges, that would look like a mini Grand Canyon under water.
And people pass this spot all weekend long, and never give a seconds thought to what lives down there.
Previously, I've caught huge Seabass, small Groupers, Moray Eel looking creatures. And a handful of Redbass.....only because then I went to 150 pound leader, and a 11/0 circle hook.

We sat anchored up, and no less than 10-15 viscous  rod bending, twin drag Accurate reel smoking  fish hooked up. The rods, 80# class Shakespeare Ugly Stik charter boat series 6'6" meat rods. So it's not like we were under gunned. But still for some reason it seemed as if we came to a gun fight with a pocket knife!

The fish would bust the 50 pound Mason Hard Type Nylon leaders off at the hook in a nano-second after the rod bowed over. Yes, a few were Stingrays. I could tell that, we even caught one and got it to the boat.
The runs of these fish were epic, hit then shut the door behind them. Like Grouper fishing offshore on top of a ledge. And yes that's what this was like, one exception. The tide was so strong we were using 12 ounces of lead to hit the bottom in 36 feet of water.
















And that was 1/2 the problem. It gave whatever we were hooking an extra burst of speed. The reason I even mentioned Jewfish....or the new politically correct name, Goliath Grouper. Is that the Jetties does hold them. Dave Merry a local Mayport fisherman caught one a week or so ago. Mike Morris, a friend of mine caught a 48 pounder at the North jetty a few years ago. I caught two small ones back to back one fall along the Navy base rocks. A 7.5 pounder, and a 1-1/2 pounder mini Jew.












So these fish do exist. And I believe that we could have hooked one or as many as a few fishing the river caverns that we were dropping Pogies down into. It's not like, it's unheard of.

But after fish after fish busting off the hook, and many just plain pulling off the hook, this wasn't your average day of catching good sized Redbass in the St. Johns River. But Paul, did bag one more Redbass, before it was all over.

















These that were caught were the small fish. The ones able to be caught. And the best action was on the flood tide....not the falling. In the summer time, there's no arguing the effects of clean green cooler water pouring in from the jetties, into the river to fire off a feeding frenzy.

We ended the day, with two Reds and a Stinger. Pounds of lost lead, lots of broken leaders, and many a lost hook, along with lots of lost fish......whatever they were.

The guys and I had a ball, and their attitudes never wavered. They were ready for battle from start to finish.
And I liked that.

Today it was all about the T-I-D-E, as in 99.9% of the fishing I do.

------------------------------------------------------------------
6/9 - In the river kids trip.

Had Jason L. and his 6 year old son out. Went along the beach looking for a few Pogies. The East swell was big and we saw no Pogies at all. Which after yesterday I figured as much. Went back in the river and caught a bunch of "Spots", one pup Black Drum..


I never knew or ever caught them where we were today. The water was rough, the wind was again, bucking the tide all day long.

Tried to catch a small Red for a 6 year old. But never got one.

Saved the "spots" for cut bait for tomorrow, in case a Pogie can't be found.

One more day in a row, and I get a rest before getting out there with the crowds on Saturday.
After being out all week, I don't look forward to a Saturday.

Them wacky Aussies

Saw this on my "second home" AAB.com where my "botheren" of Alloy Boat owners gather. This was a post made by one of our Austrailian members. They have some really unbelieveable fishing down yonder. And do whatever to catch them.....of course. Check this out. If these Gizmo's aren't ingenious, they are at least upside down, from the way we think around here, thats for sure.

Handline Springers  - c/o: "Jocool" Sydney, AUS.
Do you guys use anything like theses?

I have just fitted some handline springers to the boat. Following is a series of pictures of how they are used.

They consist of a grommet type fitting with a threaded body and a nut much like a skin fitting. They have a machined groove in the rod, and 'R' clip retainer below deck to lock it in the fixed or hidden position.

They tuck into the deck when not in use, and only have a little disk showing that shouldn't snag on anything.

















This is the springer raised, and ready for use.

















I place the line through the v-notch.....

















...and then wrap the line around the springer, above the notch where the line is fitted.

















With a strike, the springer will load up, and bend toward the water....

















The line will then pop of the rod, and I go to battle stations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I haven't yet used it. I just fitted them over the last few days with the crap weather we have been having.
 
 
I guess you could say, low tech fishing at it's finest, huh?

6/5 - "I.G." - Instantaneous Gratification (via; BrutusT. Redbass)

Had the Wolf crew aboard the Jettywolf today. Any wolf's are good wolf's in my book. Jim and his 3 sons, with one celebrating his 16th Birthday. So....plan was to spend the falling tide catching BIG Reds. But first we needed some live wigglers. So we left the dock and headed out the Jetties, it was the last of the falling tide and I was hoping to see some Pog's where I found them on Thursday, right at the end of the south out deep.

But that would have been too easy. Well, not on a Saturday. Yes, the boat ramp was a zoo and boats were everywhere. But there was a pack along the beach near the Navy base and Hannah Park. So I soft peddled my way over there.

I saw alot of people cruising around, and that also included a shrimper running straight down the beach in shallow water. Joking, I pulled up to a few boats and said, "Is this where all the bait is?"   Because I saw lots of net tossing, and not a lot of Pogie catching.

It was after 9am by now and I can just imagine how many boats ran through the bait. Which will include the Jettywolf, also. The bait was in there, but obviously really scattered. And I wasn't about to make a longer run to find any, so I joined the search party.

All we needed was a bakers dozen, and I'd be outa here. But catching even that many proved to be pretty hard. But as in all fishing, be it cast-netting or hook and line, persistence pays off. I threw my net and got TEN Pogies. Looks like that'll have to do. So we packed up and headed back to the river.

That 10 knot SW wind sure seemed much stronger back up in the river, as the last of the falling river tide was pushed hard. And anchoring where I wanted to be wasn't working....I was dragging. But again, persistence eventually paid off, and we stuck by the hair's of my chin. One good wake, or that FWC guy wanting to tie-off to me would kick us off our anchor. Yeah, he came over to shoot the bull because he wanted to see my boat. He must have been a newbie to the area. Because if you haven't seen me on the river by now. You're not a regular. I told him, "we're hanging by a thread here.....ya can't tie off to us or that'll be it....."  

But that was just after I tossed two Pogies out on the "meat-mover" rods and reels, and we had a DOUBLE-HEADER of Redbass! So being in the meat, right here was very important to me. Yep, live wigglers like Pogies right now are like Fun Size Snickers Bar's, laying on the bottom of the river. The kids are gonna pick them up and scarf them! And we were in a Rally of Reds!











































































For some reason, I feel as if I'm missing a set of photos I took...I knew I took more than this.....Hmmm?

But you get the drift...Brutus T. Redbass was chewing. Right up till the tide backed off. So we pulled anchor and headed to the jetties, looking to Float-rig a little for some possible "keeper" sized Reds. But that didn't work out so well. I had the guys sending the float's with live shrimp down the rocks in the very limited area I could grab, the tide wasn't exactly right just yet, but was getting there. And from out of no where came a huge wind, probably 25 knots from the southwest. The water chopped up, and we had to sit it out. If the anchor slipped, we'd be blown into the jetty rocks. And that eventually happened.

The wind whipped, and as I pulled the anchor we were the only ones left at the Jetties. Everyone vacated.
The river went from slick to white water. So we headed back to the dock.

Weather....."it's like that sometimes, in the summer."  And keeper sized Reds in the river can be hard to come by, too. I say, "we can't look gift horses in the mouth."  That's why I wish there was some Trout around.