The big blow last week kept me from doing 2 of the 3 trips I had booked. That is the way it goes some times…
It was bad enough that our tides had been running way above normal but the North Easter pilled it on even more. Tides 4 to 5 foot above normal make the creek fishing tough. The Big bull Reds have showed back up strong in the river the last few days along with the Yellow mouth Trout and Croakers.
On a trip last Friday the 26th with Shaun Johnson we started off in the river were we lost 2 monster Reds first thing. I use heavy tackle for those fish so you can land and release them unharmed in a short time. The largest ones I have been catching have been in the 20lb range so I know these 2 fish were at least double that. We caught plenty of Croakers and Trout but mostly small…
Shaun wanted to try the last hour in the creeks to maybe get one Red fish that he could keep. Because of the extra high tides we had to fish about 4 foot in the grass. Even using 40lb Power Pro line you can break them off when they star that deep in the grass.
We had 7 Reds hooked up and boated 4 which isn't bad for having to pull the out of the flooded grass. The fish were all in the 4 to 5lb range.
I had a gigging trip that evening that I was sure would be tough because the water is still not very clean and there has been latterly no LOW tide…
We worked very hard along the grass line struggling to find water we could see in. After 3 hours of pushing the boat along the flats we decided to call it a night. We did manage to stick 4 Flounder so I guess it was worth it.
The gigging and fishing will be on fire soon as the tide and the water clarity get right.
Thanks to all for some fun times last week.
Capt. James Howard Jacksonville Florida (904)651-9557
