Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas. I took the day off to have a wonderful Christmas with my wife Laura and my son Finn.

Charter 12-23-2011 w/ Dave and his family

What a great day of fishing in Saint Augustine, FL. I had a regular client of mine Dave and his wife Nicole and her father. We were able to catch a bunch of fish today. We started out catching a bunch of bluefish and spotted sea trout.Dave was getting hits every cast throwing a soft plastic. Then Dave hooked up to a huge sand trout on a Zman paddle tail bait. This was by far the biggest sand trout that I have ever seen. They fight so much better than the spotted trout as well. After getting a bunch of fish it was time to try and get some black drum. We did not have to much luck with that so we went looking for some redfish. It took a little while for the tide to go down but once it did we were able to stay on some redfish for a few hours. Nicoles dasd had the biggest at 26" but Nicole had the hot hand for the afternoon. I am not sure how many keeper redfish she had for the day. We also caught a bunch of black drum once the tide went out but they were all just an inch to small to keep. Everyone had a good bite at some point throughout the day and that is great when that happens. They will be having a great fish dinner for Christmas.

Charter 12-22-2011w/ Duane and Rachel

Today I had Duane and Rachael. They were also from south Florida and the weather continued to be just perfect. We started the day out with the water a sheet of glass. The first spot I was poling the boat in some super shallow water and we had a huge school of redfish pushing wakes all around us. It took a good 30 minutes to get on to bite but it was Duane's first redfish and he was stoked. He is a big snook and tarpon fisherman in Jupiter but there are not many redfish to be had. That is where I grew up fishing and I never caught one down there. It was an added bonus that his first redfish was sight fished. We then continued to some different creeks since the wind was starting to blow and these fish just were not in the feeding mood. After a few smaller redfish and some nice redfish under his belt I went to a spot that was less than a foot deep in the back of a creek to get him the big boy. He hooked into a nice fat upper slot redfish that fought great. From there we were able to continue to catch some more redfish and some blackdrum and trout as well. I still love the pursuit of a snook but sine we do not have any up this far north I am really learning to love and appreciate the red drum, especially when you can get on some monsters in a foot of water.

Charter 12-21 2011 w/ Sung and Veronica

Today I had Sung and his daughter Veronica out for a half day charter. They were up from Fort Lauderdale and the brought some of there beautiful weather with them. What a great day of fishing in Saint Augustine. Veronica had the hot hand of the day but Sung was not to far behind. The both caught some really big black drum and some great redfish. Veronica was on of the best casters that I have ever had on the boat. She was able to cast it right under the dock and also able to horse the fish out without pulling the hook. It was a blast watching her fish throughout the day. I am sure the two of them will have some great memories of today's trip.

Charter 12-19-2011 w/ Morris and Pierson

Today I had a two boat trip with Morris and his family. Capt. Brian took out Morris's two sons and I took him and his grandson out. It was a fun day of catching. It is always great to get some body there first redfish and then make it a nice slot redfish that is screaming drag and it is that much better. They were able to catch some really nice redfish and some smaller black drum and trout thrown in the mix. We even had on a few flounder but they kept spitting the hook right at the boat. What a fun and beautiful day on the water.

Fun fishing and pictures w/ Rich 12-18-2011

I took Capt. Rich Santos from Jacksonville out today. We had been trying to plan a day where both of us had the day off. He had been wanting to see how the Dragonfly Boatworks Grand Slam handled since he is in the market for a new boat soon. Well Saturday was sunny, calm and in the low 80's. Today was 42 degrees and blowing at 15-25. Not an ideal day to try out a little fly fishing. I was still able to mess around sight-fishing with some soft plastics, even with the broken had. Rich brought along 2 nice Nikon cameras and took some really killer pictures. His views add a whole different look. I can't wait for part two to see him throw the fly rod. Keep an eye out for the report in the next few weeks.

Charter 12-14-2011 w/ John and Christy

Today I took out John and Christy Wow did the catch a lot of different species for this time of year. I believe that the caught a keeper of just about everything. One of the bloopers of the day was when John was holding up an over the slot trout for a picture and it wiggled out of his hands and into the water. They were able to have some drag screaming all day though.