4/14 - Pre-frontal slowness:

The SE winds were pushing and the jetties WOULD have a swell from hell I thought with the "day before the full moon tides".

So I opted to head the other way. With Dave H. and his two sons I'd give a try the same thing we did on Saturday. Early morning popping corks and live shrimp up in the shallow water looking for Reds & Trout.

Didn't produce anything but BLUEFISH.  What a difference 2 days can make around here. Same spots, no bites at all, on one of the areas.

"Okay, front coming, wacko moon on the rise. Higher water, overcast and windy." certainly not the same day as dead calm Saturday morning, for sure.

So we went bottom fishing. And one area that is just full of hard bottom, velcro like bottom, that usually holds fish is the mouth of Trout River.

It was dark, windy and sprinkling with rain. The last of the rising tide. And we caught the YEARS first Croakers up to 14 inches!  And a 10 pound Black Drum.

Afterwards, the weather seemed to get a little worse even. But as the tide changed couldn't find the Croakers or more Drum afterwards.  That Trout river mouth is a bit wacko. The tide always seems to take forever and a day to feel as if it's ebbing, there. Until it's almost LOW.

Go two miles to the east and the current is running hard. But at the mouth of the Trout river. You can sit there with sinkers and line straight up & down, no water pushing at all on them, for what seems like forever.

So, despite some weird tides, and weather. We caught A LOT of lunch. So we headed back, and it was one LUMPY ride in certain areas of the river, for sure!  I cleaned up the Croak's and Drum and the guys headed over to Singletons for a late lunch and cold beer!

When I got home. The sun came out and it got hot and calmer. GO FIGURE!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEATHER ALERT - SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES - THIS WEEK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, as I have been posting. The weather this week is KILLING my Pre-Easter charter week, (the rest of it; Weds thru Friday) with huge winds up to gale force along the coastal areas.

YEP, that me. COASTAL ANGLING aboard the Jettywolf!!!

Several trips with small children + High winds = NO GO!

4/14 - Ruination of PRE-Easter charters:

Yep.....here's what's gonna kill this week.  This ain't good!

TUESDAY NIGHT
NORTHWEST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET.
INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
IN THE EVENING...THEN ISOLATED SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT
NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS.
SEAS 5 TO 7 FEET. INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. ISOLATED SHOWERS.

THURSDAY
NORTHEAST WINDS 20 KNOTS. SEAS 5 TO 7 FEET.
INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

THURSDAY NIGHT
NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 4 TO 6 FEET.
INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

FRIDAY
NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET.
INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

4/12 - AVOIDING the crowds....

It's that time of year when people pull the boats out of the back yards, get rid of the mouse traps and Moth balls and hit the river with a vengeance.

I don't seem any of these boats in February, when I'm at the jetties, or up in the river.

It's the "fair weather crowds". Not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect weather. And after yesterday "Friday", at the jetties with not much going on at all. With the east breeze, and falling tide "ground swells" rolling in. I could just read the writing on the wall.....Saturday's gonna be a ZOO!.

So today I had Lee and his 12 year old son Forest aboard the Jettywolf. And we beat feet "up" river.
As in towards down town.

First spot. Popping Corks and live shrimp up in shallow water. B-A-M.....2- Redbass. Small pups, but what I call, "I.G." - instantaneous gratification.

We either caught two to four fish per spot, or nothing. As I rushed to keep us on some high tide spots, after catching a few fish only on each spot.

The end of day tally:
 2-3 Yellowmouth Trout
2-Whiting
2- Speckled Trout 14-15 inches
5- Redbass, 16-30 inches
1- Bluefish

We finished up the day bottom fishing. But all morning it was actually clip-on rattling corks, a small split-shot and a live shrimp.  Not really "float-rig fishing". But close and only in 6' of water or less.

Lee and Forest had a double header on Redbass on one spot: "Big Red-smaller Red"

Nice morning and day. Avoided the Jetty crowds, and glad I did.
Just Fun up in the river.

4/10 - SOLO ANGLER - whoopin day!

Kenny L,   Walleye Angler from Ohio.
"SOLO" on mirror, glass, slick, flat, day on a near-shore reef.
Then, back to the jetties for...MORE!

"SUBSCRIBE" to my Youtube channel for future upload notifications.

No need to say anymore. Video says it all.

 

WWW.CAPTDAVES.COM 

"standing at the dock at parade rest, the way everyone thinks I spend my days. Waiting for a charter call."  NOT!

Call ahead or e-mail me to check future dates. Reservations done with deposit.                                                                                                

4/7 - EVERY SINGLE YEAR is never the same......EVER!!!!!!!

This video / SLAUGHTER all day long......of course when no one wanted to go!  Was video'd on March 15th of 2013.

*TROUT
*REDS
*SHEEPS
*YELLOWMOUTH TROUT GALORE

Float-riggin' live shrimp. And pitching jigs and Matrix shad's (soft plastics)

It was complete APE SHIT RIOT, out there, this day I made this video.  Almost felt like I was actually fishing Lake Pontchartrain in Slidell, Louisiana!!

No head-aches. Just NON-stop fish whackin'.  And damn near all by myself most of the day.

THIS YEAR - TILL RIGHT NOW??

Yes, I have had some great days, in 2014:
-Superbowl Sunday (NO ONE wanted to go Feb. 2014)
-Day after, Superbowl Sunday (yeah I killed them back in FEBRUARY 2014)
-Last Tuesday with my favorite fish killer "Traveller" Bob. (See video below this post)

Here's the HUGE difference from this video from March 15 2013, and this past March and even right now in April:
-No TROUT to speak of.....
-No BITES on "soft plastics"
-No multi-species days like this one.




ITS APRIL, right now!!!  DAMMIT.

And people ask me WHY I call this area, BAZZARO WORLD.

Here's what I'm looking for, RIGHT NOW!:
-Insane Trout
-Insane GIANT yellowmouth Trout
-Reds all sizes (more keepers, aka: SMALL REDFISH)
-AND 90% on jigs and Matrix Shads
-NO bait needed, during the "correct tides!"
-Throw in a Sheepshead... Throw in a POMPANO!
-has this even come close yet??  NO.

Believe me when I tell you. Soft Plastics (Matrix Shads) on jig heads. That is in my 100% opinion, when the super spring bite, is in full swing.

Could happen any day now. Do I get a chance or the "TIDE" to always try it out, constantly.
NO.
But when it happens for me. I'll let ya know.

Is there places where you can rely on a bite to start when it's supposed too?
Y-E-S
Is Jacksonville one of those places?
N-O.

So, cut me a break. When you want that bucket list, folks.
"I wanna catch bla,bla,bla......"

Heck, SO DO I!

I get very very frustrated. But believe me when I tell you.

"You'll always get the straight scoop here, from me. And alot of B.S. from other sources."

4/6 - Half day of fishing 101

Tried my best to get Gwen a MONSTER. But never had a MONSTER bite. So her and her dad slayed the Whiting dang good. Filling the box with "future fish fry'ers". That did end up at Singleton's Seafood Shack around 1:30pm.

Same area, same bait, just not the same as Thursday with the Redfish rodeo going on. Guess, they just moved on into the river and then they scatter.

Now this is a real charter boat. We have loads of room!

4/5 - The BLUE Family adventure......

PERFECT EATER SIZED BLACK DRUM AND A BOX OF MIXED WHITING AND SOME WERE MONSTERS!

(first attempt at time lapse...sort of)

4/4 - Talking to the deaf?? We'll see.

Funny stuff....BOAT/US is working on it.

4/3 - WHAT?.......Mo' Redbass?

Yep. And todays breeze didn't help the float-rig fishing either. So after playing around with that. We gave up and hit the bottom.....hard!

But, let me back up first.

Had Rex and Tina aboard at 8am. At 9:30am I only had Rex aboard.

Although it was what I'd call pretty darn "slick slick slick" this morning. Tina lasted through a few really nice sized Whiting on the bottom  and then said, "take me back". She just couldn't hang on the boat. But was amazingly feeling better as we ran back to the dock!

So, she played landlubber, and me and her hubby headed straight back out to the jetties.
As I said, the float-rig'n wasn't going to work. So we bottom fished and it didn't take long and we were into "OVER-SIZED" Redfish (aka: Too Big to keep)

But we also boxed a dozen or so nice fat Whiting for a visit to Singletons seafood shack afterwards. So to have Singletons fry them up for dinner later on.

Here's the high lights, in Photos!!!   Yes, Photos!  Which is rare for me I know. But video would be too time consuming this evening.

I'm tired and sun burnt.

YES...THINK AHEAD, CALL OR EMAIL, BOOK, THEN...."LET'S GO 
FISHING!

4/1 - NO April fools here......Jus' Redbassin'

My super pleasure to have Bob "Traveller" Johnson aboard the Jettywolf, one mo' time!

"We Never have a bad day together".....says Bob.  And he's right!

For some reason, "his quiet concentration, and my go nutz excitement, make for a great combo I suppose"





"click on this reports title, to read Bob's comment on the day"

3/31 - I was holding my breath...and almost died!

All systems go for Jacksonville, Florida reefing project

Two new fishing reefs planned for the St. Johns River in the heart of Jacksonville are one major step closer to reality after the state of Florida matched a pledge by the Building Conservation Trust to fully fund the project. The two reefs are scheduled for deployment in late spring/early summer and will be placed less than half a mile from the I-95 Bridge over the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Chapter of CCA Florida then raised the matching funding and worked with the state of Florida to realize the vision. The Jacksonville reefs are an opportunity to create valuable marine habitat in an area of the river where the public has unparalleled access, and where a wide variety of fish can be found depending on the time of year, right in the shadow of high-rise office buildings.

The deployment will consist of more than 25,000 cubic feet of concrete rubble and the material will be arranged to provide sufficient clearance from the surface, with three to four foot mounds intermixed with open spaces to create an ideal habitat for fish.

The site is currently open, barren sand, setting the stage for a remarkable transformation. Jacksonville University has announced plans to study the reefs over the next two years to gauge the impact of the structures on the surrounding area. The Jacksonville reefs are the latest of 14 marine habitat restoration projects undertaken by BCT since it was created in 2010.

READ MORE>>

3/30 - TRANSITIONAL SPRING TIME in NE FLA.

Yesterday - RAIN all morning!

Today - Blowin' a Gale, small craft advisory, lake wind advisory!

So...out of being booked pretty much all week "in the beginning". I got out, two charters.

YES, I am looking forward to summer. My Sharkin' tackle has been tweaked to the extreme. I'm so ready.

I seriously doubt I'll be chasing / tracking / hunting down like a fugitive, those up river Trout this summer, as much. Been there done that.  If I have to sit in the "Chum Hole"  (aka: off to the NE of the North Jetty) and chum with Pogies (Menhaden) all day. I'm doing it!

Or, simply do this for some azz-handers, come the heat:






Yeah, I'm heads full of plans. Now, I want ya'll to plan your day and come see me.
No where else do you get the info that you do here.

WWW.CAPTDAVES.COM -since 1996. Your Full-time Guide/Capt/Charterboat. A real charter boat!

Let's go git some of them azz-handers!

3/28 - NEW MOON SCREAMER!

Of course the weekend is even going to be rough, windy and rain(?) But later this week.
"During the weekdays, it's supposed to get nice."
The story of my life.
Thank goodness, I'll be fishing Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and Thursday!

BUT, here's me and Evan, a college Football player from Wisconsin out for a 1/2 day'er. We never even left the dock till Noon. Because of the S-M-O-K-I-N new moon tide!

Out in the "blue Mud" off the south Jetty the Whiting were ferocious! Not large, but there sure is alot of them little bastards. So, we dropped them in the box. Using cut clams and shrimp combo meals.
Then, as Evan was standing in the bow putting away his wallet in his back pack. I saw the rod twitch and it wasn't a "rod rattling" Whiting bite, but rather something else.

I thought BIG Black Drum. Evan had no idea about any of the species we catch. Just as long as it was a monster, it was Okay with him.

Up until now, I told him you'll need one of those T-shirts that say; "I went to Florida and only caught a 12" fish."  Joking. But of course, I was hoping he'd get a big one. As we sat in the 4 foot swells in the screaming tide, super brown water.

(Sat & Sun - I depart at noon also. Doing just a 1/2 day. No sense sitting in this tide catching nothing till it gets low.)

3/26 - Busy, Busy....

Booked from the 27th thru to the 30th.
Thursday thru till Sunday.

Had a week where because of the weather forecasters, had to start shuffling people around. Then, the folks that had two days booked, Friday & Saturday had to cancel. So that opened up those days for me to move the other's into.

So, that's the story right now. But we certainly aren't out of the woods just yet. It's still "spring" in J-ville, and that means "iffy" weather.

Yeah, I know that if you're from Michigan. Anything less than snow and ice is fantastic. But that still does change things here. I remember the weather saying about, "March Shower's brings April Flowers"
But that's not the concern.

Being that March and April are "TRANSITIONAL" months. meaning it's not really winter, and it's certainly not summer just yet.

Water temps are still just 61 degrees at the jetties around the ocean.

On the Black Drum Saga..."I hate these fish!!

They bite, only when our blasting current slows, be it a slowing rising tide, or a slowing falling tide.
So guess what that means?

YOU GET ONE HOUR OR SO OUT OF EACH SIX HOURS TO CATCH THEM!
They've always been that way. And it's a pain in the ass, really.

Another reason why I don't catch that many. Because I've stereotypically been Trout fishing instead.
Suppose I'll just continue that trend?

Not much else to report at this point. But I'm sure after these run of days. I will later on.

3/21-22 - SPRING BREAK at the Jetties!

It was a hell of a two days.....

** First day, we saw some dude sitting on the end of the North Jetty, flip his boat over. Y-E-S, 17-18' boat completely upside down!!!

** Then, in a matter of a few days earlier in the week when it was raining & blowin'. The GREEN SCOURGE fish showed up like a locust invasion!!  Small Bluefish, everywhere.
Day one we managed to actually somehow catch about 12-14 Trout, amongst the green bastards.
How that happened was beyond me, but we did.

** Day 2, not so lucky. Couldn't pull anything out of the jetties on the float-rigs and live shrimp, because of the "little Green scourges" aka: Bluefish. So, we concentrated on catching some Black Drum.

** On Thursday, I hurt my right hand THUMB. Believe it or not, working on my shrimp boat sharkin reels. Changing the drag washers out to greased carbon fiber drags. My right hand is everything! And as we talked about it. Pure torture would be living with no "thumbs". Forget water boarding....that's mild.
No thumbs, and you're really screwed. Swollen, and so painful...I still cleaned fish each day, tied knots that held, and yanked on the anchor line. HOW, I don't know!!  Now, I'm on pharmaceuticals.....

** The Drum only bit for me on the last of the flood tide...."LIKE THE EXACT LAST HOUR!!"
On Saturday. Zero on the morning's last of the falling tide. Crazy S.O.B's.  It can be a long wait.

HERE'S FRIDAY & SATURDAY IN AS USUAL A JETTYWOLF PRODUCTION VIDEO:

ENJOY.

3/23 - ON EBAY

ITEM I HAVE FOR SALE:

TGT ROD-RIGGERS - not your average bullshit trolling rod riggers!!

LINK TO MY EBAY LISTING



IF INTERESTED, CALL OR EMAIL ME ASAP, FOR LOCAL PICK-UP.

3/16 - The river is ?????

Don't know what the story is. But the river / inlet is soooooo slow.

So, I did some R&D after being so fed up after Saturday's charter.

I explain here:

3/12 - I thought they were showing.....

Yepper... there's those days, that our ole salty bay and inlet, takes ZERO prisoners!

(two days in a row for me)

As I always say; "Guess they didn't get the memo. The tide was perfect, the weather was perfect."

I'm man enough to have a sense of humor about it........"sometimes".

)

SPRING RUN OF BLACK DRUM:

They're showing. Although it was not even close to a great day today. Morning Charter caught nothing but Whiting after Whiting...(foot long fish)
And when it became GO-TIME, even though they took BONINE tablets, Dad was seasick at the inlet and wanted to go in.

NO big fish caught at all, for his 12 year old boy on his B-day.

So I ran back out after dropping them off at the dock. And in 15 minutes had the ONLY Black Drum caught at the inlet out of 4 boats fishing my fishing clubs "river tournament".....of which I was not in, of course.

Either way, this led to doing a decent INFO-MERCIAL for what's ahead:

3/7 - Summer Sharkin Gear (finished?)

Are we ever really done, acquiring, rigging, and tweaking our tackle. For some, maybe. For the Jettywolf.......NEVER! 

So as I have stated many times in the past. When I feel I'm there. I'll share. 

Here's this summer's line-up of SHARKIN' GEAR.


Book your day at: www.captdaves.com

3/6 - Sunday's still open:

SATURDAY
NORTH WINDS 10 KNOTS BECOMING NORTHEAST 5 TO
10 KNOTS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET. INLAND WATERS A
LIGHT CHOP.

SATURDAY NIGHT
SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS BECOMING WEST 5 TO
10 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. INLAND WATERS MOSTLY
SMOOTH.

SUNDAY
NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. INLAND
WATERS A LIGHT CHOP.

Booked Saturday & Monday. But Sunday, which looks to be a pretty nice day is still "open".

As with the whole weekend and Monday. Falling tide in the morning......"and I be ready to bottom-fish".  Received 3 more bullet-proof power handles to replace the whimpy handles they came with, from Alan Tani out in California, for my Shimano Triton TR-200G's.  And paired up with the Carolina Claw Reel Clamp/trigger system. I don't believe a single Black Drum-Redbass-Sheepshead stands a chance!!!  (I think I put together a system here that is the ultimate river fishing charter fishing outfit!)

 

 

Matched up with an already "proven" rod. A Shakespeare Ugly Stik Catfish rod. Has handled 100++ pound Spinner Sharks, as well as the mis-hooked giant river vacuum cleaners aka: Stingrays. From 1 ounce to 8 ounce sinkers as well. ALL FOR $34.00!

Time to anchor up, and send down some baits!

 

3/5- JOSFC (Jacksonville offshore sport fishing club RIVER tournament)

I'll be doing a "talk" at my fishing club on Thursday night. The J.O.S.F.C at the Mayport Boat Ramp.

The River Tournament (for club members) is on Saturday 3/8. (Might have fished it. But I have a charter with a family, their boys 13th Birthday)

JOSFC RIVER TOURNAMENT: AGGREGATE of 3 eligible species, wins. Not sure if it was that way back in the day when I won it a few times. But, 3 heaviest fish shows you're a "rounded" angler. And my opinion is all tournaments should be that way.

           


average Jetty Black Drum

       


10 pound "in all her glory" clam caught sheeps

                   


another 10#'er on Clam

"River Tournement stategies" in a nut shell.

-Go ASAP (or you should have already done this by Thursday) to Trout River Seafood  as a good example. And order yourself a bag of chowda' Clams. If you can. BIGGER THE BETTER!

-Get some "people eating sized Shrimp". I like these for quality sake. Jumbo shrimp heads on. Each Shrimp provides at least two quality sized and firm baits.

-BLUE CRABS....the water's still cold enough now and the bait stealers aren't all that bad. But, I hate spending the BIG $$ on crabs to have all the Pinfish and 3" Seabass eating them up in 5 seconds. So, yeah Crabs are part of the bait arsenal too. Spend it if ya got it!

-Load the boat with 4-12 ounce lead bank sinkers, if you usually don't have them.

- Using Clams is my deal 100%. Have never not caught big Sheepshead on Clam strips. They suck it up with just a tap on the rod tip. No stealthy bites, but inhale it like a crack head on a bender. They can't stand it. Then, I use "elastic bait thread" to wrap my clam on to the hook with. Then, I pin on a big chunk of peeled shrimp.

Just ordered a bunch of bait thread on Ebay. I ran out, so I need it for the spring Drum and spawning Sheeps that is already in motion.

HERE IS THE LINK TO EBAY DEAL 





- To circle or not circle......for me circle hooks get used when I am "rod holder" fishing. If people/persons are holding a rod (in lighter current) I won't use a circle hook. The ole saying is though;
"a circle hook is the best fisherman ever. A Circle hook with a rod in the holder, makes no mistakes."

- Where to fish?  Personally, I have caught plenty of big Sheepshead anchored away, of the jetty rocks. YES, no where near a rock, "but adjacent too". Key words. Along the channel edges at the jetties. Looking for when the tides slows, is a key. Same goes for big Black Drum, and of course, same goes for larger Redfish. (usually NOT under 27") That's the Redfish problem!! 

Same deal up in the river. Another ole saying; "H-A-R-D equals F-I-S-H". There's plenty of that hard bottom in the river. And that's where large Sheepshead & Drum can be found. 

"DOUBLE-ECHO" on color sounder = hard bottom!

I know loads of people will fish the tips (submerged part) of the North and south Jetties for Drum and Sheeps. But can ya imagine after the El Cheapo Sheepshead tournament how many NEW anchors were left out there???  I've talked to 3 people who lost their anchor that day. So, I don't anchor off the North tip anymore. It's jus' me. Because every time I do, I get caught in someone elses mistake. And my anchor is special to me. I have to order them. I can't just get one at the bait shop.

 It holds my 26' boat in almost all conditions, and I do not want to hang it in some other dudes 100' of balled up anchor line on the bottom snagged up in all the rocks and other debris. SO I FISH, ELSE WHERE.  (again, it's jus me)


I think the rest of the "Strategies" are basic fishing, such as hooks, leaders, rigs etc.

Just plan those fishing hours, per the tides. And....KEEP THOSE BAITS IN THE WATER!

3/4 - Four days in a row.....

Four days in a row, four days of wacky weather.

Thanks to all who toughed it out, caught some fish, and had some laughs aboard the JETTYWOLF.

Much appreciated as always. (and there's always more to come. You can count on that!) 

3/2- Reports/Video/photos to come.

One more day of, 4 in a row. And I'll post Reports-Video-Photos.
Right now I'm so tired, the laptop screen is blurry.

If ya know what I mean....(one mo' time)


Let me say one thing.

F-O-G is my favorite fishing conditions, always!

I believe it has something to do with the "perfect" barometric pressure of something.

In the last three days now. I have seen conditions go from Heinous to Foggy and good.

Just one more day...