Why Not To Go Fishing

Well, the main reason for deciding that I shouldn't go fishing today or tomorrow (possibly Sunday too) revolves around the time of the low tides falling after sunset or in the wee hours of the early morning (before sunrise).  That would put the best fishing time somewhere around an hour before sunset and fishing in the dark -- not my thing.

So, the day started with watching my stocks in the early hours after the market opened.  Then, a leisurely and late breakfast followed by some further tinkering with the cable TV hookup (required a digital adapter and separate remote with programming headaches) -- probably something to do with the age of this campground and Comcast being involved.  Wasn't successful getting the Comcast remote to turn off my TV so, have to use both remotes when I want to watch a college football game -- Life's tough out here you know.

Next, I fiddled with my new GPS device (a TomTom unit) and got it positioned on the dash of my RV so it will be ready when we roll out of here on November 12th -- heading for Panama City Beach.  I played with  the device some and plotted a possible route to the nearest Bank of America in Fernandina Beach then, decided to head that way and maybe drive around the town with my TomTom leading the way (I already knew the route mentally too from looking on Google).  The drive over to BofA was rather uneventful until I got close and the GPS would have had me turning into a Wells Fargo bank (a block or two shy of the BofA).

I checked with one of the tellers to be sure the address I had entered was correct so, TomTom was a bit DumDum on this first use.  I went farther up A1A after taking care of things at the bank and decided I should check out the Fort Clinch State Park on the north end of the island.  Directional signage seemed to be adequate for getting me there but, when I turned onto Atlantic Avenue and went a couple blocks, I decided to pull over and see if TomTom could give me some good directions.  As it turned out, TomTom had me do a u-turn and go north on 14th Street until I crossed over a bridge and TomTom wanted me to turn in at a barricaded back entrance to the park.  I then looked up the address on TomTom and entered that (2601 Atlantic Avenue).  TomTom still wanted me to go through the barricaded entrance and that just wasn't going to work.

I returned to Atlantic Avenue and headed east (where I had been headed before) to the entrance to the park.  I decided not to spend the $4 to get in and instead went east until Atlantic Avenue met Fletcher Ave (A1A along the coast).  When I saw a public park at the beach, I parked and went onto the beach (after using the restroom).  Not much to see on the beach and very few people since it is Friday so, I hopped back in the Jeep and continued down the coast passing some really beautiful homes on the way to Amelia Plantation -- some looked like Frank Lloyd Wright could have designed them.  Forgot my camera (DumDum).

No Green Flash

When I reached a familiar light I had passed through a number of times on my way to and from Amelia Island Park, I made a right and headed back to the RV -- though I was sorely tempted to go fishing at that point.  After having some lunch and checking the stock market again, I thought of taking a nap but, since it was such a beautiful day -- Why Not Go Fishing!

Even though high tide was around 1:18 p.m., I thought maybe the fact the tide was turning out around 4:00 p.m. that it might be worth trying for a couple hours.  Much of the beach was still wet from the high tide and I cruised past spots I had fished previously until I saw the rocks of a jetty I had been told about and then, some signs banning vehicles from going any farther onto the beach.  I made a u-turn (without TomTom's direction -- left him in the RV), and returned to the last area I had fished the last two times I had been there -- parked considerably farther from the water's edge and got the minimal amount of gear out and positioned.

Good Reason for going Fishing.

After a couple casts with my big surf casting rig, I hooked another snag like the other day but, this time I broke the line trying to pull it in.  I didn't bother re-rigging the line and just let it sit in the pole support while I used the smaller pole and reel.  This allowed me to walk the beach with the drifting baited hooks and sinker. I had over a dozen and a half mullet in the bucket and an aerator pumping bubbles trying to keep them alive and I decided maybe I needed some smaller mullet instead of the ones I had netted.  After tossing the casting net a few times, I had some smaller ones in the bucket and then there was a huge hit on my pole and I set the hook on something big -- it nearly doubled over my pole and I ran the beach back and forth and played with the drag (which didn't seem to be working).  This fish wasn't jumping and it was making some strong pulls but, the drag wasn't letting it run so, I feared it would break the line and disappear.  Finally, the drag popped a little and I could let the fish run a little and played him until I thought he had tired out.  The strength of the fish had me thinking shark or big drum -- turned out to be a big Red Drum or Redfish -- some 27 inches in length.

Another Reason

What a beautiful fish and what fun.  Only one fish caught and I couldn't ask for anything better than this one.  Had a harder time cleaning this fish than bringing him in -- has huge scales (dime size to quarter size).  I think the larger scales could actually be used as guitar picks.  If I ever catch another of these beautiful fish, I will definitely release it -- after taking its picture, of course.  This fish almost looked golden in color instead of red and its head was nearly 7 inches long.