Fish Log

Nov. 30, 2000 - We're working long hours on the ships.  The bait mullet have disappeared and I've gone back to using the soft plastic jigs.  Caught and released 6 croakers.  Smoked some mullet for making dip during the holidays.  Commercial mullet fishermen have invaded the basin like a swarm of locusts.  The flounder run seems to have ended and a few yellow mouthed trout have shown up with the brisk cold snap this week.

Jan. 30, 2001 -  Haven't caught a really nice fish since November.  Big schools of yellow mouth trout should have shown up weeks ago, but unseasonably cold weather may be a factor, nobody else is catching them either.  Bought some fiddler crabs for bait and made a tool for scraping barnacles from the seawall for chum, but no luck with the sheepshead yet.

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 - Finally caught an 8.26 pound sheepshead at C-2-E, on a live fiddler crab.  If someone hadn't helped me rig the landing net I'd have probably lost this fish.  The fish had a gnarly old set of broken teeth that I pulled a rusty hook from.  Was lucky to have landed him.

Feb. 26, 2001 - Caught a 15 inch sheepshead yesterday, and a bigger one (16.5 inches) today, no weights recorded.  Both fish taken on fiddler crabs, during the outgoing tide, from the concrete pier at the Navy's steam plant, on the St. Johns River.

Fishing Log

Oct. 13, 2000 - Full Moon - Took a 16 inch flounder after work at C-2-E, on a live mud minnow, during the low tide (2:51 PM).



Sunday, Oct. 15, 2000 - Caught a 3.38 pound, 19.5 inch flounder at C-2-W, on a live mullet.

Oct. 16, 2000 - Caught 2 flounder at C-2-W: the larger fish (16"), was taken at high tide during lunch, and the smaller fish (14.5"), was taken on the low tide, just after work.

Oct. 27, 2000 - Caught and released a small gag grouper I hooked on a on a jig at C-2-W, then also hooked and lost a big flounder at the same spot.


Oct. 28, 2000 - Took an 18 inch flounder, at dead low tide, on a live mud minnow, at C-2-W.  Also caught and released a smaller flounder at the same spot, using the same bait.

Nov. 6, 2000 - 2 nice (18 and 19 inch) flounder, taken at C-2-W, on live finger mullet.  Both fish weighed about 3 pounds each.

Nov. 7, 2000 - 2 more thick flounder, also taken at C-2-W, on live finger mullet.  The shorter 18 inch (3.75-lb.) fish, outweighed the longer 19 inch (3.5-lb.) fish, by a quarter pound.

Nov. 8, 2000 - Released a small gag grouper taken at C-2- W on a live finger mullet.

Nov. 9, 2000 - Hosted a family birthday party at Hurricane Hattie's,  all the lobster we could eat.  Sent my sisters home with bulging zip lock bags full of flounder fillets.  GREAT FUN.

Sunday, Nov. 11, 2000 - Picked up a 16 inch flounder at C-2-W on a live mullet, then went over to E Pier and caught a cooler full of roe mullet with my new cast net.  Some of them weighed 4 pounds or better. - Beautiful fish.

Monday, Nov. 12, 2000 - A 17 inch flounder taken during lunch at C-2-W, on a live finger mullet.

Nov. 13, 2000 - No fish today, someone emptied my live bait bucket and left it on the seawall. 

Fishing Log
(20 years ago this week)

Sept. 16, 2000 - A long drought and a terrible summer for flounder.  Took a 15 inch yellow mouth trout at C-2-East, just before dawn on a live finger mullet.

Sept. 21, 2000 - The flounder are finally back.  I tossed a 14-in. flounder I caught  before dawn, at C-2-E on live mullet, and kept a 24-in. flounder, taken just before dark, at C-2-W, also on a live finger mullet.

Sept. 22, 2000 - Caught and released a 14-in. flounder at C-2-E, with cheers from sailors on catwalks who'd watched me land the fish during the lunch break.

Sept. 26, 2000 - Released another two, 14 and 15-in. flounder, taken during lunch, on live mullet, at C-2-E.

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000 - Took a 16 inch flounder at C-2-E on a dead mullet.

Oct. 7, 2000 - Took a small flounder after work, at C-2-E, on a small live mullet, during the first part of the falling tide.

Oct. 11, 2000 - Caught a 15 inch flounder at C-2-E, on a mud minnow.

Fishing Log

 

 

vermillion snappers

 

Sunday, July 16, 2000 - Made an off-shore trip on the King Neptune: Travis got a 30 pound amberjack, I got one that weighed 25 pounds.  We also got a nice stringer full of good sized b-liners (aka vermillion snappers).

 

Monday, July 17, 2000 - I jigged up a small flounder at C-2-West.  It measured 13 to 14 inches, but with so much amberjack and snapper to eat, I released it.


ladyfish

July 29, 2000 - Flounder fishing has been slow.  Bought a new $18.00 graphite rod from Walmart and a $35.00 Shimano, 4 ball bearing, spinning reel from Sports Unlimited.  Caught 5 or 6 ladyfish on that new combo at B/C Corner.  The anti reverse gear on my Penn SS 4400 failed again; the design for that reel is a piece of garbage and I'll never waste money on another one.  

Fishing Log

 

 

Thursday, June 15, 2000 - Put four flounder in the cooler, between 12 and 19 inches long.  Lost three others during lunch, which I watched spit out the jig before I could get a landing net under them, all at C-2 West.  Wind shifting from ESE to NE.

Sunday, June 18, 2000, Father's Day - Picked up thick 17 inch flounder at C-2 East, with a root beer and gold flake, shad tail grub, on a red .25-oz. jig head.  Kathy put on a nice party at her building last night for the whole family: Mac and Helga, sisters, cousins, in-laws, etc.

June 23, 2000 - Jigged up an octopus at C-2 West.  Cooked flounder on the grill.

Saturday, June 25, 2000 - Picked up a 16 inch flounder at Fox Cove, and hooked another about the same size at B/C Corner on a new type of jig, but lost the fish trying to horse it over the sea wall.  Wind ESE.  

Fishing Log

 

May 20, 2000 - Picked up a 17 inch flounder at Fox Cove, a 17 inch yellow mouth trout at B/C Corner, and an octopus at C-2 East on a jig.  Fried up everything but the octopus.  Other anglers are slaying flounder on live mud minnows and finger mullet.

May 23, 2000 - 15 inch flounder at Fox Cove, and one yesterday too.  Also a robin fish taken on a jig at C-2 East.

 

May 26, 2000 - Last quarter moon - Using a jig, I picked up and released a potato chip flounder, at Fox Cove.  I saw some 3 to 7 pound flounder today, taken on live mud minnows and finger mullet.  The weather has been warm with a steady westerly breeze blowing all day.  Memorial Day Weekend, Kathy will be moving her business from the store front on Seminole Rd. to a larger location on Levy Rd. in Atlantic Beach.

 May 30, 2000 - After work, I took a 17.5 and a 14.5 inch flounder at the western notch of C-2 Pier, on a MrWhiffelure jig.  Wind out of the N.E.  Will be sending my mother a Zip-Lock bag full of flounder filets tomorrow.

 

 

June 7, 2000 - Took a 16 inch flounder at C-2, just before lunch, on a  chartreuse glitter Wiffelure jig.  Cooked same in a casserole dish on the grill, with shrimp and crab meat. 

June 11, 2000 - Released a sea bass and a potato-chip flounder, taken at Foxtrot Cove on mud minnows.

 

June 14, 2000 - Caught a 13 and 14 inch flounder on a jig and turned them into a pair of stuffed flounder for Mac (my father's) birthday and Father's Day gift. 

 



Fishing Log
 

 

April 20, 2000 - I caught a 2lb. 17in. flounder at east notch of C-2, on a jig, during my lunch break, and got free ice from the Ribault Club.  Blackened the fish for dinner.

 

April 24, 2000 - Caught a 16-in. flounder, a 17-in. speckled sea trout, and an 18-in. yellow mouth sea trout:  The flounder (on a jig) at Fox Cove during lunch, and the trout on two back to back casts after work, about 3:15pm.

This week, aboard the USS John F Kennedy CV-60,  I've been paired with Edgardo Dabu, a Pilipino tech-rep from Norfolk, who was impressed with the flounder I caught April 20.  Using a hand line and a jig I gave him, he caught a nice trout next to the carrier.  By this afternoon, he was slamming a bunch of jacks crevalle on a new rod and reel he'd just bought - a very excited guy!

There are also some very big bluefish in the basin right now.  I watched a sailor land one on light tackle that was about 3-ft. long, one of the biggest I've ever seen.  From a distance it looked like a small kingfish.  What a rod-bender!

 

 

 

April 26, 2000 - Midday Wednesday, wind out of the west.  Pulled up to the B/C corner and caught a 16 or 17 inch flounder on my first cast (I never shut the truck engine off) and drove home for lunch.  Gave the fish to (Bob) Fillinger. 

Thursday, April 27, 2000 - Snagged up a small 14 inch flounder at Fox Cove, just after work.  Gave it to Stoddard (Andreu).

April (?). 20000 - Released a medium size Jack at the B/C corner and a small flounder at the western corner of C-2.





Fishing Log
 

 

April 1, 2000 - Returned from Charleston, where I'd had no time for fishing.

 

Mon. April 3, 2000 - Before work, I made 3 casts from B/C corner and released 3 trout.  On the first cast I got 3 bumps, but a month's worth of rust on the hook prevented a good hook set.

 

Tue. April 4, 2000 - Carried Mac (my dad) 4 small yellow mouth trout I caught near the bottom of E-Pier at dark.  2/3 of the fish I caught were undersized and had to be released.

Yellow Mouth Trout

Fri. April 7, 2000 - Mild wind out of the SE.  Fishing the bottom if E-Pier was slow at dusk, but picked up with the incoming tide.  Between 8 and 10pm, I'd filled a cooler with some very nice yellow mouth trout - had also released half a dozen others that (that were) of legal length, but skinny.  Of the bigger fish, many were between 18 and 20 in. long.  Raided the ice machine at North Florida Shipyards, and will clean fish in the morning.  Right now I need a shower.

  

 

 

Fishing Log

  

Wed. March 1, 2000 - Caught a dozen or so yellow mouth trout at the bottom of Echo Pier, all above the legal limit.  Caught one keeper yesterday that I gave Tyler (Greenwell) with a black drum that Andy (Williams) caught Sunday.

Wed. evening at dusk - With a light wind out of the NW, the fish were feeding aggressively on the surface. Using white body plastic jigs with pink tails, the action was so fast that it made my shoulder and forearm ache, with as many 3 strikes per cast. FUN!  Filled the cooler.

March 2, 2000 - Caught another dozen or so trout at the same spot.  Took Dorothy (my mother) a gallon freezer bag full of skinless, boneless fillets.

I'm off to Charleston for repairs to a submarine.  

Fishing Log
 

 

Jan. 12, 2000 - Released lots of jacks I'd caught at the bottom of E-Pier, and  kept 3 yellow mouth trout at the same spot; then caught several more trout at A/B Corner, on jigs.  Sautéed them up for Kathy, in olive oil, Old Bay, curry, fresh lemon, celery seed, onion, and black pepper.

 

Jan. 13, 2000 - Hooked 4 flounder at Foxtrot Cove: lost one, tossed one, and kept two (15 and 22 inches long).

 

Jan. 18/19, 2000 - Kept 4 trout and 2 jacks.

 

Jan. 21, 2000 - Caught 3 very large sheepshead at C-2, on fiddler crabs.  Took them and several trout to Gainesville, for (my sister) Sara-Nett's 50th birthday.

 

Jan. 23, 2000 - Left Jacksonville to work on a submarine in Charleston.