Fishing Log

 

April 17, 1998 - Hooked a jack and a blue at A/B corner, both a little timid about hitting the jig.  Both strikes occurred on the up-crank, about 10-ft. from the surface.

April 19, 1998 - Picked up a small trout and 2 jacks at A/B corner today, and a small trout at F-2 yesterday.  None of it worth keeping.

April 21, 1998 - Landed a 2.5-lb. jack on a white jig tail @ the west notch of C-2.  Again, the bait was taken about 10-ft. below the surface.  GOOD FIGHT !!!

May 2, 1998, Saturday, 3-pm - Hooked 2 flounder at A/B corner, on a white tailed jig with a pink twisty tail: first flounder, 15-in., 1.75-lb (kept), the second fish was 11.66-in. (released).

May 5, 1998 - A small jack and a blue (17-in. to the fork) @ the west notch of C-2.  Both taken just below the surface on a white jig with a pink twisty tail (.25-oz. head).  Gave the blue to Stoddard.

May 6, 1998 - 2 more blues taken at A/B corner: one on a jig, the other on a Gotcha lure.

 

Fishing Log

 

March 6, 1998 - The yellow mouth trout have returned after an unusually warm and rainy winter.  I caught 3 this morning @ C-1 before work, about 15-in. each.  It's been a long drought on the fishing scene, with virtually nothing since Thanksgiving.

 

Friday 13, March, 1998 - Yellow mouth trout at the bottom of Echo Pier, falling tide, night fishing with Doug Oswald.  Took about all we wanted on white plastic jig tails tipped with a little dead shrimp for scent.  Most of the fish were between 12 and 18 inches.  We threw back anything too small to clean.

March 31, 1998 - Hooked a 14-in. yellow mouth trout at the bottom of Delta Pier, after work (2-pm).  A man was killed and another badly injured (both civilians) in an aircraft elevator accident on the carrier today, between 2 and 5-pm.*
 

April 2, 1998 - Released one and lost one yellow mouth trout at the bottom of E-Pier after dark, action slow.

 

April 15, 1998 - Two bluefish taken on jigs along A-Pier, the largest was 19-in. to the fork of the tail.  Gave them to Stoddard.  Jack crevalle showing up everywhere.  Hooked a big one yesterday that broke my Fenwick rod @ A/B corner.  Dredging has stopped temporarily. Good!! - water clearing.

*https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=101350262

 





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. 

Fishing Log

 

 

Oct. 30, 1997 - Light wind NNE.  16-in. 1.75-lb flounder taken at C-1-East, on live mullet.

 

Oct. 31, 1997 - HALLOWEEN - Rainy, wind NNE, no bait.  Picked up a 17-in. 2-lb. flounder during lunch at C-1-East.  Gave Conrad Chun a rain jacket.  Flounder totals for October:  15 fish with an aggregate weight of 38-40-lb.

 

 

Nov. 1, 1997 - Caught a nice yellow mouth trout at A/B notch.  Gave it to Stoddard (Andreu).  Wind out of the West, rain stopped, with overcast skies.  Still no live bait to be found.

 

Created a new fish dish, "Georgia/Florida Bombay Flounder" :  2 onions, 1 red bell pepper, half a stalk of celery, 1 leftover cob of corn, 3 small flounder and 2 cups of rice, w/ butter, sherry, curry, garlic & cumin.  Good Stuff.

 

Nov. 3, 1997 - Caught a 12-in. throw-back, gag grouper on live mullet at the East end of C-1.

 

Nov. 4, 1997 - Took a 4-lb. (19-in.) flounder at the East end of C-1 during dead low tide on a live mullet, which are showing up closer to the surface again.  Cleaned the fish and gave it to Dorothy and Travis.  A nice thick fish for this time of year.

 



Fishing Log

 

 

Oct. 26, 1997 - Picked up 3 flounder today on live mullet, two @ C-1 East and one at Fox cove: sizes ranged from 14-in, 16-in. (1.75-lb.), 18-in. (4-lb.), and a black sea bass at A/B corner.  Gave the sea bass and 2 smaller flounder to Stoddard Andreu.  Cleaned the large flounder for Dorothy and Travis.

 

Blackened half of the last flounder (caught Oct. 21) and deglazed the skillet with Sherry, onions and mushrooms, for a sauce - Good Stuff !

 

Also caught a 4-ft conger eel at C-2 East, Thursday.  It was as big around as a baseball and felt like a big flounder coming up.  Very disappointing.

 

Oct. 27, 1997 - Rained all day w/wind out of the SW.  Baitfish showing a spectacular show of activity just aft if a British ship berthed at A-1.  Helped a 'Limey' sailor land two big bluefish, a very excited and happy angler.

Oct. 29, 1997 - 4 flounder taken on live mullet from both ends of C-1.  The J.F. Kennedy berthed there, forms a natural barrier at both ends of the pier, trapping bait fish.  Finger mullet plentiful there now.  Flounder sizes: 15-in., 15.5-in., 17-in. (2-lb.), and 21-in. (5-lb.).  Wind NNE, falling tides.


USS CONOLLY (DD-979)

I had been sent to the Good Ship Connolly at 8:00-am, to work on a galley oven that was in use and couldn't be tagged out (to work on) until 13:00, so with free time on my hands...   PAO (public affairs officer) CDR Conrad Chun had a flounder in his cooler that weighed just over 8-lb.  Rusty of B&M bait store, reported that 32 flounder had been taken just off of the point of the rip-rap (C-2) by two civilian anglers in a boat.  I also saw the base harbor master land a nice red where I was fishing at the end of C-1.  A very busy day.