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Jacksonville Fishing Report for Amelia Island & Mayport
Capt. Dave Sipler
January 31, 2006
Jacksonville - Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Dave Sipler's Sport Fishing - Jacksonville, St. Johns River/Inlet & near-coastal waters. Updated: 2/01/06
It's been one heck of a mild winter, so far.
T-shirts, shorts and good ole flip-flops...That's the way I like the winter months. And so far so good. Yeah we get those chilly days, especially out on the water in the early morning hours, but overall it's been a pretty nice winter season so far. Evidence, is some of the fantastic catches of fish we've had since December, which is usually what I consider the start of the winter season here in N.E. Florida.
Now lets talk February. Normally the coldest, nastiest month on the calendar around here. So will the bright sun, blue bird warm days hang with us? I think so. Because the trend seems to just be that way.
But you know my favorite fishez, those Speckled Trout which chew pretty hard in Feb., are closed for harvest. Meaning we can catch all we want but we just can't keep them for the next 28 days. Believe me, I go through this "notification process" every single year. But there's plenty more species to toss into the box for some fine meals.
I find it so amusing though that we'll go 4-5 days with unbelievable beautiful weather, then as the charters start calling, the weather turns sour. Ya' know the locals really are the ones who can make out.
Watch the weather!!!!!
RIGHT HERE ON THIS PAGE (my monthly report page)IS THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINK TO THE WEATHER STATION RIGHT NEXT DOOR, TO WHERE I LEAVE FROM IN MAYPORT. It gives the forecast, and the hourly updates on wind speed, air temp/water temp, barometric pressure, and more. I have this up here for you. I live close enough to the river all I have to do is look out the back door.
My winter season rule should be, (BUT ISN'T) anything over 15 knots of wind from any direction, we should reschedule or cancel. Because sometimes, Mother Nature doesn't want us out there. And when I know she's a bit tee'd off, everyone looks at me like there's nothing wrong, so why is it so hard to catch'em then? I call it the "Conditions". The conditions are making it difficult to successfully target the fish. Add in the challenge put to the novice or beginner fisherman and there you have a dilemma. Heavy sighs, loosing interest, and giving up are all the signs I pick up on, when the going gets tough. But as the saying goes, "that's when the tough get going". I don't expect everyone to be an accomplished pro angler, and I'm working hard to get things as right as I can, so everyyone can catch 'em. That's what I do for a living!
Lets take , January 29th for example. I had a reserved well in advance full day trip (6+ hrs) with three guys. The tide was high at eight something in the morning. So I said, "lets leave at 9am" so we had time to fish the 6+ hrs. without coming back and cleaning fish in the dark. The wind was howling 15-20 kts. out of the south, and to make things even worse it was a New Moon tide, higher than normal highs and lows. I knew it was going to be a pretty miserable, day. And it kind of felt worse since we saw no a glimmer of sun shine all day long.
Well, we ended up working our way through the abnormally high tide, getting acclimated with the float fishing system, I use. And found a few small fish in a certain spot, but couldn't keep them on the hook. So we kept moving, and moving.
I knew as soon as the tide would change and the water would start to move fast, things would go our way. But we still couldn't give away a single bait to a good fish. I said, "let's move and try one more spot". Because about this time, I had all I could stand of the gusting winds from one terrible direction, no sun and no bites! I pulled anchor and went looking around. Frank the elder gentleman on the boat said, "if I'm not mistaken, this isn't where you said we were going". I responded, "your right, I'm wanting to look around over here instead". About then I really had the feeling that Frank was also fed up......and believe me, he wasn't the LONE RANGER! Again, the conditions were playing hell on us! But it wasn't like I just started fishing or doing charters yesterday.
I pulled up and dropped anchor knowing well off, I shouldn't try it here. Between the huge gusting winds and now a falling tide current from hell, if I dropped my guard for two seconds the wind and the current would take the boat into the giant granite boulders of the inlets jetties. Not a good thing for morale, outboards or fiberglass!
My three guys started fishing and it didn't take but a minute of two and they were hooking up big fat Speckled Trout one after another. Now the conditions were in our favor, although kinda dangerous. The wind and the seas were pushing into the inlets jetty rocks, a classic "fish should be here sign". But, the anchor would slip and every twenty minutes and we'd slid closer and closer to the 10 ton granite boulders, that could quickly end our day, and my boat! So I had to stay right next to the key switch, and throttle as they fished. And every time we slipped closer to the rocks because of the now building swell, the 20 kt. south wind gusts, and the blasting current, I had to fire up the engine, move us away and re-anchor.
But the morale to this story was, as we say in the charter biz. I went from a ZERO to a HERO, with just one small move on the chess board.
The guys ended up boxing a 4 person limit each of big fat Speckled Trout to 3 pounds, and several Weakfish (yellowmouths) up to 3 pounds. The action was still very challenging, but they were having double and triple hook-ups on good fish. Without a single throwback or small one. We ended up leaving, because they burned right through 8+ dozen live shrimp, and the pile of Trout in the box was very impressive.
So, that's a recent story about "conditions" folks. When we're out there, and you choose the day. I'll do everything in my power, to make it successful. Some fishing guides may not work as hard. Or may say, "lets bag this early". And that's okay. I will too, especially if safety is a question. But as I hear a lot of people say; "That's why they call it fishin' not catchin'" .
Except........I don't believe in that saying, myself!
Lets go fishin'
JACKSONVILLE, WHERE FLORIDA BEGINS.
Till next tide,
Capt. Dave Sipler's Sport Fishing
www.captdaves.com
904-642-9546- (8am-8pm EST)
St. Johns River & Inlet; Mayport / Jacksonville, Florida
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