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Jacksonville Fishing Report for Amelia Island & Mayport
Capt. Dave Sipler
June 28, 2005
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
GET INTO THE "GAME" fish....ARE YOU READY?
I receive e-mail after e-mail, and people want to know what we'll be catching. Well, believe it or not. This area called the Atlantic Ocean isn't like a Bass Pond. Things change rapidly. And I mean rapidly.
As of my last report on 6/16, I hadn't even spied a Tarpon along the inlet rocks as of yet. But as of the 23rd of June......."THEY'RE EVERYWHERE". And by the 26th of June, we've hooked-up 6 of them.
So the point is. What you see on my 'recent catches' pages on my web site; (www.captdaves.com) is what we've caught lately. But there could be something new happening, by the time you book your trip.
So be Flexible.
Bait is everywhere.
*Greenies - speedy Threadfin Herring.
*Pogies - Menhaden snacks.
*Big Silver Mullet - a Snickers Bar, for fish.
Plus, I'm never without some live jumbo shrimp. And although the Tarpon have been eating a fat live shrimp along the jetty rocks, it's also time to start chumming with Pogies, and laying some on the bottom.
Here's a story of what happened on a 1/2 day trip with Dan Hudson from Jacksonville, on June 23rd.
We left out and ran down river to go catch some Speckled Trout, it was right after the full moon of June. The tides seemed to be okay, but when we got anchored up I could tell we weren't going have much incoming tide current, at least not during his 1/2 day trip. We caught 2 nice sized Speckled Trout, and two dinky anorexic yellowmouth trout. And that was all. I could just feel this wasn't going to produce the way I wanted, so we left out.
I ran back to the inlet, had two anglers float live shrimp on light rods, hooks and leaders along the jetty. In hopes of a big Redfish. Same tackle we used for the Trout fishing. As we sat there, small Tarpon were rolling all around the boat. One angler's float went down, and we had a small Jack on. Then the next float went down, and we had a 3 foot Tarpon hooked-up!
The fish jumped and we still had 'em. But on a thin 20# Leader, and armed with a #8 hook, our chances were very slim, I said. I heavily coached as my angler working the fish. I thought we had this beauty. "The perfect sized Tarpon". Not to big, not too small. Probably 30 pounds. What a super light tackle fish, this was. I've been waiting along time to have this happen along the inlet rocks, and on a float rig it was just that much sweeter.
The fish swam around the boat seemingly getting tired of the steady but light drag. (remember this was light tackle)
As usual the fish got a second wind and took off out to the S.E. of the inlet heading for a group of anchored boats. No way did I want the fish near them, so I pulled anchor and gave chase. When I thought, "okay, if we have'em on for this long, we'll probably get this fish".
My new Diawa FireWolf bait casting reel, I use on my float-rig rods was working perfectly. The drag is very, very smooth, and this was the true test for these three week old "new" reel(s).
It looked as if we were going to see some 'white-belly' as the fish tired out and came to the surface. When, what really happened is the fish came up and rolled on top of the 20# leader, and pulled the hook out of it's mouth, and swam away! After almost an hour fight. DAMN, we were disappointed.
The leader was frayed a bit, and the hook was in good shape, so it wasn't a failure of the terminal tackle. But rather the kind of things that happen when battling a even small version of a "big game fish". But heck, we had a hell of an adventure on this 1/2 day trip that was suppose to be a Trout fishing charter, at first.
That's why I love the St. Johns River Inlet so much. It's untamed, and many times un-predictable, and never boring. You have to be flexible, on your toes and ready for anything. Its like the wild, wild west of inshore fishing, but you are fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Inlet's can be that way. The water's not always calm, and the challenge can be fun, if your up to it and no day out there is ever the same. It's those (2) - mile long piles of grey granite boulders that keep me coming back, day after day. Cause they're isn't a better fish magnet anywhere.
So when you e-mail me and ask, "What will we be fishing for?" My answer may not be as simple as, "we're gonna fish for Redfish". Now you know why. I may just say......"we're gonna get into some game fish, are YOU ready??"
Capt. Dave Sipler - "the Jetty Wolf"
www.captdaves.com
904-642-9546
St. Johns River & Inlet, Mayport/Jacksonville, Florida
If you would like me to email you my fishing report each month just email me at: [email protected]
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