Jacksonville Fishing Report for Amelia Island & Mayport
Capt. Dave Sipler
February 7, 2005
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
IT’S ONLY 28 DAYS...
February, it’s only 28 days worth, thank goodness.
I ain’t going to pull your leg, I’ll leave that to someone else. The cold water has settled in to N. E. Florida. With each day of N.E. 20-25 kt winds, the water can’t help being 48 degree’s on the surface at the boat ramp at 8am.
That’s my only gripe, and there isn’t anything we can do about it. It’s like a birthday, you can forget about them, but they still come every year, and you still get older.
But that doesn’t mean if the wind isn’t howling you still can’t catch some great fish.
On the second to last day of open Speckled Trout season on Jan. 30th my buddy Pelican and I went out to get us some fresh trout fillets before the 28 days of February’s Trout closure.
We had to dilly-dallied around till the tide started to ebb good, before we could catch ones big enough to drop in the cooler. And on just one spot we caught 8- Speckled Trout from 2-4 pounds, and a 24" Redfish. In an hour and a half. The plan works!
I’ll say it one more time.....”work the falling tide”, if you’re a river and jetty fisherman. Wait till that tide starts to fall, especially when the water’s as cold as it is now. You need to remember that as the tide falls, the water from all the tributaries, could be just a degree or two warmer.
If there’s another reason, I just haven’t worried about it. Because I’ve caught all my good fish on the falling tide.
The Super Bowl hype, was just that. If your living in cave (like me) and don’t keep up with those TV sporting events. Jacksonville was the host city. And months ago I had calls from everyone from Super Bowl Committee’s to travel agencies. They were all excited, and made it sound like 90% of the people coming to Jacksonville, Florida in February would be “booking fishing charters”.
The thing about it is, us fisherman know about weather. We know about the seasons. We don’t need to have a degree in Meteorology, we live it. And I had a damn good feeling that it was gonna blow like hell, and as cold as it can be here in Jacksonville. My phone rang so hard I was chewin’ up a cell phone battery charge every 3 hours. I answered about 200 e-mails the weeks before the game. And on Friday before the big game, I took out my “one” Super bowl charter party. In which we ran two boats. The visitors to Jacksonville weren’t aware of what they could be in for. Everyone football fan was wishing for real Florida weather. Personally, I just knew this would happen! I tried my hardest to explain to these folks, we have winter too. “At least 28 days of it will be in this month”.
Either way, I had Sal Pepitone and his son Sal Jr. on the boat with me the Friday before the game. Talk about some tough guys. Maybe it had to do with them being from Long Island, NY. If not, they were tough anyway. We endured winds in the 20 to 25 kt, range and a wind chill in the high 30's the morning of our charter. It was overcast with no sun, and we still caught fish, 6- Speckled Trout (by the grace of the fish gods!) I was so bundled up, while standing inside B&M bait & tackle that morning I had sweat rolling between my cheeks! But those four layers of Grundens fleece, were the ticket to my survival out on the water. (Yes, I’m a whinny Floridian) My second boat out there with Sal’s Super-Bowl hosts from Fed-Ex mustered a few small Redfish and Yellowmouth Trout.
Enough of that reminiscing, lets look ahead.
Okay, Speckled Trout is closed for harvesting. And I still fish for them, “so what if ya’ can’t keep them. It’s still FUN isn’t it?”
If I get a good falling tide, and light winds I’m gonna fish for some Black Drum at the ends of the jetties. During the last calm days when you could actually sit out on the end of the jetties. THEY WERE THERE!
I was catching some scrappy Redfish too, some in the 30 plus inch category.
Low tide; on my Capt. Dave’s Approved 1/4 oz. Jetty-Jigs with either a live shrimp or a Berkley “GULP” pinned on the hook, and pitched up to the jetty rocks. The last time I did this it was a riot! The Reds didn’t care what was on my hook as long as it “jumped and bumped” the rocks below. I say this all the time.......”make some noise with those jigs and sinkers, they can’t see all that well down there, but they sure can hear. And then they come to investigate”.
The Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Clubs 5th Annual EL CHEAPO Sheepshead Tournament is on Feb 19th. Last year it was tough fishing in the morning with a high tide at 9:30am. But this year, with a falling tide all morning, I think it’s going to be a bit easier fishing, if the winds not up.
ALL ABOUT FISHING - with the “Jetty Wolf”
Nothing gets me more excited than the radio show on Saturday mornings. One thing I have learned is that we have a whole lot more listeners than I thought. I’m always amazed at how many good callers and how many e-mails I get. Thanks.
Each week me and Pelican work on having a topic or idea for the show. Be it jigging for Reds, bottom fishing for the Black Drum or as in last week, we talked about the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club’s 5th annual El Cheapo Sheepshead tournament. Co- founder; Kevin Shiver and tournament director Frank Joura were in the studio. We went over some stats and facts, gathered over the last 4 years. And regular listener George Pieper won a free tournament entry for answering the trivia question. Thanks guys it was great show.
I’m always working on new and exciting Trivia Question prizes for you, too.
My newest contributor is Matt Draper publisher of GAFF Magazine. Matt graciously sent me a whole bunch of free subscription certificates to be given for trivia question prizes.
If you have not seen GAFF Magazine you need too.
In one word , it’s.....IMPRESSIVE!
GAFF stands for; Gulf-Atlantic-Florida-Fisherman.
So listen up and win!
If you have a product or service that needs exposure, contact me. ALL ABOUT FISHING is working hard to be the #1 local fishing resource for people new to the area, new to the sport, and ole Salts alike.
No Hunting - No Bird Watching - No Manatee Hugging, just fishing with an edge.
Call-in and share your knowledge and fishing reports: 739-9109, or toll free at: 1877-900-9667 on am970 WNNR.
And don’t forget you can listen to last week show recorded on my radio show page at:
www.captdaves.com
Till next tide,
Capt. Dave Sipler
904-642-9546
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