N.e. Florida Fishing Report Feb. 1
Capt. Dave Sipler
February 1, 2018
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
I like a good Winter...BUT!
Hello folks, and welcome to the "winter duldrums" in Jacksonville, Florida.
Those approx. 8-10 days of nearly hard freeze, all the way to the beaches. Really kicked some "fish butt."
I explain it like this....."the fish are just like the lizards around your house. When it's cold, really cold. You won't see them. They are there, but they certainly aren't crawling the screens on my windows, around the house."
The fish were there....BUT. It all started off like this for me. On a day that wasn't fit for any Floridians to be, even outside. I was on the river in Mayport, and my water temp gauge was at 48 degrees as it blew 20-25 knots out of the N.E. and as soon as my live Shrimp were impaled on a hook and sent on a drift behind the boat, they immediately! Myself and a die-hard regular charter customer lasted a whopping two hours, before we packed it in for another day. A warmer day that didn't have a "wind chill factor" in the teens!
There has been some warmer days, since that epic fail of a morning. And the only fish I can find biting consistently since the water popped back into the mid 50's are, Speckled Trout and loads of pup Redfish. Those expensive live Shrimp are just making it, a few drifts. But if you try, you can score some. Legal's? Well that's up to Mother Nature, and where you are fishing.
Without a doubt, my #1 fish catching method during the winter is what's referred to as "float-rigging", locally. It's just a slip float rig, to the rest of America. And if I can't catch a fish on it, one way or another. I just as well head home. Bait is always live shrimp, hooked gently under the horn with a small # 4 hook. I use a leader of 20 pound test mono, and 30# braid, on my reels.
And if you'd like to learn A-Z about "how to float-rig" fish, just visit my Youtube video called
"The Float-Rig Show" at this link: https://youtu.be/q2zulhtKnfY
And my video further explaining on how to rig a "Float-rig" for local fishing at:
https://youtu.be/7SERF-QIyIE
And while there, you may want to "subscribe" and hit that notification bell to get e-mailed of future video uploads.
Capt Dave - 'Jettywolf'
www.captdaves.com
since 1996
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