LOADS OF REPORTS & FISH - Jacksonville Florida Fishing
Capt. Dave Sipler
May 2, 2010
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
5/1- S.E. Sea Breeze & Sun burn.
May 1, the date says, "summer in Jax" to me. Doesn't matter when the calender says Summer is. May first has always been the break out time. Then, why the heck was I kinda cold this morning in a T-shirt, as Steve H. and his father Warren loaded up and we headed towards the jetties? Cause it was an iffy morning. The clouds were thick, and the wind was blowing hard as I baited up at 6am at B&M bait and tackle. Good thing that I knew it was just that clump of clouds on the radar that would pass in a few hours. And when it did. Here came the sun shine, and warm air, finally.
The conditions had it where I felt our "best bet" was to just keep it simple. So again, the Jettywolf went Sheepshead fishing. Yes, that's twice in a row. I can't believe it either. Steve's dad needed my big plushy deck chair. So we got him up along the gunnel of the boat so he could just drop over the side. But the first several stops produced nothing but a, Jack Crevalle. Still in a bit of the full moon influence, it seemed to take forever for the incoming current to make a steady push in the river. And I could tell the jetties were a bit windy and nasty by the ammount of the boats stacked up along the carrier basin point. It was a "boats attracting boats" situation. Because no one was tearing them up, that's for sure.
So we moved around. And that still didn't work. I told Steve, "Ya know, I have a good feeling if we could get to the jetties, there's a spot during the flooding tide where we could get yellowmouths, and Reds. But it's gonna be rough as a C-O-B!" At this point, Steve was all about trying anything. It was probably 9am already, and we hadn't caught any Sheepshead.. So we picked up the anchor and headed that way. I knew, all I had to do is get the right tide and get settled on a spot, and all would be good. That's the situation sometimes. Not everyday is it going to be instantaneous gratification.
The end of the jetty was a USDA Grade washing machine. I pointed to where I caught them last Saturday, and again on Thursday evening. It was pure white water! Steve didn't feel his dad could be in that kind of water, even if he had the big deck chair under him.
So I tried a spot along the inside of the N. Jetty. And there is where we had all our action. No sooner we dropped lines over and Steve had the first Sheepshead. Second drop, BAM.....another.
And there we sat, with some decent action catching a few Sheeps, a pup Black Drum, and even a few throwback Sheepshead that were too small. Even tried a float-rig down the rocks. And a "azz hander" 12 Lb. Redbass, burned drag doing all it could, to break off in the structure.
I don't claim to be a super Sheepshead master. But even this "float freak" can find some, which is good. My usual Sheepshead fishing, is fishing deep, especially this time of year. Because during the spawn many of the all out big sow's will be out in the mud, sand, or on channel ledges. I fish slower current, heavier tackle, and use clam and crabs. That's how I usually target them. So today's "rock dabbing" worked for me. Although we did have a fair share of snags in the rocks. I fotgot all about that. Which is maybe why I don't do the "dabbing" all that much.
When the tide started to fall, we made a move to see if we could get, just one more. And that's when the wind started to howl......aka: Mother Nature saying, "go home" is what the wind was really saying. So after a few rock blennies, snags and mini seabass. That's what we did. Headed back to the dock to clean what we kept.
It was a good day, for a Saturday afternoon. Ya know, I'm more ""keen"" on Monday mornings. But ya have to do what ya have to do. Hope to have Steve and his pop's back again. Maybe next time we'll go Trout chasin.
THINK, RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVE PLANS ON FISHING ANY DAY NEAR THE MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY. Do not wait till the last minute!! (holidays should be booked 30 days in advance)
4/29 - Rubber legs needed
Hit the big rocks around 3:15pm and took along my "grasshoppa" Chris C. with me. Or as James at B&M bait & tackle called him....."If you're a Jettywolf apprentice, does that make you a Jetty-pup or cub?" I told James Wolves have pups, bears have cubs, "get it right, will ya!"
So the "pup" and I blasted our way on out to the south jetty tip. I had a plan on this low,low full moon tide. Search for some Tripletail, till the tide got right and then whack some Yellermouth Trout and what ever bites afterwards. Sight casting them three tailed fish isn't as easy as it sounds. If ya don't know the habits and practices of a Tripletail, I'll let ya "google" them.
We eased along the tide rip line, looking for a hovering 'tail. And to make a long story short, we saw six of them. Caught zero. Five out of 6 were small, probably the size size of a good fresh water Crappie (aka: to a Florida Cracka') a "speckled perch". One was a keeper sizer in the plus range. It came to Chris' live shrimp, and even came to my "Shiney Hiney" shrimp lure but wasn't aggresive at all. That was the first larger one we saw, or we ran into the same one all over again, and it literally swam off the rip and to the boat! But for some reason the shrimp didn't get in it's face. These fish are known to reach 20 pounds with ease. Table fare, excellente!
Remember, everything seems a bit late. Here's last years first sight casted one I caught by myself on a solo day on March 12th.
That day I saw no less than 10 Tripletails, but it sure was hard to spot, drive the boat and cast. Kinda like Cobia hunting, it's best if someone is spotting and someone is driving. But of course I did a solo trip last year and caught a sight casted Cob too.
If I had to wait for someone else to go, I'd never get my fish. Because when it's go time. I'm not waiting on ya'. Especially the way the Cobia are around here.
So after a bit of Tripletail frustration the tide was half ass right. So I got the Jettywolf in position. It took a bit of adjustment. The SE wind was building and going one way, the tide started to run the other way. And not long after the jetties were 100% vacant. Because the seas picked up. Just like last Saturday with Don, Lisa and Nathan. "HOLD ON SHUT UP AND F-I-S-H!" These photos I took at a low level, just before they all turned to whitewater on top.
At first every single cast and bite on the Float rig was a "float down, reel set and no fish." I soon figured it out after two dozen live shrimp were wasted. The Spanish Macks were up in the rocks. We'd get a twitch of the float sometimes and then nothing. Then, I finally caught one, Chris caught a Yellowmouth Trout, then some Bluefish, then it was really sporty. And the action was steady, steady steady. We were doing all out combat fishing in the bucking seas. And again.....this is why the Jettywolf was built. She handles the "slop" like a thoroughbred with waders on! Chris was loving it. Just like Don, and Lisa last week. But not Nathan, he was seasick. It's action at the extreme level for jetty fishing. Water's hitting the side of the boat and even with my high sides, is rolling over the gunnel. But we're dancing around and having a ball, setting the hook and reeling in fish.
Then, a large twin engine WellCraft trolls by us. I said to Chris, "watch me whack one while they're trolling for 12 inchers...." And between the swells my float says Bye,Bye. I reel and set the hook on a screamer. Isn't it something, I knew that was gonna happen. The guys in the Wellcraft got all bug eyed. And before you could say Brutus T. Redbass they were anchored up near us. But weren't there long, at all.
This over sized Redbass had so much "spit and vinegar" in it, I had to work to keep the fish out of the jetty rocks with all I had. But pulling isn't the key. Because my tiny wire Kahle hook, is just that; tiny and thin wire. So it's knowing when to pull. Add in the fact that the fish had folding rolling waves to play in. It was a great battle on the ole light tackle float rigging Skakespeare 7'6" Ugly Stik Striper rod.
We caught fish till the baitwell was empty. And man did we wish we had more shrimp. Because I had the Hydroglow fish attractor light and would have loved to see what we could do after dark. So we headed back in to clean our limits of Yellowmouth and the Spanish Mack I caught, under the boats big LED floods.
It was a great afternoon of rubber leggin it, along the jetty. And like a Jettywolf, we were at the end of the rocks howling at the full moon, making the turn back into the river, feeling successful even though we caught no Tripletail.
And I'm glad my young "Jettypup" friend got to experience it, too.
Next up: Saturday morning at 7am with two fella's.
4/24 - Saturday, leaving late.
Had a super great crew aboard Saturday. Number one, they were all about departing at 3:00pm, as everyone else was going home. I liked that. And number two, Don B. was aboard. And I really like, Don. From the first time we went out years ago, Don will keep you in laughing all day long. The other thing that was neccessary for a late departing Saturday trip was BIG TIME sea legs!
My first spot was "white water", but I knew the fish would be there. Exciting as all hell, in small doses. The boat sat in the trough and whallowed back and forth, water crashed and slapped the side of the boat and a few times splashed right in! Yes, it was "hold on and fish". But Don and his friend Lisa, and young 14 yr. old Nathan were up to it. I said, "we're gonna whack some big Yellowmouth Trout, maybe some Specks, too." This is what the JETTYWOLF was built for. I've fished here many times before in these same exact conditions. Sometimes the fish are chewin' in a spot and it's not going to be super comfortable. But it's gonna be a whack-fest! So you gotta be there.
And I was right. Don, Lisa, and Nathan started reeling in fat Yellowmouths to 20 inches, no problem. The fish were scattered though. So it took some finding them. I just told Lisa, "Don't get too comfortable with them. Because the next time your float may go down it could be a big Redbass. And it won't act like a Trout!" Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, her float goes down, and see ya later......the RB takes off on a 100 foot run down the rocks. In these seas, the battle was magnified. Standing, reeling, rod bending, drag pulling, swells folding, all made the fight, that more intense. Besides the 15 pound mono leader, and the number 4 Kahle wire hook, along the big nasty granite boulders.
The Redbass ended up being a 28-1/2 inch fish, and was a good picture taker, then quickly released to fight another day. I thought I took a few pics of the fat Yellowmouth Trout. Especially the one that Nathan caught. But, I guess not, in all the excitement. Don said he was loving it. Lisa was hanging on a having a blast trying to hook up more Trout. Not long after Nathan catching the largest one, he was down and out for the count in the bow, sea-sick. So after Lisa's Redbass, we moved on. I didn't want to sit there any longer, the poor boy was not looking good. So we moved on.
As we pulled away from the jetty. Guess who shows up? I see it about 10 swells away, poking it's head out of the water. It's Flipper!!! The friendly Dolphin again. It saw us bouncing around in the seas and came straight over and again.....asked us for a free fish, sticking it's head out of the water along side the boat and smiling the Dolphin grin at us a few times. I wasn't about to give it a big Yellowmouth Trout. And we never even caught a single Bluefish (believe it or not). So after not getting a freebie, it swam away.
My whole plan was working. There was hardly a boat around at 5pm. No traffic, no wakes, no anyone! I was loving it. So the plan was to go do some Sheepshead fishing, after the Trout. Yeah, can ya believe it.
The Jettywolf was going Sheepherding? Reason being is, they are going NUTZ! The buck Sheepshead seem to be just about everywhere. The spawn, I guess is in full courtship of sorts. Not that a Sheepshead has only just one life love....
So I pulled up on the spot that a few weeks ago we caught a 10-1/4 pounder.
The spot is deep, has great current and I know, doesn't get hammered by the masses. The anchor line was tight for only 5 minutes and Don, sitting up on the bow was already slowly pumping the first Sheeps to the boat! We looked up and there he was rod bent and bucking, with a big grin. Them danmed Digital Cameras, I ended up getting a shot of Don dropping the fish instead of holding it. (just like when I tried now for the 3rd time of getting a photo of Flipper!) My Digital Camera is way tooooo slow to react!
Nathan, was now back feeling alive. And was having a hard time feeling the tap,tap, of the Sheepshead bite. Don had 3 fish in 5 minutes back to back. Lisa had her fair share, no problem. So I helped Nathan out.
All the buck Sheepshead ranged from 2-4 pounds. And I wanted to see if we could catch that big "sow" that could be near. So I even tried a few drops. But instead of fiddlers I tried jumbo live shrimp. And yeah, I got tons of bites. But only caught the first Jack Cravalle of the season. Lisa caught a pup Black Drum at 16". I would have liked to see a 10-15 pound Black Drum too, for Nathan. That would have been something. But, the Sheepshead kept chewin. And as the sun went down, the bite went in and out as the tide slowed too. So we left for the dock with a 72 qt. cooler full of 6 Trout, 1 Black Drum, and 10-12 Sheepshead.
My plan worked out great. And Lisa even had headlamps, thank goodness. Because half way through the fish cleaning, it got really dark!
More catches:
Joes first Sheepshead
Joes First Yellowmouth
Jettywolf Drum
"Summer nights" Fishing starting soon, inquire at www.captdaves.com
Target Species:
Sheepshead, Trout, Redfish, Tripletail, Drum, Weakfish
More Fishing Reports:
