3/30 & 31 – It’s over with a Blow!

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3/30 & 31 – It’s over….with a BLOW!

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM EDTTONIGHT: NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS…WITH BRIEF GUSTS TO GALE FORCE POSSIBLE. SEAS 5 TO 7 FEET. INLAND WATERS CHOPPY.SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS.

MONDAY: NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS BECOMING EAST IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FEET. INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

MONDAY NIGHT: SOUTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 KNOTS. SEAS 4 TO 6 FEET. INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP. March, is blowing away. And I’ve rescheduled both today (Sunday) and Monday’s charters.
Will I be able to get Tuesday & Wednesday’s clients out? I hope so.Between yesterday and today (Sunday), it’s almost hard to believe that this is the same planet, huh? Saturday, no wind, sunny, clear skies, and 80 degrees. By Sunday morning; cold, gale force winds, overcast and dreary.

I found it really funny while out fishing both Friday and Saturday, that all my buddies I ran into out on the river asked, “so…..you been catchin’ them?” And my response was, “well considering this is the first day I’ve been out, that it hasn’t been blowing a gale. I guess not!”

The average weekend fisherman, probably doesn’t keep up with every detail of the weather that I do, surely out of “survival instinct”. I also reminded these same guys that just last week (Easter week, Spring break week….etc) It was blowing just about every single day, besides last Saturday. And of course, I had no reservations for Saturday.

If you are new here, or just found these daily single sided conversations. You may not realize I’m what some friends have called a micro-manager. I think that’s a bit overboard. I just call it, easily obsessed.

Like Float-rig fishing, my new obsession has lots of detail and technique, a lot of fine-tune-ability, and parts and pieces. And besides being completely new to me. Which has a lot to do with the excitement…….I am just dieing to get out and do it.

I’m talking about vertical jigging!! Call it butterfly jigging or free style jigging, or whatever. It’s my newest quest. I just can’t wait till the next flat calm day, so I can get offshore over a reef and jig my arms off, again. I experimented last Wednesday. While attempting to multi-task my butt off; helping friend Nick who was also a sea sick offshore rookie, work on learning my GPS, finding a reef or two to actually catch some fish, and of course run the boat, and then try out my new sea anchor for drift fishing.

As you may recall, I never had a bite that I knew about while jigging to my best ability. But then again, I’m not sure if I want someone on the other side of the boat bombing cut pieces of Boston Mackerel to the bottom while I’m working for that one aggresive fish on the reef that might hit my metal jig.

Since today was pretty crappy outside, I’ve spent the whole day doing research. But not yet found anyone say Yeah or Neah, on sharing the boat with stinky bait going over the side.

On the Shimano videos they say, “Leave the bait at home”, and that leads me to believe three things. #1 – You’ll never catch a fish on a jig if you have bait on the boat. Kinda like a Fly Fisherman taking his spinning rod and some live bait with him on a so-called Fly fishing trip. Or #2 – that bait on the bottom or drifting around will not help that aggressive fish eat a jig, instead. Or #3 – taking just your jig rods and tackle bag full or expensive jigs, hooks and leaders, at least makes you feel like, “this was all worth it” somehow.

Either way, I’m hooked and will succeed.
I always do!

I’m really looking forward to a Kingfish, Cuda, Spanish Mackerel or Bonita, more than a Snapper or Grouper. Because I think Pelagic species are naturally the first fish in which to “cut my jigging teeth” on.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited about going offshore for anything. And if it wasn’t for getting interested in the whole jig concept, I’d probably never have the want to go offshore ever. I’ve happily worked and played in the river and at the inlet now exclusively for many, many years. And never gave one minutes thought to going out there again. It’s not that I’m bored….it’s all about mastering a technique that probably doesn’t catch a ton of fish, especially here on our Party Grounds (local reefs within 8-25 miles). This isn’t Key West by no means. I’m reminded of that almost daily, 12 months a year. So the challenge is….what the challenge is……No changing that.

And as far as offshore chartering this summer? The jury’s still out on that. We’ll see. And if so, it’ll be via this Captains discretion.

If you’ve got an offshore jiggin’ story, or have found a trick or two while doing the butterfly jigging offshore of the First Coast and don’t mind sharing, (as I do each day). Send me an e-mail.

I always enjoy hearing from Blog readers. I have found out over the years, there’s alot of you out there. So we might as well, network a little.

And hopefully the next time ya’ll see jig photos, it’ll be one of my new jigs hanging out of a fishes mouth.

3/28 & 29 – Busy, Busy, Busy

REMEMBER, This is just a report Blog. Use the address below this photo, to visit my web site. Which includes, recent catch pics, directions, News, Video’s and much more.

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3/28 & 29 – Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well will I get out all my charters, I have reserved? That’s my thoughts right now. I got Friday and Saturday done, and with good success. But as usual when I have booking day after day, I’m rescheduling or cancelling at least a few due to the weather. So Sunday and Monday will be those days.

3/28 – I had regulars Don Hudson and his father-in-law Ralph out to the jetties. The forecast was south wind 5-10 knots. But it wasn’t. More like 10-15 knots with mucho residual Southeast swell. We tried doing some Float-rig fishing for Trout first thing, but my gut was telling me it wasn’t gonna happen for us. So we packed it up and headed in the river and did some bottom fishing. The action was slow, but did manage 2 big Whiting, a large Seabass, and a 5 pound Black Drum. We kept working the cut clam strips and shrimp combo meals wanting either more Drum, a Sheepshead or Redfish. But it never happened.

But I wasn’t out of tricks. Ralph and Don are Float-riggers, so we headed back to a certain area and pitched our floats out with live shrimp and were in an absolute waylay of Yellowmouth Trout. To quote Ralph, a soft spoken man, “I’m all for action!”

And we had action. So much that I never took any photos, because I didn’t have any time too.

Plus, we were being “stalked” by another fishing guide too. But that’s another story.

The yellowmouths weren’t huge, just normal size. There was just so many! We easily boxed out limit of 12 fish, and released just as many. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how big the fish are, it’s just so much fun catching them. And Ralph and Don had a good time.

3/29 – The Mayport boat ramp was an absolute ZOO from 0600 hrs. till whenever…we didn’t stick around long enough to see the rest. There were so many boats, so many trucks, and so many people everywhere!

It looked like the opening day of boating season, up north somewhere. And gas was FREE, bait was FREE and the fish were jumping in boats! It’s funny, I’m in the people business I know. But crowds make me very nervous and anxious…..I hate them! Because many times my j-o-b gets alot harder with a lot of boats around. But thank goodness most of the masses were heading offshore, so it seemed.

Right on time, Martin Combs and his mother Joan and son Bradly came down to the ramp, and we quickly left. We went float-rig fishing and caught plenty of yellowmouth Trout, but many were small, so we didn’t keep them. But they were quickly getting acquainted with the ways and means of what I do. So we left that spot and headed to where I hoped to find some Speckled Trout. And Joan was the first to hook up a really nice one.

Then after that it was pretty much…….GAME ON!

More Trout, 18-20″ and some small ones too. Then Sheepshead, then a Bluefish, then more Trout. Just where, and just what my GUT FEELING, told me. We sat in one spot for a long time, having a ball. And Bradly even hooked a Sea Turtle. Not all that uncommon, they like shrimp too. So we unhooked it, no worse for the wear.

As the tide slowed, we moved to the end of the

jetties and tried some quick jigging for Redfish,

but never had a bite. Then moved again and tried for some more Yellowmouth trout, but the current wasn’t correct for that either. We had a really slow incoming tide this weekend, less than 4 feet. So it was the falling tide or nothing for us Float freaks.

The weather was so perfect, that the tide conditions almost didn’t matter. Martin, Joan and Bradly went home with a big bag of fillets, stories to tell, and I saw myself in 14 year old Bradly. He was a fisherman! So I referred to him as a “mini-me” .

It seems so long ago, when I was just like him. Ate up with catching fish. learning, casting, and everything else that comes with becoming an accomplished angler. And I’m lucky to be able to take a young man like him and remember back when I was just like him.

See the rest of todays catch pics on my “recent catches” pages:

http://www.captdaves.com/Catch8.htm

***Call now to reserve your day, of fishing in Jacksonville area. 904-642-9546

3/26 – 3- fold trip….R&D

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3/26 – 3 – Fold Trip…R&D on a beautiful day

Okay, I’ll admit. I’m always excited by new tackle and techniques. So I’m sort of fascinated by a system that’s all the rage. You can call it Butterfly jigging, or Free style jigging. Actually it’s nothing new as I discussed before. But I have never done it. It’s nothing more than vertical jigging with long thin shaped heavy jigs. Letting them go straight to the bottom and then jig them, so you basically “walk the dog” with them as you reel them to the surface.

Here’s a link with video’s that will explain it: http://www.spanishflytv.com/theater/sponsors-butterfly-jigs-1.php

So not expecting to catch anything in March with 65 degree water at Montgomery’s reef, I still wanted to head out and try my new jigs and technique. While there, I had to learn how to use my RayMarine C-120 Chartplotter/GPS/Sounder, I use it every day in the river. But in the year and a half I’ve owned my boat and the electronics, I have yet used the GPS/Plotter to head offshore, find a reef area, and go from spot to spot. You may say, “so whats…the big deal.” But let me tell ya, the more dollars you spend on electronics, the more you need to learn to get the most out of them. And going from one waypoint to another is something I haven’t yet done. No need to do that when your in the river all the time.

And then there’s the third thing I wanted to play with, and it’s my parachute size sea anchor that I picked up at Strike Zone, at their side walk sale last week. Where I paid literally pennies on the dollar for it. And actually went there, hoping to see one for sale. Because this summer when I go offshore, there won’t be any trolling. Spending big dollars on fuel driving around. I’ll be slow drift fishing instead, and wanted a parachute type sea anchor to slow me down during high current or wind conditions.

So Nick Watson and I got to Montgomery’s reef, in the residual from yesterday’s small craft caution conditions. The swell this morning was big and close, but not a huge deal. First spot was all small Triggerfish and small Red Snappers at first using cut Boston Mackerel for bait. Nick did most of the bait fishing as I practiced with my jig rod and technique.

I had to keep my cool as Nick was working on the fish and I had my eyes on figuring out all my Chart plotter/sounder/ GPS had to offer. Nothing like learning with no instruction manual, I left that at home! And cussing every time I hear Nick set the hook on another fish, even though the first spot didn’t produce any keepers.

We didn’t anchor, that would have just been more work, so we just drift fished. And as Nick said on the way out…”We may need the luck of the Irish” Being lucky and Irish, he ended up with a 21″ Gag Grouper.

Nicks the drummer for the Celtic Rock Band, RATHKELTAIR, and originator of the now 2nd annual Jacksonville Irish Music Festival at the fair grounds down town April 26th. Here’s the link to his band http://www.rathkeltair.com/ and the festival http://www.jaxirishfest.com/ I hope to See you there, if you’re tired of what you hear on the radio these days.
I figured a lot that I didn’t know about my RayMarine electronics pretty quickly. Learned I probably wasn’t gonna catch any Snapper or Grouper like Capt Jose Wejebe in Key West on my economy versions of the butterfly jig. So we moved on to another reef area that I always fished with success back in my offshore days.

So after a quick 5 mile run in now almost slick calm seas, I ran over a big ledge on the way to a spot I had punched in to the GPS. I quickly stopped, spun around and went to take a look.
“Ahhhh, this has to be the south breaks”, I told Nick. Every since going to GPS latitude and longitude, I have no real waypoints. I never converted all my 1000 offshore fishing spots over from LORAN numbers. So we were kinda flying by the seat of my pants today. But this 10′ relief lime rock ledge had to be my old Snapper spot. I baited up and played “catch up”. And they were home. I got slammed on my first drop. And caught the first legal Red Snapper.

It’s been a long, long time since I had caught a Snapper, let alone a legal over 20 incher. It wasn’t much over 20 inches, but I didn’t care. We had a Snapper in the fish box!

We end up fishing this spot for hours, and I even
got to mark the whole length of the ledge on my GPS. My own spots, on my own plotter! I believe this is the same area I fished for years. And have pulled a thousand pounds of Snapper off of years ago. So I was excited.

Nick and I caught a bunch of small Seabass, 3- Sharks, and probably 10 Snapper off these set of ledges, and caught 5 keepers. Which we could keep 2 each, for supper.

We finished up the day, that had us drifting really fast all the time due to the ground swell and breeze, using my big parachute sea-anchor, which I was dieing to try. And it worked like a dream slowing our drift, which led to easier catching, of more Snapper.

I can’t even remember when my last offshore trip was. It should be memorable, but isn’t. I vowed to not mix inshore and offshore trips while doing charters. It’s too much work doing one day offshore, and then the next in the river. Especially when I have day after day reserved.

But this summer I may do some mixed trips, for King Mackerel, Cuda’s, and whatever bites. As long as I have my electronics mastered, working flawlessly and can remember what button to push to do what!

I never caught anything on my jig rod and nock-off butterfly jigs. But I think when summer gets here, I’ll get my chance then.

Snapper dinner tomorrow, and then time to get ready for Friday through Monday charters. Good reports came from the Trout chasers today, even though I heard the current was very weak. Yep, don’t expect any incoming tide current this weekend. Check your tide books…after the full moon is over, comes really weak tides. Believe me, all it’s gonna do is make my job harder this weekend.

3/24 – Your weather manager

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 3/24 – Your Weather Manager

Had a trip booked back on last Thursday with Dave K. Who wanted to fish in gale force winds? Not me. So we rescheduled for today. Well, an incoming tide against a 20+ knot N.W. wind, and “small craft advisory”, made for an early morning decision, to bag it one mo’ time!

Luckily for me, Dave comes to J-ville each month and we rain checked his trip to a date in April, that he’ll get back with me on. But at the same time, I’m getting really full for the month of April already. This could get interesting.

So, what will this week bring? The long range forecast (right now) looks doable. I hope so, because it’s a busy week. I have reserved Friday straight through to next Monday. A 4 day run. And what happens when I have trips day after day? That’s right…..”the winds blow hard”.

It was exactly like this last year. So already, I have made a note for 2009, starting the week of 15th of March to expect; “winds from hell”.

On another note, if you missed Strike Zones side walk sale on Friday & Saturday you surely missed one of their best. Dave, is the king of the tent sale. And under dark clouds on Saturday, in front of the store their were deals for literally pennies on the dollar.

I even bumped into two BLOG readers there. Always nice to meet the folks that frequent my ramblings, that go on here.

Myself and a buddy were in all out bargain heaven. I had plans of looking for some heavy metal jigs, because I want to try the offshore vertical jigging this year. Ya’ know, “butterfly jigging”, or as some refer to it as “free style jigging”.

I’ve watched all of Jose Wejebe’s – Spanish Fly video’s, Shimano video’s, and Youtube video’s. Trying to learn the system. Of course Shimano wants you to buy all their stuff, from $60.00 pliers to $16.00 jigs without any hooks!! It’s sounds like a lot of hype, but I know many fisherman that say it’s for real, and it works. The key is drifting over a reef, covering the water column above it, and provoking “reaction strikes” from aggressive fish. Be it a Snapper, Cuda, AJ, or a Cobia???

The key word for me, that I quickly picked up on was DRIFT. “Hmm, turn engine off, and drift. Saving fuel, not trolling, and vertical jigging around a reef?? I’m in!”

Being that I have a light boat for it’s size, (that is also very fuel efficient.) But, I can drift faster than some 10,000 pound 26′ fiberglass hulk. So I was thinking about hunting up a big sea anchor, something like a Para-tech sea brake, for those windy days. Then as I walked up to Strike Zone, and started looking around I spotted a giant 84″ super high quality sea anchor. Originally, $160, marked down to $80, then side walks sale priced down to $40. I grabbed that thing and held on to it like a frisky 10 pound Speckled Trout!

Then, of course I found all the jig’s I’d ever need and leader material too. One stop for all my new summer time jigging needs. Remember, I’m just trying this out for fun. If I can catch me a Cuda, or a Kingfish, or a big Spanish Mackerel I’ll be happy.

So I’m all ready for calm seas, or windy seas. And in the year and six months I’ve owned my big metal boat, with the giant 12″ Raymarine display unit, GPS and plotter I have not yet entered a waypoint for offshore and utilized the GPS to get me there. Hey, I’ve been die hard inshore for a long time.

I used to fish offshore 12 months a year, years ago. So I suppose I better get crackin’ and dust off the ole LORAN/GPS book, and start punching in some areas offshore, huh?

What’s killing me right now is that the big TROUTZ are out there, and I can’t get to them. And if I can, I haven’t been able to properly fish for them.

I have only one pack of Trout left in my freezer!

3/21 – I can’t get away from it!!!!!

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Left out at 11am on Friday, I guess a lot of people had off work because it looked like a Saturday out there. I thought it was, I had to ask Jack Neal, my charter what day it was. I usually work by “dates” rather than days of the week.

The reason for the late departure with Jack Neal, his son Bruce and daughter Alexandria? It was the full moon, forecast was for EAST winds over 15 knots, and an incoming tide. It had me a little spooked. Plus, I think they appreciated the fact they didn’t have to get up at the crack o’ dawn.
I wanted a falling tide. But even at 11am we were about at slack water when we left.

Come to find out that the East winds were holding the tide up in the river, and if we did leave at the crack o’ dawn, the wind was a lot less. Per my buddy Jeff S. who fished the jetties for Sheepshead (of course) and told me that it wasn’t all that bad out there, until 11am or so when he packed it in.

So as we left, I went left out of the boat ramp, rather than right towards the jetties. The wind was strong enough that Float-rig fishing was pretty much out of the question, as it’s been all week long.

On spot #2 after the tide finally started to fall, we picked up one Sheepshead. “Targeted species” in the boat! The lines were going one way, the boat was laying another, and the current was going another. As the EAST wind whipped around. Unfortunately, it was a spot where we were also waked every 5 minutes too. We fed our bottom lines back to an under water ledge covered with an sunken oyster bar. And this was the only decent fish we pulled out of there.

Presentation, even when bottom fishing is important I told them. And we were barely doing that. The same spot can be float-rig fished, but the wind kept us from attempting that, too.

I think the group (from the Chesapeake bay area) thought that it was going to be a all out fish fest. And it might have been, if I could have fished the jetties and the wind was absent! And quickly were ready to bag the day, just a few hours into the trip. We just started to get some good current at this time. I said, “C’mon, let’s give it a chance!”

So I made a move down towards the Dames Point bridge….the “wind tunnel”. I dropped anchor and saw a bunch of what was probably Croakers piled up on the bottom. The tide wasn’t even close top low yet. And I explained that on a full moon, 90% of the time we’ll get bit by a big Red or Drum, when the tide is really low. Although the East wind was really pushing against the tide, which and was the monkey wrench thrown in to the equation. (the same monkey wrench I’ve had on every trip this week.)

We were getting bit by the Croakers, and if I was alone on this spot I would have just sat through the tide the best I could and worked all three rods, keeping bait on them till I hopefully a good fish….the same thing we did on this trip ( photo of 4 guys) the first week of April a few years ago on a very similar day. When we caught this 45 pound Redfish, and a few Black Drum.

It was all about
“WAITING”.

Although we didn’t have 20 knot east winds this day. We did have to wait out the full moon falling tide.

We were anchored up and all was fine, and we just had to work the low water, but Jack said they’d had enough and were ready to go…..
Alexandria said, “you get to go home early today.” But if she knew me better she would know, I don’t give up so easily.

So we packed it up, called it a half day and I took off towards the boat ramp against the 20 knot east wind, falling tide white capping and choppy river “seas”…blasting along in water that has my METAL really shining, in it’s element. No turning away or slowing down in the super slop, just straight into the soup sandwich. Damn, I love it when it’s that rough!

Next up: Monday, a rescheduled trip that we were supposed to go on back on Thursday. Forecast is for N.E. 15 knots of wind. I’ll take N.E. over due East, any day.

I’m really aching to do some Float-rig fishing. Since I’ve gone a whole week with out being able to do it…….properly.

3/17 – can someone tell me whats going on?

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3/17 – Can someone tell me what’s going on?

I say, can someone tell what’s going on because I go all month pick and poke a few charters here and there and then Monday 17th thru Friday the 21st I’m booked every day and to top it off it’s the worst weather week of the entire month.
———————————————-
SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION:
(I’ll highlight the not good, in yellow)

*TONIGHT EAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET. INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.

*TUESDAY SOUTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET. INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP.

*WEDNESDAY SOUTHWEST WINDS 20 KNOTS…SHIFTING WEST. SEAS 3 TO 5 FEET. INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.

*THURSDAY NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 4 FEET.INLAND WATERS A MODERATE CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS.

*FRIDAY EAST WINDS 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET. INLAND WATERS A LIGHT CHOP.
————————————————————
Well, we sat through some seriously heinous wind today, let me tell ya. If you think the wind was bad walking outside at the office at lunch time on the west side of town, I don’t have to tell you what I was encountering outside of my office!!

Had three Joe Rudy and his dad and uncle on the boat today. They were good sports. Of course I left out early, because that’s when you’d think the wind would be the slowest. No not really, it was windy right off the bat.

We tried it all, float-rig fishing, bottom fishing, and that new sport.
attempting to get the anchor hung. It’s a game I played problem over a dozen times at various places.

Remember this, due West winds and due East winds “OVER” 15 knots is pure hell in the St. Johns river. Especially if you’re fishing in and around Mayport. Because the river runs West to East. So on those two wind directions, there’s no place to hide.

Oh, your probably wondering about the fishing???????

Let’s see;
1- Bluefish on a float-rig at too high of tide.
2- Pinfish
8 or 10 – small Yellowmouth Trout
10 – 3″ Seabass
1- Skate

Ahhh, just a killer day. Makes me want to pinch myself when I get to sit at the jetties on a beautiful day, catching Reds and Sheepshead or a Drum bottom fishing on the falling tide, then move and get limits of Trout on the incoming tide, with just a solo customer.
(see perfect day here: http://captdaves.blogspot.com/2008/03/312-fishing-with-don.html )

And the cool thing as you can see by the wind speed and direction, I get to do the same thing the rest of the week….or at least I hope not.

I get a real chuckle when when all is going right and someone on my boat says, “Damn, Capt Dave, this must be so great. You get to fish all the time, be out here on the water, catching fish…..”

I usually respond with a famous line from the movie “SOMETHING ABOUT MARY”. When the character Whoogy, played by Chris Elliott says to Ben Stiller,“Each day is worse then the next”.

Confusing reply, huh? That makes no sense at all, right? Kinda like the statement/question that I was just asked.

Have not a clue what Tuesday will bring. But right now it’s 7:15 pm on Monday. And the wind is still blowing very hard at my house. Over 20 knots!

Here’s another helpful business clue: If ya wanna make a million dollars in the fishing business, first start with 2 million.

OVER & OUT!

3/15 – Jacksonville Group Charter

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3/15 – Group charter

Had Mike Bosshart and 5 of his buddies out on Saturday, doing a two boat charter. Three on each boat. Ya’ know what the forecast was, right? Extreme high winds in the afternoon? So we had planned to leave at sun-up, 0730 hrs.Myself and Capt Bryan were there at the dock at 0630 hrs in the water and ready to go. Bryan said, he was up this morning at 0430 hrs….I wasn’t that un-sleepy. I was up and ready at 0530 hrs. Figuring that was early enough to get all ready and to the bait shop, and then to the ramp in case there was massive crowds, being it was a SATURDAY.

So as we sat waiting, I get the call…..”Dave we won’t be there till 8am.” Bryan gave me the look, as I told him the news. “well, I guess their eating into their fishing time, Dave” he said.
It was planned to just be a 1/2 day charter. (remember that)

So the guys pull up and come down to the dock. And I get my three fellas and take off. We were not only on a time line as it was just a 4 hr trip, but we were also on a “tide” time line also.
Having the falling tide till about 10am. And the higher the water, as it fell the better for float-rig fishing. That’s what I’ve done with Mike and one of his buddies in the past……many years ago with great success.

So I anchor up fast and go through the details, Bryan falls in behind me. Now my plans were to bottom fish that falling tide, since I’ve had such good BIG FISH success lately.
The other boat immediately starts catching Bluefish, And Yellowmouth trout. We, on the other hand never loose a bait from less than 50 yards away. I try it for a 1/2 hr and then say, “Lets go try and catch a bigger fish.” My guys seem willing. And we move to “NEAR” where I sat on Friday, but of course our late departure now has people out there and on the spot already.

EARLINESS, to the dock will always have you in a better position with your guide and possibly because if it’s a weekend the ability to get on a spot before it’s covered up with everyone else.

So we anchor as close as I could to the area while not doing what others do to me.
The current is running hard, and we catch some whiting, and Seabass….basically small bothersome fish, but do manage a 14″ Seabass, then here comes the clear-nosed Rays. The ultimate in junk. We lost our only big fish as it comes to the boat, probably a whopper Sheepshead, like I caught the day before. I helped by setting the hook on it and the fish was ripping drag. But somehow as Bob reeled it in, it came off the hook.

The guys had a rough night last night, and were all sitting around and laying on the bow deck. But Bob was attentive and as we caught the second junker ray, and said “shouldn’t we move.” So I re-anchored and it didn’t matter, because the SW wind was now honking about 15 with 20 knot gusts. And let me tell ya, it wasn’t 80 degrees as they said it would be, where we were.

Feeling the HEAT, I pulled up and moved away from the jetties,. and shouldn’t have. Bryan came by earlier and said all had stopped where he was but they ended up with a bunch of Yellowmouths, one Speck and one Sheepshead and Blues. Obviously, they weren’t where I was when I tried float-rigging. Or I wouldn’t have tried to bottom fish for a big fish.

The whole day now was a wash….

I tried an ole spot that used to be a big time Sheepshead spawning area a few years ago. Then moved and watched some guys dabbing some rocks and catching Sheepshead on lite rigs and fiddlers. But for bottom fishing, the tide had now changed, out deep and was coming in on the bottom.

We agreed to try for a few more hours, past the 4 hour limit. But it really didn’t make it any better, for Bryan and his guys or me and my guys. So at 5-1/2 hrs we were back at the dock.

The group seemed to be all excited that they could have a fish fry with the yellowmouth they had caught. Which was not something I was aware of. If I was I wouldn’t have went and bottom fished looking for a big fish, and would have adjusted my float fishing area instead.

So, now we have a 1/2 day charter extended a few hours, on my boat we caught just a few small bait stealer type fish. Kept a few Whiting and the big Seabass. By the time we left it was an hour after we were supposed too, then the wind started, and just one of us got a small window where the yellowmouth were.

Always make your INTENT obvious to your fishing guide. If you want to catch enough fish for a fish fry, even if they are small fish, make that known. DO NOT be late! Always show up early, because I’ll leave at safe light and you may get extra time. I’m not talking be an hours early and stand and stare at me as I launch the boat. But 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time is perfect. Make the Captain Happy, by letting him know what your intent is. I know I’m so early to the dock sometimes friends say, “So your charter’s late huh?” And I say, “No, I’m always early!”

Saturday was a prime example of getting the most out of the tide, and day before the weather came through.

Now it looks like the whole rest of the week will have winds at or above 15 knots. And I have Monday through Friday reserved…..good gawd!
Day after day of windy conditions? Lucky me.

BIG FISH, for Birthday boy!

www.captdaves.com – to reserve your charter call:  904-642-9546      

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3/14 – Matthew the BIG fish Birthday boy!

WOW! What a difference a day can make. A complete 180 from yesterday’s weather, huh?
Left out this morning at 7:30am with Rick and Matthew Sawyer, it was Matt’s Birthday fishing trip.

So when ya have the last of the falling tide in the morning, the Sheepshead spawn going on, a live well full of river crickets (shrimp), a light wind SW wind, and over cast skies. I decided to bottom fish. Because it sure worked on Wednesday when I had Don Zagorski on board. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, RIGHT?

Well, as we sat there anchored up in the river waiting for the bite, the wind would pick up, the skies would darken, and the air temp would grow cooler. Here comes a FRONT. I could just tell, this isn’t like Wednesday, and it surely isn’t Thursdays weather. So we sat patiently and waited.

Remember the only reason I’ll “bait-n-wait” fish, is because it’s been very worth it. And now I’m second guessing myself…..rule #1, go with the gut feeling, and never second guess the gut.

I knew something had to happen, and as I was checking one of the baits I felt a tug, and handed Matt the rod. SHEEPSHEAD, and it was a big momma!

RIVER MULES!
(up to 9.5 pounds)

But the bites were far and few between, and the between were small whiting.

So we just stayed with the plan and kept waiting, changing out baits, paying attention to the current, talked on the phone, and watched Matt fight a queasy stomach. And like a real Trooper, he hung in there.

We then went and did some Float-rig fishing as the tide started to flood on the surface.

The water was choppy with the SW wind which is usually a good thing. And Rick hung the first nice Speck, but it came off at boat side.

And the little bitty Bluefish were everywhere, also know as the scourge of spring time. And were eating all the shrimp. But Rick ended up nailing a nice keeper Speckled Trout.

We kept at it, but the blues were incessant. And I went a pulled my anchor and bent the hell out of it, rendering it pretty useless. We looked around
in the river, and there was no current, and now
was high tide. So we headed in to clean fish.

This time of year, even on a kinda crappy weather day, there’s still some whopper fish to be had.
And that’s why I love the transitional times, Thanksgiving in the fall and Easter in the spring.
Those two holidays….(opps, can’t forget good ole St. Patricks Day!) are my favorites.

Least favorite: July 4th, too hot, too many people around.

Take your son or daughter fishing on a birthday

March 6th – River Black Drum

www.captdaves.com - for charter reservations call:              904-642-9546

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March 6th video of Black Drum in River 

Nick, a fishing buddy took this footage (and found the net for me) on March 6th while out trying out Biscayne 8′ bottom fishing rods. As you recall from the report we also caught some whopper spring time Redbass. H-a-r-d = F-I-S-H, we were fishing some seriously hard shell bottom. And when the tide got right, it was all ya wanted….except we wanted less big Reds and more Drum for the fish box.

Nick had the camera running…long before he got into position. We’ll have to work on that next time. I tried editing it out but couldn’t get the edited version to load up here on Blogger.

Either way, we tried. I don’t see video’s on any other local charter sites.

-CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO-

This could be, YOU !

Rigidly Flexible, Fishing!

www.captdaves.com

904-642-9546 – for charter reservations in Jacksonville Florida, aboard the Jettywolf.

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3/12 – fishing with the Don….

Ya know, back many many years ago when I got fired from my dead end J-O-B (because I fished too much and was never there) and slid right into the charter fishing business, and doubled my income and happiness. I thought most charters I’d have for inshore fishing would be a “one on one” guided fishing trip with someone who was all about catching fish, learning, and seeing our waters and it’s inhabitants. Ya’ know, just like you see on TV?

Of course, I couldn’t have been any more WRONG. Most charters are not one person trips, and can be up to 4 passengers only because I limit them to 4 people. But then there’s the rare days, when I have just one person on board. And if that person is a fisherman. It’s magic!

And one of those days was today, with Don Zagorski.

We started out by catching the absolute last of the falling tide. But I told Don, as soon as the current subsides, it’s gonna be game on. So we pitched out live shrimp on some bottom rigs, using my new Biscayne 8 foot rods. And about 40 minutes later the tide slowed and the first Redbass was causing Don to grunt and groan. Heck it was only a 10 pounder pulling from 50 feet below.

Then, came a 6.5 pound Sheepshead…..Don’s dinner fish. Then, not long after came a 12 pounder. Right as the incoming tides current started to flow on the very bottom.

As the bottom current started to push harder and harder, I said to Don, “let’s go float-rig fishing.”

So we picked-up from our deep water fishing and went to a Trout spot. By now the tide was running really hard, and the North West wind was not helping us out. Remember, I was just out on Monday with Nick Watson, and we were knee deep in Trout and Reds at the same locale. So when it’s wrong, it’s all wrong. And I could tell.

The small Bluefish were also a nuisance, so after trying so hard to get it right, mother nature won. And we’ll have to try this again later.

So I motored about 100 yards away out into the deep water again, Don and I pitched out the big bottom rods and live shrimp to the bottom and Don scored this 22 pound Redfish, within minutes. He thought the other Reds pulled!! This fish was twice them. We kept trying for more, but for some reason, that was it. So I made a move, as it was now High Tide. And all we had was
bait stealers.

So, we went back for a look to see if it was worth Float-rig fishing again. The NW wind backed way off, and the water was clean and clear. First cast, Speck! And the yellowmouth Trout were also present and biting. But, the little Bluefish were not gone. And with just enough live shrimp left, Don and I worked over the spot, and caught (1) limit of Specks and (2) limits of Yellowmouth Trout, and tossed back many small ones.

We fished about every single useable shrimp in the well. And teased a brazen Pelican. Then headed back to the dock to clean the catch, or as I call it; “Time to make the donuts.”

From here on out, I have Friday, Saturday, then all of next week prebooked.

I’m interested in seeing actually how many days I’ll either get off, or if I get to do all of these days, how many will be fish’able.

When I get a huge rush of people who want to go because it’s a holiday, inevitably momma nature sometimes doesn’t care about my financial welfare.