9/6 - Pullin' something out....
Good to have the Brandt Family on board again. This was there fall trip. They've fished with me so many years that we have it down pat....Fall and Spring usually.
"BUT"...oh there's always one of those, huh?
Incoming, full moon tide, challenging to say the least. Smokin' current, yeah...to say the least. Since we bottom fished for Reds. Preferably big Bull Reds! Hell, it's October isn't it? Get Go Time.
We sat in the ripping tide in several locales for probably 3 hours without a sniff, nibble or even a glance at fresh live blue crabs (whole and cracked of course...) I moved around alot, trying my best to find "fishable" current, but in deeper water.
That didn't work. I told Bill, "Damn I almost wish I had my down-riggers still...I believe a ten pound down rigger ball on the bottom might do it."
To make a long story shorter. I finally threw my hands in the air and tried a spot that was shallower, along some serious structure, when the tide was high, but the current was still moving and slowing down. And had two of my crew members at the bow fishing straight down with dead shrimp, while I manned two crab baited heavier rods out the stern.
Finally, Bill reeled in a big fat Croaker about 14 inches. Holy Moly, Fish in the Boat! And that's when a stern rod went off. And Don reels in a perfect keeper Red at 26".
Then, not 5 minutes later, it was Don's mother's turn, because another crab baited rod bent double. Shirley was on the rod and handling it like she's done this before (she has!!) The drag rips and she's in for quite a battle.
She had plenty of coaching that was for sure, as the fight lasted a good while. But she did great and still had the strength to pull the 26 pounder up for a photo.
Then, it was Bill up next. And he scored what we were hoping was another keeper Redbass. And man, we thought it was......till I measured it. At 28 inches, Damn! But a nice fish indeed. So back it went ready for another day.
The tide slowed after a few more Croakers. And the fast action on the Reds quite as fast as it started. So we kept with the same program the rest of the day. Two people fishing shrimp up on the bow, while I manned the crab baited rods in the stern. We came back east and worked the Little Jetties and had big time Croaker action on the shrimp, releasing a bunch and boxing only the larger ones...again up to 14 inches. But no more Big Redbass.
So I hit a prime last year early October spot. ZIP....No Reds, no anything except a small Seabass. Last year, at this time the spot was Yellowmouth Trout and Reds galore! But this ain't last year. It seems much warmer, air and water temp. This seems like an endless summer we're in.
And they say 10/7 is going to be almost a record breaker at 93 degrees!!??
Did I mention by days end we sat through at least 6 different rain showers? Yep, they moved fast, but it was on and off with the rain jackets all day long. And comfortable till the sun finally came out around 11:30am. Prior it was really cloudy and quite nice. I love the cloud cover.
So we moved on and closer to the jetties. No Red bites on the crabs, and only bait stealers on the shrimp rods. And it was hours till the tide was low still and the current would slow. So after our last shift on the rain jackets, we packed it in to go clean our fish.
But we had action and came back with fish for a few dinner's.
And I always like seeing the Brandt's and having them aboard for day fishing.
Next up....May, the spring trip.
Captain Dave Sipler's Sport Fishing
904-642-9546
charters@captdaves.com
JacksonvilleFishingReports.blogspot.com
Posted by Capt. Dave Sipler at 10/06/2009
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