Fishing Log



USS JOHN F. KENNEDY CV-67 berthed at Charlie-2
and the wooden fish dock on the riprap, east of C-2

 

May 23, 1997 - Wind still out of the ENE.  I hit the wooden fishing dock on the Riprap (East of C-2), the wind sheltered notch at the west end of C-2, looking for flat water to fish in.  Also fished the SE corner at the bottom of Echo Pier, NOTHING.

May 27, 1997 - Last quarter moon.  Caught seven trout and a small flounder, all taken between C-2 and Bravo, working the seawall in the lee of the wind.  Also picked up 2 medium sized croakers @ the Trout Hole (SE corner of E-Pier), working dead shrimp along the bottom.  Kept the 4 largest trout, from 15.5-in. long.

May 29, 1997 - Wind ENE, on an incoming tide.  Took a 14.5-in. flounder from the west end of the fishing dock on the Riprap.

June 4, 1997 - Caught ribbon fish yesterday and today in the Trout Hole (bottom of Echo) and sold them to B&M Bait and Tackle for kingfish bait.  Got $6.00 for 3 of them yesterday, and $7.00 for 6 of them today.



Ribbon fish sold for kingfish bait

                              

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Fishing Log

 

Spanish mackerel

 

May 22, 1997 - A Spanish mackerel, 14-in. nose to the fork of the tail, taken @ 'C' Pier fishing dock, while an East wind and an outgoing tide were in conflict.





Fishing dock (top right), C-2, West (top left),
 E-pier (bottom)

Afternoon - Wind still out of the ENE w/ an incoming tide.  Found a protected piece of flat water on the West end of C-2.  First cast yielded 16-in. yellow mouth trout, the second cast brought a 15-in. trout, and the third brought a 14-in. flounder.  Moved over to the bottom of Echo Pier, just at sunset and had several blues and Spanish break off terminal tackle up to the swivel.  They were slammin' bait fish hard, despite wind chop on the surface.

 

Bluefish

My last fish of the day was a big blue (16-in. to the fork).  I cast a into a school if rolling bait fish, and a bluefish slammed me.  He tail walked through the baitfish on the surface, and made two nice airborne leaps.  When the fish was on the pier I noticed that it had kinked the stainless steel leader, mangled the terminal end if a snap swivel, destroyed the soft plastic jig body, and left deep teeth marks in the painted metal head.  I kept almost everything I landed today: 2 trout, a flounder, a Spanish mackerel, and one bad bluefish.  Never stick your fingers into the mouth of a bluefish to dislodge a hook.

 

Fishing Log



Wooden dock, East of Charlie-2

May 21, 1997 - Caught a 20 inch, 3 pound flounder fishing the west end of the wooden pier, outside fence near Charlie-2, using a chartreuse, twisty tail,  gold metal flake jig, with red a 1/4-oz. head, two hours after dead low tide.  Wind and tide flow were out of the East (at my back).  Enjoyed using the new landing net again.  It worked like a champ!  Of the 3 flounder I caught this week: I gave one to Doug Oswald (Kathy's pottery tenant), I grilled one outside with fresh herbs and butter, and took the biggest one over to Mac (my father) and Helga's house, where I filleted it for them.  Dorothy (my mother) got the croaker and the blues last weekend for baby sitting Rudy (the dog) Sunday night, while Kathy and I stayed with Candice and Parker Boice, at an oceanfront condo, on St. Augustine Beach.  I would have taken them some fish too, but they are vegetarians.

I also tried fishing a finger mullet, hooked through the lips, with no success.  He never lost a scale, and was happy to be released to be with his school mates, just after I caught the flounder.  Tomorrow is a full moon, with winds projected out of the N.E. which should seriously limit my options.  I'll probably hit the same spot at first light, just before high tide, and hope to pick up another flounder to grill, for Memorial Day Weekend.  Will also keep an eye peeled for jacks and blues working finger mullet on the surface, but will probably rely on an opaque white jig with a pink tail, worked close to the bottom, for a flounder.  Hope that the spare spool I ordered from Penn, for the SS4400 reel, comes soon.

I put the new Penn reel on a new $44.00 Fenwick rod with a super good action, but my favorite weapon is still the corroded old Zebco XB65 spinning reel on those red, 5.5-ft. Big Lots rods ($20.00).  Big bucks spent on fishing tackle do not always translate into more fish.  I have broken the (faster action, brittle) tips off of 3 rods, attached to the old corroded Zebco reel, but that combo, spooled with 12# Spider Fusion braided line, has produced hundreds of fish.  The new Penn reels on fancier rods, have been disappointing.  The Penn reels, with graphite bodies, are supposed to be the best hedge against salt water corrosion. but their action is clunky, and the anti-reverse gear has too much play and 'clangs' when popping a jig or setting a hook.  I guess I need to write them (Penn Reels) a letter.



Fishing Log
 

May 3, 1997 - No desirable table fish in over two weeks.  Baitfish (mullet) plentiful, and conditions fair, but I only caught several ribbon fish along Echo Pier.  I saw a small y.m. trout taken off the fishing dock east of C-2, and heard reports of flounder and small spotted trout, taken at the cove off of the east end of Foxtrot Pier.  I seem to be in a slump.

May 12, 1997 - Fishing still bad, a few ribbon fish and one small jack crevalle last week, period.

May 15, 1997 -  The slump is over, I hope.  Nailed a 14.5-in. croaker, a medium blue, and a 2.25 pound, 17-in. flounder @ the corner of Alpha and Charlie Piers,*  with a light wind at my back, on both sides of the high tide.

*There is no place where C and A Piers meet, so the spot (figuring the wind direction) was probably B-C corner, but might (possibly) have been where A and B Piers meet.

B-C corner (top left)  C-2 fish dock (top right)
Foxtrot Pier cove (middle) Echo Pier (bottom)

May 16, 1997 -  Picked up a nice blue (first cast) and an 18 inch flounder, 7:30 am, from the fishing pier, east of the fence @ C-2, on the outgoing tide, with the wind and sun at my back.  The new floating landing net I built, worked perfect !!!



Fishing Log

B-C and D-3 (top left) wall and outside
C-2 fence (top right) D-3 (bottom)

April 16, 1997 - Mild wind out of the N.E.  Released two small trout caught at B-C, before work.  Picked up a blue she-crab at lunch on a jig.  Also released a medium jack from B-C, then moved to the dock on Charlie point at dusk.  Released several small trout, gave 3 or 4 away, gave away a small blue, kept 2 blues (14" to the fork of the tail) and a 15-in. trout.  Also released a small whiting and a small flounder.  Action was medium to brisk from dusk to dark-thirty in the halo of a sodium quartz light, falling tide, using a white bodied, pink tailed jig, molded with shrimp scent (by Gotcha) with a 1/4-oz. white jig head.  The water was flat and protected from the wind.





small whiting

April 18, 1997 - Unseasonably cold, 40 something this morning with a wind chill factor in the 30's, an unproductive morning (3 casts).  Nothing at the ICW, and finally, about dark-thirty, the wall outside the fence @ C-2, gave up some trout and blues.  Left 3 fish for the cats and got run off by Base Security - Falling tide.

USS HUE' CITY (CG-66) 

April 22, 1997 - Full moon, nothing much going on.  Wind out of the West, making B-3 my best bet.  Rumors of 6 pound trout being taken from the deck of USS Hue' City, berthed near B-C.  Small croakers taken on dead shrimp were supposedly being used as live bait for the big trout.  I saw the croakers, but no trout.

April 23, 1997 - Rainy - Working too much to get in much fishing.  A soft rod tip, wind, and current making conditions poor.  The water was flat while it rained, but by knock-off the wind was back.






USS JOHN HANDCOCK (DD-981)

April 24, 1997 - Glued a new tip on the 6-ft. Big Lots rod, put the old reel back on it, and immediately nailed a small croaker and sea trout before work at Delta-1, near the bow of the USS John Handcock.

April 28, 1988 - Blues working on baitfish after dark in the halo of a security light, also @ D-1.  Snagged one medium blue and hooked several others, kept none.  Fleet moving out in the morning.  Too much sailor traffic on the pier.

Fishing Log

April 7, 1997 - Picked up a small yellow mouth trout @ Foxtrot Pier on an incoming tide, just after dark.  YMT and bluefish also turned on at the seawall just outside the fence @ the East end of C-2.  Had a light wind at my back.  Kept 3, but lost or threw back many more small fish.  Was getting a pick-up on about every third cast, but  got chased off by Base Security in the middle of the bite.  I like fishing in a dead calm or with a light breeze at my back.  It makes casting and line management easier.  Flat water produces less vibration 'chaff' and I believe, makes it easier for fish to locate a moving bait.*  The calmer the water, the slower a jig can be worked.


*After catching scores of fish on dark moonless nights, in 30-ft. of water, on unscented artificial lures, I am convinced that fish can target prey using only vibrations picked up by lateral lines (sonar organs) that run along both sides of their bodies.  It may also help explain the quick darting or swirling maneuvers fish can make when schooling in tight formations. 




B-C, seawall and pier outside C-2 fence (top)
Fox cove (middle) D-3 (bottom)

April 8, 1997 - Stiff wind out of the North.  Took one blue @ B-C after work. 


April 11, 1997 - Working night shift, windy with rain.  Caught about 5 trout @ D-3.  Kept only one, about 15.5-in. long.  Wind out of the S.E.


April 12, 1997 - Same as above, one keeper
         
April 14, 1997 - First quarter moon.



Fishing Log



B/C (top), A/B (left), Fox cove (right), E-3 (bottom)

April 1, 1997 - April Fool's Day.  Caught several throw-away blues and jacks at the corner of Alpha and Bravo Piers.  Kept one blue and had a Gotcha Lure on a steel leader cut off by a medium sized blue.

April 2, 1997 - Caught 2 blues and 2 jacks, one about 17-in. to the fork of the tail, gave 'em away.

April 3, 1997 - Jacks and trout @ B/C corner before work.  Kept only one trout.  All taken on a white grub with a pink twisty tail, and a white 1/4-oz. jig head.

April 4, 1997 - One medium jack taken @ B/C corner, taken on a pink and green twisty tailed jig.



Penn Spinfisher 4400 SS**

April 5, 1997 - Saturday.  Bought a Penn spinning reel 4400 SS (saltwater series) for about $60.00 w/tax, and took it to the ICW - no action.  Hooked and lost about a 13-in. flounder in the cove off the end of Foxtrot Pier on an incoming tide and a South wind.  Moved to the trout hole @ E-3, and picked up 6 nice fish (yellow mouth trout) between 13 and 17 inches long, on new pink and white plastic jigs impregnated with shrimp scent.  A Puerto Rican Electrician's Mate from SIMA* was doing just as well using unscented white plastic jigs, and a 1/2" mil-spec. hex nut for a sinker.  The fish were taken on the cresting tide, just before dark, with the wind at our backs.

April 6, 1997 - SKUNKED.  Heavy winds out of the S.E. & lots of Security Police to monitor fishing.  Ran into the P.R. Electrician's Mate again, at the bottom of E-3.  He had 4 small YMT.  I made 3 or 4 quick casts and left.

 * Shore Immediate Maintenance Activity

** This model has a very sloppy anti-reverse gear.  The worst Penn reel I've ever owned.