MID-APRIL Jacksonville Florida Report
Capt. Dave Sipler
April 12, 2009
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
4/9 - It was a "Yeller" fest!!
"Holy smokes.... I haven't seen a bite like that for quite awhile."
Yes, it was a Yellowmouth Trout fest like none other. And I was so glad, because I had the entire Kolls family on the boat, mom & dad and the 3 boys.
(Camera was acting up...don't adjust your screen the line is in the photo.)
The wind was damn near heinous this morning.
Due southwest, at least 20 knots sustained.
So not wanting to get too close to the jetties I stayed off them, and made casts for the crew up to the rocks. And Ray (dad) agreed that 98% of all casts were instantaneous gratification!!
Before you think that these were those lil' Yellowmouths, let me correct you. These fish averaged 17-18 inches and were so full of spit and vinegar, it was unreal. Many of them ran 20 plus inches!! And I didn't even care that they weren't specks. Because I've haven't even been in a speck bite like this so far in 2009.
And the boys were LOVING it!
If I had to guess, 50 of them would be a very low estimate. VERY LOW!!!!!!
So as I kept tossing, and they kept on catching, I pitched out a bottom line and all it caught was a blenny, a Bonnethead shark, a Seabass, and two clear-nosed spiney backed rays.
Yeah, we were hoping for a Sheepshead, a Redbass, or even a Speckled Trout. But the ferocious Yellowmouths wouldn't let a single live shrimp pass them by.
So after 4 hrs of filling the fish box with only monster Yellers, and after the tide died. We moved on finally. Up into the river. I wanted to see if we could get a nice keeper Speck or a Sheepshead.
And that's just what we caught.
A real nice 18" Speck, and a small Sheeps. But a Sheeps it was. So the game plan worked!
I thought I got a photo of the Speckled Trout, but I guess not. My camera was acting awful goofy today. That never happened with my 35mm Canon SLR.
So after some serious success, we headed in and I clean up a big mess of fish for them. And made up a lunch bag, so they could stop by Singletons and have some really fresh fried fish dinners out of the fish they caught themselves. Which is always a great way to end the day.
INFO:
www.fish-jacksonville-fishing.com
www.captdaves.com
www.captdaves.blogspot.com
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4/8 - SLAM FEST! (one mo' time?)
Well...after having to reschedule Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 7th because of absolute heinous winds in the 40 MPH category. It sure was refreshing to have a beautiful windless morning, albeit the cold temps that blew in last night.
But, I'm the kinda guy that if we had perpetual December and maybe even January temps it wouldn't bother me one bit. I almost hate to see late winter and spring end soon. Because it's my damn near my favorite time of the year fishing wise.
So today I left out with Dave M. and his son Adam, and headed straight the jetties. Ready to fish, but also ready to beat feet as soon as I saw any Bluefish.
So I set up Adam first and before I could get Dave ready to go he had 4 Trout in the box.
AND NOT A SINGLE BLUEFISH! Wheww....that's a relief.
*************Specks and yellowmouths as fast as you got your float in the right spot. *************
Now, we're talking my game. And when I got Dave into the mix it was double headers coming in. I stood ready with the net doing double fish netting.
This was the fish box after being on anchor, for just 20 minutes.
Then, I said as I do many times, "Now remember, at any given time your float can disappear and you'll be hooked up to a trophy class Speckled Trout or a big Redbass ready to kick some butt".
Five minutes later Dave hooks into a drag burning, pole bending Redbass that he couldn't stop.
And this one was a serious junk yard dog on the ole float rig. We had Capt. Kirk behind us and his folks said they could see the fish up in the jetty rocks on the surface. Dave tried all his might to turn the fish and it gave just a tad. It turned and ran down the rocks deep, and that's when it broke off. WOW, what a mean ass fish. (a really big fish)
We re-grouped and caught more and more Specks and Yellowmouths, a small Jack (only #2 so far for 2009 season) and then it happened to Dave all over again. Slam-bam-thank-you-Ma'am!
Here we go again.....the reel spool spun backwards and the line whistled in the breeze. POP!
Another Brutus T. Redbass in the jetty rocks.
But that was 0kay. The trout were infesting like the Bluefish did last Saturday behind the boat.
I was so busy I barely was able to snap a photo.
90% of all the trout were keepers, which was sweet. But we did have some smaller ones in the mix.
But the action was exactly what it should have been for this time of year. Not just catching Bluefish after Bluefish. So I figure the gale force winds from the other day blew them away. And I hope "away" means to another state!
As the action slowed we moved on. But here came the FULL moon falling tide current. It started to barrel through between the jetties, and was way to strong for our style of fishing. So we went into the river and went into a close creek.
That's where we finished up catching more Specks, some keepers some throw backs. And only 2 Bluefish. That's about when the land breeze started to blow. So we headed back to clean fish, and feed the friendly boat ramp Egret.....and I mean clean, alot of fish!!
MORE INFO ABOUT CAPT DAVE'S SPORT FISHING:
www.fish-jacksonville-fishing.com
www.captdaves.com
www.captdaves.blogspot.com
Earlier pics:
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