6/28 - The largest of the Large:

Now called Goliath Grouper, but always known as Jewfish. These fish are monster Grouper. They inhabit shallow waters on our coast. Occasionally caught in the river, at the jetties, and even in the ICW.

Here's a reported dead one estimated at 300 pounds that was found on Hugonaut Park beach, river side. A few weeks ago.
"a shame".

Not quality photos, but ya get the idea..."wonder if anyone examined this fish to see if there was a spear hole in it or something."

Where we are NO longer allowed to fish anymore, along the Navy Base past the Mayport Boat Ramp. I caught two small Jewfish one time. A 7.5 pounder and on my next cast, a Lil' 2 pounder.

Here is the larger one laying on a 72Qt. cooler. On super light tackle, the fish really whooped up on me.

It's too bad we can't fish where I caught these Jewfish.....the Navy of course owns "OUR" river, ya know. Because on the same spot where the two small Jewfish came from I've caught everything from 10 Pound Speckled Trout, to Cobia. And everything in between.

Now?

Not anymore.

Offshore it's "species" the goverment is taking away. Inshore, it's just "shoreline".

  

6/27 - TIDES, live and breath them. The fish do.

Here's a trivia question for ya'll to ponder; "Do tides go in or out, or up and down?"


I've made mention I don't know how many times, that I do not book a single charter without consulting my Florida Sportsman Tide Planner Book.

A good fisherman should "study" our tides like they are taking a self guided college course in NE Florida tides. Because everything you do is dependent on it, when you go fishing.

Being one of those "study like it's a college course" kinda anglers. I ran across a portion of the Marine weather website that I look at that was really and "eye opener".

Tides on that free card at the bait shop, in the newspaper, , on your tide watch or whever is a "PREDICTED" tide.

Reality is it's not a perfect science. Like fishing!

Variables that change the way that tides flow up and down, are barometric pressure. The atmosphere weighing more or less each day pushes down on the water, squeezing it out as if you pour water on your counter top at home, and then take your hand and lay it on the water and push down. The water will squirt from under your hand. Same thing...barometric pressure forces the water to move horizonally, beyond the control of the moon. Wind direction, another consideration. We've all seen how fast the tide flows as it ebbs at the jetties when there's a hard west wind. The tide or at least water on the surface is hauling butt!

Well, here's proof that the tides aren't always what they were predicted to be.
St. John's River Operational Forecast System (SJOFS)

-Mayport

SISTERS CREEK/ST. JOHNS RIVER

Here you can see the "now cast" versus the predicted is quit different.

Here's another graph that shows actual and predicted/forecasted.

Historic Tide Data - Mayport Bar Pilot Dock.

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/geo.shtml?location=8720218

If you want to have a nice log book full of tide predictions for the whole state.  I highly reccomend the Florida Sportsman Tide Planner. Found at local bait shops, and Strike Zone. I get a new one every Thanksgiving. So I'm ready to start the new year off right.


Trivia Question Answer: Tides DO NOT go in and out. They "rise and fall". The by product, I guess you could say is that they create allot of current in a place like the dreadged to the hilt, St. Johns River. So when I talk about the fast or slow current in the river, while fishing, I'm refering to the strength of the tide. Actual, or being helped by other earthly forces, like wind and barometric pressure etc.

Here's some "tide animation" to help you out:

More helpful "pictures" if you're interested, with really nice simple explanations.

6/26 - Blast from the past.....

Was surfing one of my favorite sites.....EBAY and came upon this:

(link) Capt Dave's Redfish tapes

Yepper, that my Mom holding her largest ever Redfish, that had no less than 150 spots on it on the cover of that video.
Back in 2000, I made two instructional; type video's. Using the two day seminar I gave at the Florida Sportsman Magazine Fishing Expo, downtown at the Prime Osborne Convention center.

Ohhhh....was that the good ole days.

Florida Sportsman would invite local guides to do seminars and at the same time, for doing so give you a booth to set up and talk to people about charters, techniques, show photos/videos, and just plain swap fish tales.

It was a really good time. So my dad set up a tri-pod, in the back of the crowd as I stood up on a flats boat floating in a fake pond, and talked about jetty fishing, from A-Z in 20 minutes or so.

We used the seminar as part of the video we produced. It took well over a year and we had tons of fishing footage. Then, we ran it all through Adobe Premier editing software and still had one big video. My dad got in touch with Bennett Marine Video out in California. And we used them as the video duplicator, and distributor. And Mr. Bennett suggested we take our "too long of a video" and cut it into two videos.

One on just Redfish, and another on Sheepshead, Drum, Trout and Flounder. The Flounder fishing section we did was my favorite, because by the time we got to covering the Flounder fishing in the late summer early fall, I was allot better at being on camera.

Can you believe, that this was all before super braid line? And back then, not everyone owned a cell phone!!  Seems like 100 years ago. And many of the clients I take fishing are out fooling with their handheld computers while on the boat. And back then, no one had all that stuff. And in reality, it wasn't all that long ago.

Things sure change. It wasn't long after I did the expo's for two years, that Florida Sportsman Magazine started charging everyone for a booth at their sportsman's show. Local yokal guides doing seminars with free booths were replaced by the Florida Sportsman Radio Show team of hosts from around the state. And in my humble opinion, the seminars got really generic.

How's a guy from S. Florida gonna answer questions about "our" jetties.....the #1 fishing area in all of J-ville Florida???

You either had to be a radio show sponsor, a magazine advertiser, or in the right crowd to be invited to the Expo.

But hell, I squeezed everything I could out of what I did there. Probably way more than most Guides ever did. Thanks to my dad, business manager and best bud. He used the opportunity to learn how to edit video, market it, and made some money on it too. For the hours he spent working on the projects, the camera and sound equipment, and the software he bought, he probably earned about .50 cents an hour, with the royalties he received. But it was a great learning experience for sure.

Now, I see my old video on Ebay. And wow has the last 15 years flew by. Yes, I'm on my 16th year of being a 100% full-time fishing guide, in Jacksonville, Florida.  NOT an easy task.

I've learned allot since those days, and things sure have changed allot too.  I ought to sit down with Dad and watch our old copies of the video, which we also had made into DVD's...... again having to change with the times, over the years.

6/25 - Mystery hook-ups

Today's tide was one of those that can be expected during the deep summer months. Very weak, and when the flow stops, IT STOPS!

Had Robert and his grandfather out today. Robert was 16 years old, and his Pop's was from Baton Rouge, La.

Louisiana, the World Series of Speckled Trout fishing and only second to them is, everything else. When talking inshore fishing.
No trout here worth going after. So I tried my best to get young Robert on as many monster Redbass as I could. The slow tide would be a major factor. 

First thing we needed, Bait. Keeping my ear to the VHF radio. They were reported to be out deep past the jetties. So we blasted out there and yes, there was an acre of them. Someone said they saw Tarpon rolling in those deep schools. But I didn't see any. And  I was right there. But we tried a few drifts through them with Pogies on a few floats.

It would be "too much" like the good ole days to pull up to a pogie pod and start hooking Tarpon. So we headed back to the jetties.

We had no less than 4 really big fish hooked up. But each one either came off the hook or broke the 40 pound leaders right at the swivel every time. We actually had I.G. - instantaneous gratification. Because we weren't on location 10 minutes when the first rod bender came, while dropping pogies to the bottom some 50 feet below.

Frustrated, I picked up anchor and headed down river. The same spot "again" I tried where the twin 35 pounders came from about 10 days ago. All we had there was Bluefish eating our baits....the green scourge fish are back!

So we picked up and headed back to the jetties once again. 

It didn't take all that long and we were back into the fish that gave us a 2 second thrill.....the rod bounces, bends over, drag smokes and then a broke leader. All I could think was that it was Sharks. The area was alive with threadfin herring, and small Spanish Mackerel jumping all over the place.

We saw a few Tarpon back come out of the water, so they were definately there. When the rod doubles over and I see a Tarpon about 50-70 pounds go flying threw the air. Grandpa's, hooked up! But as the fish came toward the boat it got off the hook.

Next up, was young Robert on a Nurse Shark. That kicked his butt so bad Grandpa had to finish the job.

 
The action started to slow as the tide started to slow down. We were only going to have decent current so long today. When there's hardly 4 feet of tide in the St. Johns be prepared for no water movemement.

FINALLY, a rod bowed over I set the hook and made sure this fish was on and stayed on. And it was finally our targeted species, a over sized Redbass. But Grandpa was on the rod. So he made quick work of what was clearly a Redbass.

It was a pretty 13 pounder on the scale, that had the distinct yellowish "deep river" look to it.

As the tide finished flowing. so did we and headed back to the dock.

6/22 - Triple Tarpon...Solo.

Tarpon AKA “Silver King”:

Believe it or not, the Tarpon is really a giant saltwater bait fish called “Thread Herring”.

Since no one wanted to go. I headed out myself today. Really didn't have much of a plan. The only thing I knew was that I didn't want to contend with any river current, or deep water anchoring. Need to save my back for Saturday's charter.

Yeah, it was hot and boy was it smokey. The wind had the forest fire smoke blowing in and the whole area looked like an over cast winter day. But I didn't care. It didn't bother me none.

Had three Tarpon hook ups today and landed one about 30 pounds. (they are very hard to estimate) Boatside release, had the gaff in it's mouth and tried to haul it over the gunnel hold rod and 6 foot gaff. My hand gaff was locked up in my console dry storage and could'nt get to it. Let alone try and film or photo. Tried that too, but the camera wasn't ON, when I thought it was. (dammit!!!!!)

So, No photos, no video.
It was like this one caught by Anne Quigley of Virginia

I tried to video and photo, but solo it was really hard to do it all.

Big Mullet on a float near Mullet schools at the jetties.

I saw another boat hook up and reel one in too.

No chumming, no pogies, no drifting.....jus' as I used to say...."why run around looking for Tarpon when they're all around the jetty rocks."

4th of July week

4th of July week, is coming fast.

As with all summer holidays.

BOOK NOW. Do not wait till the last minute as it can get more expensive that way.

I live by the motto; "When ya fail to plan, you plan to fail."  But then again, I'm always early everywhere I go, too.

I'm at the dock no less than an hour before every charter. Other people just assume that my charter's late, because they always say to me, "Your folks not showing??" As if they get satisfaction out of making that comment.

They don't know I'm obsessed with being, E-A-R-L-Y.

6/20 - Aluminum boat education:

"Dat's the largest aluminum boat I've ever seen..."

Yep, I get that daily from people at the bait shop. Which is wrong, because they see at least the Pilot boats in Mayport and they're all plate aluminum.

The Mary P.

She's the second largest Sportfisherman in the world at 122', and was built by Trinity Yachts based in Gulfport, Mississippi. She was actually built at Trinity's New Orleans yard and launched in 2008. She's owned by a Louisiana oilman, Daryl Pennington, which is a good thing since she uses a whole lot of what he sells. I read that she holds 7000 gallons of fuel so you could buy a nice boat for $30,000 OR top off the Mary P,  ONCE, for the same cash!

MORE, to see how the other half lives?
http://www.trinityyachts.com/t044.asp

6/18 - Lately......

Went North during the full moon days, needed to try something else to get away from the current in the river. IE: 6 ounces to catch a Whiting or Pompano at the Jetties.

That's a little "ludicrous", in my book.
Not all that much going on at Nassau Sound, for me. Some Whiting and Bonnetheads for a 18 mile one way trip up the ICW.

Did a 2 hour kids trip today. And I was glad. My momma always said, "please don't run away and join the circus, Davey"
Well, in the hard west winds today the boat ramp was definitely "A CIRCUS". Another reason I love deep, deep winter when it's cold. My pregnant customer Stacy, today had to walk really far because there wasn't any where to park at 8am.

Ya, think the Mayport Boat ramp has officially been out-grown? I think so.

She brought her brother and his kids for one of my 2 hr. KIDS trips. For small kids under 10, and just long enough but not too long before they start to cry and moan. Not enough people do them, and press to do a 6 hr day with little kids. Ya know everyone's children are not Roland Martin or the next Bill Dance (TV bass fisherman, for you that don't know who they are) But rather are impatient, and need loads of action, and small fish. The fishing I do is not the same as the pond back home, that's for sure.

We headed out the jetties to bumpy seas, out to the shrimp boats in search of Shark action..."not for the kids but rather dad."
We hit shrimp boat after shrimp boat and NOT a single Shark!!!!!

See, I mentioned that the Sharks behind the shrimpers was hear-say. I was told, "Oh are you crazy, the sharks are nutz behind the shrimpers." BULL SHIP!!!!  This was my second try with zero. And three strikes and they're OUT. All the while I have (4) yeah FOUR brand new, never bent by a single fish so far, Shark and Tarpon rods.

So we headed back and let the kids catch some of the "carpeting the bottom" 4" juvenile Seabass. Now remember, the atlantic Marine fisheries says we have no Seabass. And just opened them from a closure on June 1st, to now make the take only 5 from 15 per person as of another date coming very soon...I can't remember when, but soon.

IS OFFSHORE BOTTOM FISHING EVEN WORTH THE FUEL ANYMORE?  But people still go, which I find amazing. But I'm glad they do. Inshore is busy enough.

We were back at the dock by 10:30am and I was home no long after. That's a good way to do a windy, crowded Saturday in my book.    

Each summer it seems to be later and later that any Sharks show on the shrimp boats. The pogies were in "acres" out past the jetties heading toward the chum hole. And in the SE hole I had a buddy and his wife chumming and trolling live pogies catching what?  SHARKS!  Now, try and figure out that. He said he saw zero bait out there, but that was after following around a monster shark on Kingfish tackle while his wife did the duty, on the bow.

There's so many monkey wrenches throw at me during the summer it's crazy. Believe I'll let those Shark and Tarpon rods collect dust and stick to the jetties. Unless I get an ""adventurous"" 2, maybe 3 all adult only, trip.

Weekdays.....looking forward to them.
Book ahead, so I can plan.
Unless you think we don't need a plan.

"let's go work the rocks"

Summer bummer, gotta head North:

Okay, I thought we were back into the Big Redbass.....because last Thursday it was twin 35 pounders as our first two fish. Jason L. scored after never catching a Redfish before. So what a way to put that "no Redfish" thing to rest.

Well, I fished with Mike G. and family/freinds on Saturday 6/11. It was a full boat charter. First thing was go get big "RB" bait. The jetties were slop city. East winds blowing and where were the pogies? I couldn't find them. So I called Dennis Young  on the VHF and he said he got plenty way out to the SE of the second set of twin bouys. So we slopped through the 4 foot seas and went and got the 20, I needed to get our day started.

To make a long story short, we fished hard up in the river because the jetties inside were UN-fishable. Three areas later not s single bite from any big Reds. Literally, 48 hours later and they were gone from where I caught them before. The east winds blowing in our face all day had me very uneasy. It just didn't feel right at all. Wind buckin' the tide. I don't like that.

So, today (Monday) we headed out. I had the Baker crew. The reds were, (key word: "were") chewing so good on the rising tide. So this morning a grabbed a ole box of cigar minnows and headed to the spot. If they are chewin' it doesn't have to be pogies as bait. Well, we fished and never had a single bite.

We headed to the jetties to look for some pogies. Didn't see any. (of course they become scarce, every weekend is a Kingfish tournament from here on out) But right at the tip of the north rocks I saw a huge school of Mullet. So I stalked them and threw the net and got about 15 really nice Mullet.

We anchored at the north jetty and immediately, two live mullet down got slammed! One fish broke the leader and another came loose of the 7/0 circle hook. And only bites after that were Bluefish chewing off the tails of the Mullet.

So we concentrated on  just fishing live shrimp on the bottom for Whiting. The guys had to fight the full moon tide that was racing between the jetties, using 6 ounces to just hit bottom. They couldn't feel any bites but did manage a few Whiting.

The west wind was kicking, the tide was falling and the boat was slipping on anchor. I use 55 pounds worth of grapnel hook anchor and chain....what does this river want me to do. Use 150 pounds and 1000 foot of rode in 32 feet. The St. Johns is a relentless river, and does nothing but try my patience all summer long.

Then, a good bite.....a Pompano!!

SIX OUNCES of lead, smoking current and 32 feet deep. Not what you'd think would be Pompano Country.

Then, another!

As the anchor slipped and slipped we ended up in a decent spot. Richards rod bobbed  and he set the hook...."Oh it's something little" he said. I grabbed the net and looked at his reel and said "then why's the drag ripping out?" It turned out to be a really nice Black Drum in the 22-23" catagory. I NEVER GOT A PHOTO OF IT. Because I was way too busy pulling and dragging anchor.

The tide got absolutely ludicris. When 6 ounce leads won't stay on the bottom it's time to leave. We headed back down river and tried again for a Big Red with the Mullet and never had a sniff...."where did they go?"

The only consistent thing is that it's inconsistent.

So, tomarrow Tuesday I'm heading for the first time to Nassua Sound where Mother Nature really likes to kick my butt. I have Richard H and his son aboard. AND WE NEED SOME KIND OF ACTION! And I'm hoping that we'll see some up there.

I'm not sure I can take much more of that river. I need some shallow water fishing, my back needs some shallow water, a lighter anchor and some bent rods, no matter what it is.  It's one hell of a long ride up to the sound, but I hope it's worth it.

Don't know when these reds will come back, or when a Kingfish or even a Shark will show up behind the shrimpers. I hear stories about sharks and shrimp boats, but  I don't care about "hear-say".  

6/9 - Second time around, is a charm!

Had Jason L. aboard today. Last year, we went out on June 8th. Jason, his young boy Preston, and I. Jason told me, "I've NEVER caught a dang Redfish before!"  So, of course we tried. But couldn't get any decent Redbass baits other than a few crabs. We looked for Pogies, and looked for Mullet. But were wasting too much tide. So we ended up doing allot of fishing for just Preston, catching small fish for him to reel on.

Well. today it was Jason, his boy Preston, and his little girl Piper. I had plans to put the end to that, "never caught a Redfish, thang."

We headed straight for the jetties. It was rolling pretty good inside the rocks on the falling tide.

Remember how we used to get nothing but hard west winds this time of the year? And after a month or so, the wind would blow out all the water, and cold water from out deep would come in on the beach making the water 68 degrees?  DON'T think we have to worry about that, during this stage of the climate change process. Because now each day seems to be nothing but EAST winds. Making the inside of the jetties on a falling tide un-fishable. Unless you can keep your stomach down while fishing the 4 foot rollers!!!

I got really lucky, never even had to pull out the cast net, a boat just outside the rocks just made a toss on the pogies, had a bunch and he nicely gave me all I could use. Thanks Fella's!!

We no sooner got some fresh live baits and headed back in the jetties. I tried to get the kids on the Whiting, but the swell bucked by the wind was a "HERE'S YER SIGN" that not much was gonna happen. Especially after trying three spots, with ZERO small fish success!!  So hell with this. The kids will just have to watch dad reel in some big ones, instead.

So I picked up on the last of the falling tide and headed for a hard bottom area in the river. I'm now fishing four rods.....two with live pogies, and two with shrimp for the kids to catch anything that'll bite. And that's when Jason broke his REDFISH spell.

This Red kicked butt! It was a true heavy weight. Larger than Jason's daughter! So large I was running out of boat to get them all in the frame.
This fish was 35 pounds and maybe larger, because I ran out of "scale".

"The Jason Non-Redfish catching spell" is NOW broken.  And broken in the best way. Because this is the largest RB of the year, now. Liela Wadley's 27 pounder, from two weeks ago, has now been over taken. 

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

A ship passes by....the kids are rambunctious, and a pogie rod doubles over again!

HERE WE GO!

Another, that goes 35 pounds PLUS!
Right before the falling tide starts to slack.
Which gave us time after releasing the fish to head back to the dock and have Piper go back to the hotel via a Mommy pick-up.
Which leaves us with Preston. Who didn't want to stay on the boat, either. Which reminds me........

Summer Info: Right now, is the start of when almost every single trip I make can or will have a less than ten year old on board.  Just so everyone knows. It can be very hot, and especially the summer time fishing, needs major patience by ""all"" involved. Kids, may not make the day, even though you think they can.  My 15+ years of experience has shown, ten and over do okay. Ten and under? That's up for grabs. 

So after the mom pick-up of Piper, and the convincing from Dad that Preston was staying on the boat no matter what, we headed back to the fishing grounds. And started on our second half of the day. Fishing the rising tide.

Soon as the current came, the wind and the boat were laying together. We were back into BIG Redbass.

Preston thought he could handle one of these, but look at dad flexing a rather heavy duty rod, connected to a $450 twin-drag ACCURATE reel, with 10 pounds of strike drag. No, if anything. Dad needs to keep his hands on this tackle!!

The Reds were smaller now, literally half the size of the first two we caught.

The last one was the smallest of the day. Sure a "keeper sizer" would have been great. But finding a small one is harder than finding a BIG one. So, I tell everyone to refer their concerns to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in Tallahassee, Florida. For me, it's all about time of year. Winter, is when we get allot of "keeper" size fish, in the river. Fishing isn't like going to Walmart.

I was VERY happy, that now on Jason's second year aboard the Jettywolf, that we put that non-Redfish catching spell, to rest. AND IN A REALLY BIG WAY!
It's all about the bait, time of year, and weather. But right now, the bait is back to being plentiful. The Redbass seem to be chewing.
But, add in some hard winds, and that can make catching them allot tougher, ON ME.

I'm happy with this week so far. We'll see what this weekend brings. I have 4 passengers on Saturday, and there's a Kingfish tournament going on and some kind of inshore tournament too. So here we go......Zoo time!

WEEKDAYS, if you can book'em. I'd would do'em. From here on out.

And please reserve in advance, at least a week, preferably more. Calls the ""night"" before just mean your trip could be much more expensive.

6/7 - Brutus T. kinda day!

Had Terry Mealer his son and his son in-law aboard the Jettywolf today. They were all visiting from Tennessee.

Catching pogies this morning was pretty easy, but there's always a hitch or a hiccup. Today, the pogies were enormous. Three times the size of the ones I had been catching. "Can there be a too big of a pogie?" Just depends on the size of your livewell, that's all.

I'm not gonna do my usual "FISHIN' STORIES" about today's charter. I'm gonna let the photos tell the story......

FIRST "REDBASS" AT THE JETTIES.

HEADED UP RIVER, THE JETTIES SEEMED D-E-A-D. POLE-BENDING THE OLE UGLY STIKS GOOD, AS THE TIDE FLOWED.

ALWAYS THE "KEY", NICE GOOD CURRENT.

NO SECRET LOCATION HERE....
JUS' GOOD WATER FLOW.

SO FAR THE REDS RANGE FROM 10#'s TO 12#'s.

EAGLE CLAW 7/0 CIRCLE HOOKS, AND A ROD HOLDER, MAKE GREAT HOOKSETS.
ALWAYS IN THE CORNER OF THE MOUTH.

NOT A SINGLE "KEEPER" FISH, BUT LOADS OF FUN. BUT A FEW "KEEPERS" WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE.

GETTING IN BETWEEN A DOUBLE-HEADER, OF "SLAM DUNK" PROPORTIONS!

SOMETHING THE JETTYWOLF DOES REAL WELL, HAS PLENTY OF DANCING ROOM, FOR MULTIPLE HOOK-UPS!

NO TRIP HAZZARDS, JUST A LARGE FLAT DECK. JUST TAKE YOUR SIDE, AND HOPE YOUR ARMS HOLD OUT.

THEY'RE PUSHING 14 AND UP POUNDS NOW!


HERE WE GO...THE MONEY SHOT!
14 & 15 POUNDS. BUT I'M STILL HOPING FOR LARGER, "BRUTUS T. REDBASS."

FOR YA'LL THAT DON'T KNOW THAT THE ST. JOHNS IS ALL ABOUT SHIPPING TRAFFIC....WELL, HERE IT IS! THIS PASSED LESS THAN A 100 YARDS OF US.

HERES "LARGER"...OVER 20 POUNDS AND SHOWED IT WAS AN ATHELETE! THIS REDBASS WAS LIKE HURCULES, AND KICKED BUTT ON LIGHT TACKLE.

LOOK AT THE NEXT REDBASS TYLER CAUGHT! IT WAS DE-FORMED. HAD SOMETHING WRONG WITH IT'S SPINE.
THE FISH FOUGHT FUNNY, AND THEN GAVE UP. I FELT SORRY FOR THIS GUY, BUT THEN AGAIN, THESE FISH ARE TOUGH, AND IT SWAM AWAY HEALTHY.

A SURVIVER, IT COULDN'T MOVE IT'S TAIL MUCH AT ALL.

SHORTER AND COMPACTED.....
STILL NOT A KEEPER. NOT LIKE I WOULD EVER KEEP FISH THIS TOUGH.

ONE MORE....AS THE TIDE SCREAMED AND IT BEGAN TO BE HARD TO KEEP 6 OUNCES. ON THE BOTTOM.

No keeper fish, but allot of fun memories and photos. Add in a few sore arms on the light tackle. We packed it in as the clouds darkened a bit and before the super sea breeze started blowing.

Perfection!  Get the right set of circumstances, and this is what June is all about.

6/5 - And there they go...

Remember me saying that this year must be the "year of the pogie"?

But as a Jacksonville Angler, I had the feeling that it wouldn't be a guarantee, that each day would be as easy as it has been, "turn the north jetty and throw the net". Because that's where they've been, and how easy it was to get my dozen and a half needed for each day. I guess the saying that sums it all up is, "this ain't my first rodeo."

Had Paul G. two teenagers, and his neighbor aboard today. We got started at the very last of the falling tide. Searched and searched the northside looking for my measily needed 18 pogies. There was none!

Went back dropped the 55 pounds of anchor and chain to the bottom on the inside of the jetties. There was barely any current, so we'd just bide our time and let the tide change, catching a few mini-Croakers, which I kept in the livewell. Some Whiting and of course, and for the closest to the rocks, little Seabass.

For the two young guys, this was their first time. First time out in Lake Atlantic, or close to it, on a boat.  Then, I pulled anchor and went and hunted again.......still no live baits for Redbass fishing. Back to the rocks again....same deal all over. This time we sat in a vortex of current going one way, then switching and going the other. All wrong. Time to get outa here!

This time, it was the search for Mullet. Another bait I haven't even pressed into service. Because I haven't had too. But they too, were damn near LONG GONE......

Not to change the story here, but to give relavence....Friday myself and friend went down river in search of Trout. I knew going in it would be a snipe hunt, because the word on the water hasn't been promising. So we began Trout fishing near the Dames Point area, worked our way on the rising tide to damn near Trout River. Hitting all the places, that I've always caught them. I had one trout hook-up and lost the fish behind the boat. Other than that, we never lost a bait. Never had even a bite. The water down that way is about as grimey as it can get.  B-U-T......the bait???????  It's everywhere!!!!!!! Mullet of every size. Pogies large and small. But then again. Not a Jack, a Ladyfish catch, not even a Pinfish!!!!

But boy there's allot of bait down that way!!!

We ended up leaving. That area of the river has nothing to offer me, other than knowing that's where all the bait is.
Back at the jetties we float-rigged up Two Flounder along the jetty rocks, then put away the not so trusty float-rigs and bottom fished for 20 Whiting and Two Sheepshead on live shrimp. So Friday, we saved the day but sure used some fuel.

So back to today...

We went to the southside of the south jetty. ONE school of Mullet came down the rocks as I pushed them into the jetty with the boat and pitched the net. Had about 10 Mullet, now.

An itch I have to scratch is the beach Kingfish.....someday I'll catch some. So we blew out to the S.E. Hole to pitch out a few Mullet and make a nice long drift. The water out there looks like Sailfish water. Dark blue and clear as a bell. Glass minnow schools everywhere. There was hardly a puff of wind, the water was slick glass calm, so making that long drift was out of the question. So I had to do the "bump in gear, bump outa gear" slow troll to keep those big Mullet from swimming circles around the boat.

Patience with my crew wasn't all that long, and after maybe an hour they were either laying on the deck, or bored. But this ""is"" slow bump and roll, live baiting.....(memo: I really want to scratch that itch STILL, guess I'll try another day.) So I ran all the way back to the jetties, up river and stopped at the little Jetties.

WE STILL HAD CURRENT. The tide was still rising and even though the weekender traffic was too thick for my liking, I anchored up perfectly where I needed to be.

I told the two boys, "THIS IS IT. TIDES DON'T GIVE US A SECOND CHANCE!" So out went a big mullet, and one of the mini-Croakers I'd saved. The current wasn't too bad, 5-6 oz leads held the baits good along the brake, I call "Cut-Off Ledge" behind where we were anchored.

The structure brings in the fish, and the structure can also be your enemy.

It didn't take long......

First rod doubles over and my twin drag Accurate reels were smokin'. 10 pounds of drag or more, and these Monster Redbass don't even slow down. They were big Reds, because the rod tips were bucking and thumping, and the fish would turn. Turn right into the structure down below and POP, goes the leader. Well...that was it.

Re-rigged, re-baited and not long after there goes another rod. Doubled over and bucking. Big Redbass #2, claims another victim. POP, goes the leader.

Re-rig, re-bait, and Pauls neighbor hooks up off the bow on a lighter rod. POP, victim #3 claims his "fish-gone" certificate.

Three in a row, three fish educating fisherman, in the ways of the river in the summer heat!  

The flooding tide quit. The boat swung, so we headed in.

All I can say is........what a day.

I hope to have an easier time catching free and live bait on my next trip, and next trip, and my next trip.

And next up for me is Tuesday.

The best & sharpest

SICK OF DULL FILLET KNIVES?

YEAH, SO WAS I. WET STONES, DRY STONES, MIRACLE SHARPENERS....I HAVE ALLOT MORE TO DO THEN SIT AND SHARPEN KNIFE BLADES AFTER A LONG CHARTER DAY.

PERSONALLY, I'LL LET THE SAME PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE SCALPELS FOR DOCTORS. SHARPEN MY FILLET BLADES.

HERE'S A WAY TO GET ONE WITH FREE SHIPPING TO YOUR DOOR.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/New-Havalon-Baracuta-Knife-Available.html?soid=1102445124774&aid=_pLmlxnuQVU

CONSIDER THIS, A HEADS UP FOR THE SERIOUS ANGLER/HUNTER. WHO TAKE PRIDE IN A "JOB WELL DONE", AT THE END OF THE DAY.

NEED MORE PROOF....CHECK THIS OUT

6/2 - Inshore Summer Dayz......

Well, we already hooked and lost the years first Tarpon.
It was a perfect "crowd pleaser" at under 40 inches. (Similar to this one)


Light Tackle Float-rig fishing, with live shrimp hooks allot of Tarpon, during the summer months.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the targeted fish. So the small wire hook, broke in half at the side of the boat.

We were actually fishing for "REDS". Reddrum, Redfish, Redbass, whatever ya call them. They are the summer targeted fish, along the Mayport Jetty rocks, of the St. Johns River inlet.

18 miles due west of down-town Jacksonville, Florida.

So far this year, it is the year of the POGIE! They are everywhere. Some years they are not. But it can be a curse too. SO MUCH FOOD FOR THE TAKING.

With not only Pogies, aka: Menhaden all over the inlet. There's plenty of small "rain minnows" aka: Glass Minnows, and schools of every size Mullet imaginable, along with Threadfin Herring, swimming around the giant granite boulders, that make up the Mayport Jetties.

But the standard exersize is head over to the "pods" of Pogies each morning, cast the net, and watch it swim away with 500 Pogies in it.

BTW, There should be Jacks around. But as of right now, we've caught TWO....where are they, is what I'm wondering? Fish this size, around structure, on light tackle can be pure adrenaline angling! I love'em this size, for their pure terror!


I dump out most of the Pogies netted, needing only two dozen maybe for a afternoon of fishing the tide, and sending down Pogies on the bottom along the edges of the massive granite jetty boulders.

Be it either "bottom bait" or used on a 3/8ths to 1/2 ounce leadheaded jig cast up into the rocks.

The larger live baits will get more attention then a live shrimp by the Redfish that patrol the hot spots along the rocks, on a ebb or rising tide. Shrimp invite the small "baitstealers" to bite. And the jetties has NO lack of them.

The fisheries people say we have no Seabass, but then again every rocks, ledge, anchor, dock, and piece of oyster clump, on the bottom probably has 20 juvenile Seabass on it. Up and down this stretch of the St. Johns river. And they are eating machines....some will eat a big Pogie, or Mullet. Because that's one fish with eyes bigger than it's stomach. Jus' like baby Grouper! No difference.

The Reds along the jetty rocks are pretty much all to big to keep. Most are in the 30 inch catagory, and larger. So if you want a keeper, KEEP CATCHING. It's a numbers game.

NOW...is the time to think 4th of July! Book all Holidays at least 30 days ahead of time. Don't be like the calls I had over Memorial day weekend at 8pm, wanting a trip at 7am the next day. First come, first reserved.

6/1 - Holiday weather, today.

The Marine NOAA forecast kept saying (Memorial Day) Monday NE 10-15 knots. Well, thank goodness that was wrong. But I believe with today's winds that it's finally here. Could barely "cut my dirt" in my backyard for all the dust flying around.

6/1 - NORTH WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO 15 KNOTS IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. INLAND WATERS A LIGHT CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MORNING...THEN ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON.

If these gust are just 15 knots, then I'd hate to see 20 knot gusts!

Okay, right N-O-W, is when folks ought to start thinking ahead to the 4th of July Holiday. And it's funny not a single person that's a "registered reports blog reader" responded to the June discount, either. It was in the last newsletter I sent, and only for those folks.

Still looking to leave those jetties behind, and head out to catch a King, Cobia, Cuda, or Blacktip. Pre-scheduled is June 7th with 3 guys and hope to do it then.

Remember: 30 days advcanced reservations for all major Hoildays and a week is good for all weekdays and weekends.







Here's a reminder of why I love fishing the jetties in the fall & winter more than any place else.
Guiding: Nick Watson from Jacksonville's own, Celtic Rock Band, "Rathkeltair" on November 14th 2009:

It's not against the law to reserve your dates now for around Thankgiving.