Fishing Log

Crafted from junk lying around on the piers,
all of these on-the-spot lures caught fish.*

 

toothy jack crevalle

*I'm surprised that the big schools of jack crevalle never showed up this year in the same numbers that I saw in the first two weeks of last November.  They'd destroy any kind of artificial lures offered to them.  I used jig heads fitted with ear plugs, gasket material, rope, rags, electrical tape, wire, etc. and made spoons cut from soft drink cans.  All of them caught fish.  If one fish spit a plug, another would pick it up immediately.  Often it took longer to dislodge a lure from a toothy mouth than the hook-up had taken.  During one 45 minute lunch period, I caught enough jacks to later fill a 38 quart cooler with cleaned filets.

 

Smoker full of mullet filets

Nov. 24, 1997 - Spoke to Wally today, who said that his neighbor Mat Roland, had dropped by while Wally was smoking mullet.  Mat reported that an 18 wheeler left from Mayport last week, filled exclusively with mullet roe and headed for New Orleans, the final destination to be Japan.  This year's harvest has been remarkable.  Some of the locals are going out at night with seine nets to slay even more of them.  Rusty said that one guy had made more than $8,000 in one day.

 

The finger mullet, and with them, the flounder run seems to have ended, but it's hard to get upset with the bonanza of roe mullet that is keeping anyone with a castnet busy.  The weather has been windy and brisk.

 

 



Fishing Log

 

 

Friday, Nov. 14, 1997 - A long slow week.  Took a spot on a jig yesterday, bait is scarce.  The annual Fall mullet run has begun.  Lots of small mullet boats in the river and encroaching into the Naval basin, all throwing the big cast nets.  Jacks and yellow mouth trout are showing up.  I saw a cooler full of medium to large (2 to 8-lb) flounder, taken along C-1 today.  I was skunked.

 

Nov. 15, 1997 - Turned 49 today.  No gamefish, but I threw the big net twice to fill the cooler with medium sized (17-18-in) roe mullet, 2.25 to 2.5-lb. each.

 

Nov. 16, 1997 - Kathy took me to dinner for my birthday, then to a sporting goods store to buy me a new fishing rod, any rod in the store; but the catch was, that I only 6-min. to make my selection.  I settled on a 6-ft. 6-in. Fenwick Falcon spinning rod, with a fast action and a little nose heavy.*

• The tip on that model is very sensitive but a brittle.  I snapped it off playing a ribbon fish, but Fenwick has a good warranty and will replace any of its rods that break, but you have to pay for the shipping.  Mitchell makes a 'Fulcrum' model, that is cheaper, more resilient, and has much better balance, but it is less sensitive than the Fenwick.

 

Nov. 20, 1997 -  Nailed the big mullet today.  Took over 100 pounds, one was 22 inches long and weighed over 5 pounds, a big female.  Smoked a few and gave the rest away.  Most were in the 2.5 to 3 pound weight bracket.  Traded a mess to Stoddard for a bag of hickory nuts.  Also gave some to Dave Fisher and some cleaned fish, to one-armed Bill Williams.  Gave Wally a mess too.

 

Nov. 22, 1997 - Bought a new Mitchell 'Fulcrum' spinning rod and a $100.00 smoker today.  Modified the smoker by cutting a small access hatch in the bottom to stoke the coals or to add water to the steaming pan.

Also hit the mullet hard again today along F-Pier.  Filled the cooler, but missed on a few throws that would have doubled my catch for the day.  Spent the evening cleaning fish to smoke for Thanksgiving. 



Fishing Log

 

Nov. 5, 1997 - Landed a 31-inch, 10-lb. 6-oz. redfish at the western notch of C-1 Pier, on a live finger mullet, low tide, dusk, with a slight NE breeze.  The fish was hooked between a moored barge and the seawall and made at least seven 30 yard runs, pulling drag.  I had to pass the rod under mooring lines as he made 4 or 5 more runs in a bid for open water, then surfaced long enough to be identified.  Clear of the mooring lines, the fish made several more surface runs before it could be picked up in a long handled landing net.  WHAT A FISH !!!

 

Tackle:  A light, 6-ft. graphite rod, and a Pen 4400 SS spinning reel, spooled with 24-lb. test
Spider fusion line.

 

Friday, Nov. 7, 1997 - First Quarter Moon.  Kept a nice 17-in. 2-lb. flounder hooked in the east end notch of C-1, during lunch on the high tide.  Brisk NW wind, live bait getting scarce, and temps dropping.  Large yellow mouth trout also showing up at the east end of C-1.