Offshore in my new Honda powered Carolina Skiff 2790 Extra Wide (the "No Doubt")
 
I have had this new boat for about a month now and have been anxiously awaiting a calm day to give perform it's first sea trail.  I have fished the boat in the river and backwaters about 20 times since I got it and I told myself that if it performed as Carolina Skiff said it would, I was going to have a very nice inshore boat and light offshore boat.
 
One of my good buddies, Ron Gunter, who is a school teacher and has been off of work for the Christmas holidays and I have been trying to plan an offshore trip for two weeks, but the weather man would not give us a decent day.
 
Well, this past Sunday was a decent day and we were both like little boys with the anticipation of trying out a new toy.  I did not have a charter and he had one more day off before he had to go back to the grind of teaching school, so we decided this was going to be the day.  We talked about the Elton Bottom or the Dry Docks but decided that we maybe should try to fish a little closer to land on the first outing, just to be sure.
 
After a phone call to George Strait, owner and captain of the Mayport Princess, we decided to fish within 15 miles of the beach and try for some seabass and of course, what ever else bit the hook.
 
I new that if I was going to head offshore that I was going to have some numbers entered into my new Bottom Line 5300 Gps, recorder, map and plotter.  Lucky for me, I have hundreds of offshore numbers from days past when I use to just about live out there.  I got my package of numbers and out to the boat I went.  I was pretty sure that I was going to fish the MG, PG, PM area so I concentrated on some of my old numbers from these areas. These two letter abbreviations are  initials for offshore placements, both artificial and natural, that the Jacksonville Offshore Club has maintained or created. I did think that there was a possibility of maybe running out a ways, so I plugged in a few numbers for the BR, LST, HG and SS. These are good placements that are about 25 to 30 miles out.
 
After about an hour, I had all of the numbers plugged in that I could possibly need, I checked my VHF radio to be sure that it was working, and then went to the garage to get the tackle that will be needed for an offshore trip. I decided to bring 5 Shakespeare Tiger Rods with Tidewater Machined Aluminum reels that were spooled with 100 pound test Power Pro and 5 Shakespeare Ugly Stik Custom rods with Tidewater Spinning reels spooled with 50 pound test Power Pro. These two sets of outfits should be enough to handle just about anything that I would be trying to catch on this day.  I also loaded up some Daiichi 2/0 and 5/0 Circle Wide hooks and a few other Daichii hooks in other sizes and styles.  Now for the bait. I knew that I had shrimp and mud minnows in the live wells from the previous inshore trip and had some cigar minnows in the freezer but I needed some artificials that worked well for seabass. I dug around and found some Exude Shrimp and a few packs of Fishbites in one of my Plano tackle boxes, so in the boat they went. Heck, I am just about ready for a day in the ocean. In the cooler went a few packs of crackers and some sort of beef log that was in one of those meat and cheese packages that we all get for Christmas. I had plenty of drinks in there already and the hot coffee would get loaded up in the morning. I was ready to go. 
 
I met Ron at the dock about 7am, we launched the boat from my new custom made B&S Sportsman trailer and to the ocean we went.  I turned on the Bottom Line GPS, punched in the first spot and we were off. I pushed the throttle forward and my Honda 225, powered the "No Doubt" up on plane. As we made our way out near the jetties, you could see the ocean and the our excitement grew as we approached the almost flat open ocean. By now we were moving along at about 30 miles per hour and the boat was doing great.  The farther we got from shore the bigger the waves were and soon we were in an ocean that was far from being flat. The waves had now built to a whopping 2 feet with an occasional 2 1/2 footer. The boat kept right on at about 30 miles per hour and not a drop of water had come over the bow. As we approached our first stopping point, the MG area, we had company. There were already two other boats were there but neither of them on the spot that I wanted to fish. As we came off of plane and slowed to start looking at the Bottom Line recorder to find the fish, I said, "I forgot something". Yes, the marker jug was left at the house. When you find the bottom the you are looking for, it is a good idea to send down a marker jug to use as a reference point. Not to fear, as we had a cooler full of drinks and there was one in there that had a pretty bright pink label and a screw on/off cap.  We pulled out about 100 feet of line from one of the reels and tied on a 12 ounce sinker and a marker jug we had.  We tooled around for a minute or so before the Bottom Line 5300 brought us right to the spot. Down the jug went and we were ready for some action. We went back to the jug and got a relationship between the bottom and where the jug was. Once we knew the drift, we were ready to send down some baits and catch some good eats. 
 
Ron was the first one down and the first one to say "got a nice one". We had decided to use the Shakespeare Custom rods with the small spinning reels. These are medium action outfits and with a 5 ounce sinker fishing in 85 feet of water with a 2 to 3 pound fish on the other end, LOOk OUT, this is the right stuff. These small outfits are great for a couple of guys looking to get the most fun out of a fish. These rods almost double over to the water but with Shakespeare's gutsy little rod, there was never a fear of breaking anything other than a sweat. The first fish was a 2 pound ringtail porgy.  These fish are in the sheepshead family and we all know how tasty they are, so in the box it went. I was now hooked up and with my rod doubled over and PowerPro singing in the wind, I grunted as I said "this is a nice one". After a minute or so, up came a 2 1/2 pound seabass, you know, the ones with the green around their heads or sometimes called green heads. We were cooking with gas now and on our way to a nice mess of fish. We drifted along and Ron put another nice seabass in the box and then I came up with one and then Ron caught a nice beeliner.
 
We had now drifted past the spot and had to ease back along side the marker jug. This is when the jug comes in handy. You just look out and find the jug, point the boat back in that direction and you are ready for another drift. As a rule, you want to drift for seabass. These fish usually roam in an area of hard bottom and if you anchor on them, you usually catch the few that are under the boat and then the bite is over until you move to another spot. By drifting on these fish, you catch one here and one there and by the days end, you have a nice box of fish.
 
On the next drift, I had a bite that liked to pull the pole from my hands and was on the hook. Using Daiichi Circle Wide hooks, you almost always are hooked up when you get a slammer bite like this one. I was really spouting off on this fish as he was struggling to get back to the bottom. He was pulling real good and I could just imagine a 4 pound seabass as I worked the fish up toward the surface. As the fish came up, there was not and black when I could see color, THERE WAS RED AND YELLOW. A lane snapper about 2 1/12 to 3 pounds, this was great.
 
You know, I forgot to mention what we were using for bait. Now, we had live shrimp, live mud minnows, cigar minnows, squid, and spanish sardines and to this point we had both been using Fishbites and Fishbites alone. Not bad, we had about 10 nice seabass, 2 or 3 vermilion snapper, 2 nice ringtails and a lane snapper.
 
We fished this spot for a few more drifts before it seemed to play out. I punched in some more numbers on the Bottom Line GPS and we are off to a place a little closer to land for our next spot.
 
When we got to the next spot, the Bottom Line recorder showed piles of fish so we decided to anchor and fish more than one pole. If the boat is on anchor and you are using Daiichi Circle Wide hooks, you can send down as many poles as you can mange. It is difficult to do this when you are drifting because you will get hung on something and when this happens, you DO NOT want to have several poles to all get on the same snag. This would be a rigging nightmare.
 
On this spot, we sent one pole down with Fishbites, one with squid and one with an Exude Shrimp. Exude Shrimp is an artificial bait that looks like a shrimp and has some sort of built in fish attractant.  So far, I have caught reds, trout, flounder, grouper, snapper and seabass on the Exude Shrimp and I wanted to give it a try today. As we sent each pole down, we slipped each into a rod holder and we thought we were going to have sort of a rest but we were wrong. All of the poles were doubled over and we were sort of arguing on who got to hold the camera and who had to reel in the fish. I lost as Ron grabbed up the camera which left me to contend with the doubled over poles.  The first one had a nice seabass about 2 pounds, the next a nice seabass about 2 pounds and the third (baited with squid) had a small TR. The first two baited with Fishbites and Exude Shrimp still had the bait on them and back down they went. The third hook was empty. I re-baited the third , again with squid and back down it went. By the time this one had hit bottom, the first two were again doubled over.  Ron still had hold of the camera so once again I reeled up two more nice seabass. Again these two poles still had the bait and again they both were sent back down. By the time these had hit bottom the third (baited with squid) was thumping. Again it had a small TR holding onto the hook.  Now the first two were again doubled over and I made a mad dash for the camera as Ron winched up two more nice seabass.
                  
Exude Shrimp                                          Fishbites                               Daiichi Circle Wide Hook
 
This action went on for several more seabass before the first poles hook had been cleaned of it's Fishbites. We now put a giant mud minnow on this hook and as soon as it hit bottom, a nice seabass was tugging back. We managed to catch three nice fish on this one minnow before something got it off of the hook. In the mean time the Exude Shrimp had put a few more nice seabass in the box and the pole that we kept baiting with squid, kept producing small TR's.
 
By days end we had caught all of the seabass that we needed, got a good show and had fun. What more could you ask for. Without a doubt the Fishbites and the Exude Shrimp caught the nicest fish and with these baits you do not have to re-bait after every bite. On this day, we did not need any other bait than the Exude Shrimp and Fishbites.
 
Well it was time to head for the dock, so we pointed the boat towards land and off we went. Overall this was a great day, we caught a bunch of fish, had a lot of fun and I got a show. The ocean had laid down to about 1 foot waves and the wind was now blowing about 10 mph, so the ride back was very nice. We ran about 35 miles per hour on the trip back and the boat handled great. After we got back to the dock, cleaned the fish and boat, I stopped to fill up the tank so I could see just how many gallons of gas that my new Honda 225 had used. At the pump it took 15.2 gallons and my Bottom Line 5300 said we went 57 miles total from start to finish. That comes to 3.75 miles per gallon. Not bad for a 225 hp motor pushing a 27 foot long boat. Lets see, at $1.43 per gallon times the 15.2 gallons that I used, that comes to $21.73 for a day of offshore fishing, not bad.

Ron Gunter with a nice lane snapper and seabass.
 

How would you like to go fishing with Capt. Jim?

For charter information please call me at 904 757 7550 or email me at jim@fishingwithjim.com. Don't forget to watch my TV show, every Tuesday at 7pm and Sundays at 8:30am on cable channel 7 in Jacksonville, Clay County and the Beaches and Thursdays at 7:30, Saturdays at 1:30 p.m., Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m pm on channel 22 and 2 in St. Augustine and St. Johns County.

Remember mom and dad, spend some time with your sons and daughters taking them fishing and you will not be looking for them come Friday and Saturday nights, as they will be home in bed waiting to go the next day.

Don't forget to check out my website for other information on fishing this area, the products that I use and charter info at www.fishingwithjim.com/.

Good Fishing

Capt. Jim Hammond

jim@fishingwithjim.com 

http://www.fishingwithjim.com

This report is brought to you by and