4/24 - Saturday, leaving late.

Had a super great crew aboard Saturday. Number one, they were all about departing at 3:00pm, as everyone else was going home. I liked that. And number two, Don B. was aboard. And I really like, Don. From the first time we went out years ago, Don will keep you in laughing all day long. The other thing that was neccessary for a late departing Saturday trip was BIG TIME sea legs!

My first spot was "white water", but I knew the fish would be there. Exciting as all hell, in small doses. The boat sat in the trough and whallowed back and forth, water crashed and slapped the side of the boat and a few times splashed right in! Yes, it was "hold on and fish". But Don and his friend Lisa, and young 14 yr. old Nathan were up to it. I said, "we're gonna whack some big Yellowmouth Trout, maybe some Specks, too." This is what the JETTYWOLF was built for. I've fished here many times before in these same exact conditions. Sometimes the fish are chewin' in a spot and it's not going to be super comfortable. But it's gonna be a whack-fest! So you gotta be there.

And I was right. Don, Lisa, and Nathan started reeling in fat Yellowmouths to 20 inches, no problem. The fish were scattered though. So it took some finding them. I just told Lisa, "Don't get too comfortable with them. Because the next time your float may go down it could be a big Redbass. And it won't act like a Trout!" Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, her float goes down, and see ya later......the RB takes off on a 100 foot run down the rocks. In these seas, the battle was magnified. Standing, reeling, rod bending, drag pulling, swells folding, all made the fight, that more intense. Besides the 15 pound mono leader, and the number 4 Kahle wire hook, along the big nasty granite boulders.

The Redbass ended up being a 28-1/2 inch fish, and was a good picture taker, then quickly released to fight another day. I thought I took a few pics of the fat Yellowmouth Trout. Especially the one that Nathan caught. But, I guess not, in all the excitement. Don said he was loving it. Lisa was hanging on a having a blast trying to hook up more Trout. Not long after Nathan catching the largest one, he was down and out for the count in the bow, sea-sick. So after Lisa's Redbass, we moved on. I didn't want to sit there any longer, the poor boy was not looking good. So we moved on.

As we pulled away from the jetty. Guess who shows up? I see it about 10 swells away, poking it's head out of the water. It's Flipper!!! The friendly Dolphin again. It saw us bouncing around in the seas and came straight over and again.....asked us for a free fish, sticking it's head out of the water along side the boat and smiling the Dolphin grin at us a few times. I wasn't about to give it a big Yellowmouth Trout. And we never even caught a single Bluefish (believe it or not). So after not getting a freebie, it swam away.

My whole plan was working. There was hardly a boat around at 5pm. No traffic, no wakes, no anyone! I was loving it. So the plan was to go do some Sheepshead fishing, after the Trout. Yeah, can ya believe it.

The Jettywolf was going Sheepherding? Reason being is, they are going NUTZ! The buck Sheepshead seem to be just about everywhere. The spawn, I guess is in full courtship of sorts. Not that a Sheepshead has only just one life love....

So I pulled up on the spot that a few weeks ago we caught a 10-1/4 pounder. The spot is deep, has great current and I know, doesn't get hammered by the masses. The anchor line was tight for only 5 minutes and Don, sitting up on the bow was already slowly pumping the first Sheeps to the boat! We looked up and there he was rod bent and bucking, with a big grin. Them danmed Digital Cameras, I ended up getting a shot of Don dropping the fish instead of holding it. (just like when I tried now for the 3rd time of getting a photo of Flipper!) My Digital Camera is way tooooo slow to react!


Nathan, was now back feeling alive. And was having a hard time feeling the tap,tap, of the Sheepshead bite. Don had 3 fish in 5 minutes back to back. Lisa had her fair share, no problem. So I helped Nathan out.


All the buck Sheepshead ranged from 2-4 pounds. And I wanted to see if we could catch that big "sow" that could be near. So I even tried a few drops. But instead of fiddlers I tried jumbo live shrimp. And yeah, I got tons of bites. But only caught the first Jack Cravalle of the season. Lisa caught a pup Black Drum at 16". I would have liked to see a 10-15 pound Black Drum too, for Nathan. That would have been something. But, the Sheepshead kept chewin. And as the sun went down, the bite went in and out as the tide slowed too. So we left for the dock with a 72 qt. cooler full of 6 Trout, 1 Black Drum, and 10-12 Sheepshead.



My plan worked out great. And Lisa even had headlamps, thank goodness. Because half way through the fish cleaning, it got really dark!



4/22 & 23 - A little bit of every thing.

My buddy Jay Perrotta of BlackLab Marine & RockSalt boats was in town as of Thursday afternoon.

Bringing that big RockSalt 34 welded aluminum boat www.rocksaltboats.com up from S. Florida. To just show folks. So my dad and I met him over at Morningstar Marina, as he pulled up from the St, Johns. We've been keeping tabs on Jay's travels north through the ocean and ICW via www.aluminumalloyboats.com the forum that's my second home. I bought my boat from Jay when he lived in Maine. And the Rocksalt 34 is a different breed of aluminum alloy welded boat. It's monsterous and can seriously GO FAST.

With twin 350 V-8 Yamaha's, and the yacht quality look of the hull and interior. The boat was a "must see", at this years Miami International boat show in Febuary. And I didn't hit Miami this year. So I missed it. But this was even better. Jay and the Rocksalt being in J-ville.



Painted 1/4" plate alloy with toilet, two sinks, two livewells, racing seats, 700 Horse Power, three electronics boxes, and console and hard top that the crew can do chin-ups on. Nothings coming loose on this boat! Fish "holds", not just boxes, and storage out the ying-yang. This is a awesome offshore fishing machine. And it's all made out of the same material my boat is. 5053 Marine Grade Alloy.




The ride comes later. Jay and his buddy needed nurishment and some cold drinks. They had just run from New Smyrna Beach this morning in the ocean to Jacksonville's St. Johns River inlet. So off we went to Singletons Seafood for fried oyster Po' boys with crunchy onions on top.




My dad and I helped Jay by giving him and Charlie a ride to rent a car in Jax Beach. But my ride would come on Friday. I had nothing else to do. And wouldn't miss behind the wheel time on this big bad ****** boat. So I met Jay at the Marina on Friday morning and we went cruising. The spit will roll out your lips when this boats lighting it up out the jetty rocks.



No seas, dead azz flat calm. Bummer.....ya want some "sporte" seas in a boat like this.





If I was an Long Range offshore guy and really wanted a boat to get customers there and back fast, I'd only have aluminum, of course. And this would be the boat I'd have custom built.




4/22-23 - Night Fishing shake down.

Hit the river at 8pm after hanging with Jay, Charlie and Pop's, and the Rocksalt 34. Had my buddy Nick who's the drummer for the band, Rathkeltair (Celtic Rock Fusion: www.Rathkeltair.com ) with me. He's a night owl, so he was a good choice. We did a shake down night fishing trip and got back home at 2:30am.



Tried out my LED's I mounted on the top of my windshield. And my new Hydroglow light for fish attracting, yes it attracts! The tide was falling and hauling butt. We caught fish, a few Specks, some sand trout (yeah small sand trout), some Blues naturally, and a few Yellowmouth Trout. The hydroglow light is supposed to FLOAT. And it didn't. It sank. So that was an issue. The current was a issue too. And we tried a few docks that have lights on all night. Ones I have been just dieing to try, with not much success. But all was good till maybe mid-night. And that's when it got colder than a well diggers azz out there. And I needed more than I had on.

My alloy, night fishing

Yeah, COLD, and a tad windy too. Next time, I'll actually have a game plan, also. But this was just a shake down. Now Hydroglow is sending me a new light, and I'll return this "sinker".

I loved it. NO one around. The whole river to myself. If it wasn't so dang cold it would have been better.
But I can see this summer is gonna be different for me. Because I'm not gonna put up with wakes, jetskis, Poke run race boats and ghetto cruisers, waking me. And every spot will be open to fish.

I'll be heading out in the evening with customers, if they can. Why not?

www.CAPTDAVES.COM - Capt Dave Sipler's Sport Fishing
Mayport, Florida