6/22 - FORTITUDE NEEDED

The SW wind blew and blew.....which had a huge effect on the falling tide. It ran blue blazes for hours and hours, HARD & FAST. The wind behind the tide had us playing the waiting game.

The "outside the jetties and offshore report wasn't good". Everyone was complaining about how rough it was the further you got out.

So, I stuck to my guns. And had to have Dr. Drew and his son Dillon stick to their guns too.

I had the right bait. I had the right spot. But didn't have the best conditions by no means. Certainly not like the day of the report below this one with "whoop'em Ashley" aboard with her dad.

So we waited and waited and waited for that damn tide to slow. So as it did, I thought, "okay here we go!" to only have 8 OUNCE sinkers not even come close to staying on the bottom.

You think that's bad??????  Wait till the citizens of Jax and Florida for that means start paying for the dredging!!!  The LOSERS will be us Fisherman.

The current will get nothing but worse! It's already sooooooooo un-natural already, for this river. (The Timicuan Indians would cry if they saw what this state and city has done to the river.)

So finally we had a rally of bites and connected. Just as the storm clouds built to the SW.

Slam dunking a few BIG R.B.'s

Tomorrow is another adventure....starting at 0730 hrs.

6/20 - MORE GIANT BULL REDFISH

Had "whoop'em Ashley" and her Dad aboard the Jettywolf for a BIG morning in the river.
Departed at 7am, shot the bull a bit, headed to the spot, and had REDBASS #1 on by 8:15am

Cut Mullet for bait - NO stingrays - Just F-U-N!

Caught eight fast, only missed a few bites. Smallest Bull Redfish (I call'em Redbass)
I believe was 28 pounds. Largest; around 40-45 POUNDS!

"MULTIPLE DOUBLE-HEADERS"

Okay, how about less talk and MORE PROOF?

6/17 - Weekday Slammin' for two!

Well, there's nothing like a weekday (even in the summer). Hit it early with the Shelton's.

1st off...."Runnin' & Gunnin'" behind the shrimp boats for some FAST action on Blacktips & Spinner Sharks.

Started out with the "L.T." - light tackle. But here' the deal. Okuma is Crap! At least the Strike Zone sidewalk sale rods I bought for $15 each are. Number two snapped in half!  Thank goodness I had the "HD"- solid glass rods and 9/0 Daiwa's on board too. Finished off several 75-100 lb. Blacktip Sharks
with those rods and reels.

GO solid glass or Ugly Stik or just don't go. That's what it'll be for me from now on.

OKUMA CONVECTOR "CRAP" #2 that Broke in same spot....Into garbage!


Time for Inlet action. Lost a big Redbass and even had a Nurse Shark from 50' below.

SUPER FUN DAY

6/15- Holiday weekend.......

Yet another Holiday weekend. Father's Day. And two shrimp boats to be had all day long.
And neither produced much action at all.
Maybe it's the full moon?

But weekends usually means, not that many Shrimpers working. So when we had almost zero action behind them. We went and got Pogies and chummed our own waters. Out at 60' deep in the SE Hole area. And still ZERO!

All the while, the reports of Kingfisherman trolling are hooking up big Bulls and Tiger sharks well offshore. In which I can go if:

-It's not rough, so as my crew isn't sea sick
-If I get my usual rate...discounting and running 50 miles round trip doesn't cut it.

But I'd L-O-V-E to get two "ANGLERS" who have the patience and fortitude to do a BIG...really BIG-time Shark chumming trip offshore, someday. Just like I'd love to hook-up on a 500 pounder!!!!!

So, with the whole shark chumming and run & gun behind the two shrimpers NOT panning out today.
Justin and I ended up at the jetties on the rising tide for "I.G"-instantaneous gratification, Redbass action.

A ACTUAL KEEPER SIZE RED!!!

Had a few of these hooked up and lost....in the larger 30" class. And a few Seabass with one 13 incher that went on ice and a Whiting. Then, the tide turned and we sat thru the stingray tide, AKA: Falling Tide. I saved and dispatched the Stinger for Tuesday Shark bait. That I'll need.
Love free bait and Sharks hate stingers. So I hope they like "fillet of Stinger" on Tuesday when I'm back at it again.  Gotta love a weekday!

6/12-6/13 - From wind & seas to BIG battles:

Thursday, 6/12 - I had three super nice folks aboard from Texas. We ran out to the shrimp boats first off. The wind was 15 kts at least out of the west. The seas weren't all that bad at first.

I tried something different...."trolling behind the shrimpers."  I used large spoons and BIG TACKLE just incase.

Whoa, did we have a lot of hits. With limited hook-ups. But we did have a hook-up that was damn near INCREDIBLE!

The spoon got slammed and the Daiwa 900H - 9/0's drag smoked off with at least 20 lbs. of drag pressure and it just kept going and going. The "whatever" stayed on for a few moments as my Angler picked up the rod and just held on!

Then, the rod's bend went slack. Whatever that was got off.  After reeling 300 yards of 60# Mono back on the spool, we found the spoon and the H.D. rigging along with it perfectly intact.

Whatever that fish was sure was a MONSTER. 

Come to find out, I believe because of the choppy seas, and very over-cast conditions. The large and very heavy spoons were getting hit and short striked most likely from Giant Jack Crevalles (???)
Because the next day while my crew battled heavy weight Blacktip sharks. We had a huge Jack lurk around the boat.

Either way, one of my crew was seasick. So we headed back in. She couldn't snap out of the sea sickness. So I took the other two crew members left up into the river, looking for big Redbass.
All we got before the HUGE WALL OF RAIN, ran us back to the ramp was a Stingray and a small Shark. So soaked to the bone, we called it a day. 

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Friday 6/13, day of the FULL Moon!
Did ya get that?

FRIDAY THE 13TH.......w/ a FULL MOON?????

Had Jim and his son Joe and his daughter Jackie. Great Crew!!!!!!!
Totally into it.  

First off, because of the L-o-n-g morning incoming tide. We started out in the river looking for Big Reds, only to have Joe on a 20+lb. Stingray for a long time. Then, Jackie got the only Redbass.
A pretty 31 incher. Then the current died off...

So we headed to the "outside" into the Atlantic and chased a few Shrimp boats looking for some ARM strain.

Well, Joe was 1st up and boy did the boy get some arm strain!!!!!!!!!

I've decided to use the super Heavy Duty rods and reels. 7' solid glass rod, with the 9/0 Daiwa with serious CRANKIN' power!

Add the lap belt gimble and even the back harness. REASON: Most people need it. They're not used to the PULL they'll get. And all the larger tackle and harness' help them get a real chance, without being so drained.

Learning myself. That BIG PULLERS, are many times, a bit much for folks with anything "lighter".

Here's what I took, of the brave anglers HOOKED UP, while strapped in!!!!!

EVERYONE HAD A TURN ON A BLACKTIP.


DO YOU HAVE THE "SALT" TO TRY????

6/10 - FRENZY FISHING, aboard Jacksonville's Jettywolf

6/9 - Blacktips to Bull Reds, it's Summer Jacksonville Fishing

WWW.CAPTDAVES.COM since 1996

6/5,6,7 - From 5 year olds to 100 pounders!

I go from not doing a single "2 hour kids trip" for months on end, too more of them then regular adult fishing trips!!!

Do 5 and 6 year olds even go to school??

I figured it's because they are finally out of school??

Well, I did one with off for the summer school teachers from Louisiana.
and their 5 year old little girl on Thursday.

Then, today a 4 person Sharkin trip, with some young guys, off school. We had about 6-7 Sharks total, and half of them 100 pounder type Blacktip Sharks while running the shrimp boats. The fight on the big Blacktips commonly goes on for 30+ minutes many times. So, at that point, it's not a numbers game.

Yesterday, there was at least 10 Shrimp boats out past the jetties. Today.......TWO!

So our options were not numerous.

Didn't get any video or photos since I was pretty damn busy with the four guys. But they sure got a education, about a lot of things, "Fishing".

Tomorrow:   6/7 - early morning "2 hr Kids trip" with 2 dads and two kids.

Finally saw some Pogies today at 1:00pm all the way past the Jax beach pier. That would have been a long ride just to get bait. Made some drifts through them without any hook-ups. But it was already afternoon, and that's usually the slow down part of the day anyhow.

 

6/4 - NEW 'ZUKI 250

It was a 3 week plus process. And I lost well over $3,000.00 in the mean-time. Before, during and over the Memorial Day Holiday. But I'm back in the water.

FOR THE 1st TIME IN THREE WEEKS.

With a new motor!

With Mom.

First "Splash"

Ready to break-in.


LETS GO FISHIN'.

Up Coming PRE-Bookings: 6/5, 6/6, 6/10, 6/17, 6/21, 6/29, 6/31

6/3 - FUN without a boat????