Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 1:19 PM
Subject: Fishing Report, Jacksonville, Florida for 09/29/02

Beach Fishing from Huguenot Park
 
I spent two days this past week fishing from the beach in Huguenot Park and had a pretty fun time with the assortment of fish that were caught.
 
Day one started by heading to Clapboard Creek Fish Camp to pick up Bob, Brad and Bill. I got there around 9:00 am, got some ice and my morning Yoohoo and we were off. I was pretty excited about going to fish a new spot. It wasn't really new, I had been there a few times before but Bob had got me fired up with his talk from the previous day of fish striking everywhere and bait showering out of the water trying to get away from what was trying to eat them.  Bill and I drove up to the entrance, paid our 50 cents each to get  in and we were off, heading toward the beach for some beach fishing. 
 
We drove down the hard road and right out onto the beach. As soon as we hit the sand, I stopped the truck, got out and put it in four wheel drive, expecting to drive around to the inlet. Heading to the inlet you have to drive through some soft sand and I knew I was going to need four wheel drive before I made it all the way, so I was now ready.  About the time that I got back in my truck, Bob had pulled in along side of me and stopped. He then got out of the truck and started getting set up.  I hollered at him "where are you going, aren't we going out to the inlet"?  He said no, we are going to fish right here.  How easy is this, drive right out on the hard sand and fish.
 
I pulled up to the spot and proceeded to get set up. Now for those of you that have ever seen me fish wether from the boat or shore, you know that when I go fishing it looks like I am running away from home with all of the rods and tackle that I bring.  See, I was in the Boy Scouts for three days when I was a kid and they taught me one thing "BE PREPARED". I feel that If I have a complete arsenal of rods and tackle, I can fish for everything and be ready for just about anything. 
 
I got out my rod holders (thick wall pvc about 4 feet long) and drove them into the sand. I then set up my first pole, a Shakespeare Light, 7 foot long bait cast style rod with a Pflueger Trion reel, spooled with 30 pound test Power Pro. To the Power Pro, I slid a 3 ounce pyramid sinker on the line then a glass bead then tied on a swivel and to that a piece of 30 pound test monofilament and for the hook, I was using the new Daiichi  BIG MOE in 2/0 size. For bait we were using live mullet. Bob took his new Fitec Super Spreader six foot net, made one cast and had enough bait for the entire day. I hooked a mullet on, made the cast, put the rod in the rod holder and back to the truck to get another pole rigged up.
 
The second and third outfits were the new Shakespeare Custom 6 1/2 foot medium action rods with Shakespeare Tidewater 4840 reels. spooled with 30 pound test Power Pro. The rig was the same as above.  After I had my three outfits rigged, baited and in the water, I was ready to get poised for some serious beach fishing, HURRY UP AND WAIT.
 
See, that is the thing about beach fishing. You hurry up and get out of bed, hurry up and get to the spot, hurry up and catch bait, hurry up and get rigged up then hurry up and wait. But now was one of the neat parts. Looking up in the air at your rod tips and talking to your buddies about fishing stories.  Almost all fisherman that beach fish look up in the air at their  rod tips because this is where you have the first sign of a fish messing with your bait. As the fish grabs the bait, the rod tip bounces a bit, before it starts to thump as the fish pulls on the hook. That is why all beach fisherman look at their rod tips. On this day the wind was blowing so hard that the rod tips were bouncing and jumping from the 25 plus miles per hour that the wind was blowing (Tim said it was going to be like this).
 
It wasn't long before one of my rods was dancing from more than the wind. I ran down, picked up the rod, tightened the line and pulled back with a steady firm pull and low and behold, there was something on the other end pulling back. This was the motivation that I needed to start turning the handle and acting like a fish was there. After a few turns of the handle, everyone was saying "is he still there, what ya got". At this point, all that I knew was that is was some sort of fish. As the fish started to pull back and run from side to side, I was thinking nice red or trout. It had not come out of the water like a blue or ladyfish and it was running from side to side , so I thought red or trout.  After a couple of minutes, I got to see what I had and was very pleased, a 3 to 4 pound flounder. I then slid the fish up on the shore, trying to keep a tight line and not lifting him up. I did not want to lift him up because this would have put more pressure on the hook and I did not want the hook to pull or the line to break. I wanted this fish for the frying pan.
 
Alright the first fish, a nice 4 pound flounder, this beach fishing was working pretty good so far.
 
The bait was starting to shower and the blues were starting their move around the bay that we were fishing. The next few fish were blues from 1 to 2 pounds. The right size for the smoker, blue fish are a great fish to smoke.
Filet each side, leaving the skin on, make a baste out of one beer, a stick of butter, some fresh garlic a ground up onion, some soy sauce and a little wine. Get the smoker going with some nice hickory chips. Place the filets skin down, baste the fish with the basting mixture. Leave the fish on the smoker for a couple of hours, depending on how hot the heat is. Baste them several times and when they are ready to come off of the smoker, call me and I will come and help you eat them or you can drop some off at Clapboard Creek Fish Camp and I will get them the next day that I fish.
 
We had caught several blues and lost a couple of nice fish when Bob's big pole starting bending pretty good. We all hollered "Bob you got one on" as he ran for the pole with the excitement of a little boy after his first fish. See no matter how old you get or how many fish that you catch, each one is like the first and to this day, I do not know anyone that does not like to reel in a fish.
Bob put a hurting on this fish with his great big pole and it was on the shore in no time. Another nice fish, a 24 inch red. We all whooped and hollered and some good jobs thrown in before we were all back sitting on the tail gate telling stories.
 
We caught a bunch more blues, Bill caught a nice flounder, we all lost a few more fish, had a bunch of blues bite through the monofilament leader, but overall, we all had a good time.  As the tide started out, the bite almost stopped, so we decided to slide on down to the inlet and check it out there.
One of our buddies was already down there and had a spot for us. We changed over to smaller hooks and shrimp for bait as he was catching whiting. On every cast we had a bite, some were whiting some we didn't know because they got the bait without getting a hook in them. We stayed there long enough to catch a few whiting and a few small drum. I think we could have stayed there and caught a lot of whiting but it was getting late so we headed back to the house.
 
The next day the weather man was calling for a lot lees wind, so I thought I would give it another try. I headed down there early this day, to only find that I could not get in until 8:00 am unless I had a "early bird pass". I told the attendant that I did not have one but would buy one. He told me that I couldn't buy one until the park opened at 8:00 am. Now this makes alot of sense. The park service has a person standing there letting people in that have purchased early bird passes but will not sell them to people that want in but do not have a pass.
 
After what seemed an eternity, sitting at the gate watching others get in, 8:00 am arrived and the gate was open to people that did not have an early bird pass.
 
We drove right back to the same spot, set up our outfits, made one cast with the net and had all of the bait that we needed and we were back to the hurry up and wait routine. This time the wait wasn't long as Raymond, Bill and Myself had our hands full with blues eating our bait. We must have had 20 to 30 strikes in the first hour that we were there, landing several of the blues but losing at least as many.
 
This was by far a nicer day, no big blow and fairly overcast. Before the day was out we had landed several blues, a trout and a real nice redfish. 
 
The fishing down there is probably pretty good most of the year and most of the water is accessible without needing a four wheel drive. This is a state park and the same rules apply there as other state parks.  Right now there is all of the mullet you could need for a days fishing, right there. Get your cast net and throw a time or two. I kept my mullet alive by taking my Plano bait bucket and tying a 5 pound weight to a short piece of rope and then to the bait bucket. This way you can keep the bucket in the water without it floating away.  Bring plenty of hooks and leader as the blues will take a toll on you tackle box.
 
For those of you that do not know where Huguenot Park is, here is a map:
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 Here is a picture of Raymond with a nice red from day two of fishing at Huguenot Park.

 

Remember, Moms and Dads, spend some time taking your kids fishing and you will not be looking for them on Friday and Saturday nights as they will be home in bed waiting to go the next day.

For information on booking a charter with me, you can call me at (904) 757-7550 in Jacksonville or email me at jim@hammondfishing.com.

Check out my website, www.hammondfishing.com/, for links to some of the tackle that I have written about or to find out when and where my fishing show plays in your area.

For Eco Tours check out www.ecotoursjacksonville.com

Good Fishing

Capt. Jim Hammond