Friday Fishing Wrapup
Monday, the 21st of January, was my birthday and the weather was really rather decent and I thought perhaps some birthday luck would bring me a few of those keeper size Sheepshead at the end of the long jetty at the shipping channel so, I took the leftover shrimp from the day before and headed out. When I arrived at the jetty, I broke out my binoculars to see if that "hole" at the point of the jetty already had someone fishing it and since it looked clear I started the long walk out over the boulders -- slipping once on the way on a slightly blackened, and slightly wet section of concrete (no twists, no falls and no harm -- good luck so far).
After arriving near the end, I discovered a group of a couple men and three young boys there before me but, they had not taken up the positions I had my eyes on -- more good luck, I thought. I threw my big rod deep toward the southeast from the right side (or south) of the point -- it already had some bits of Fish Bites on it. Then, I put a piece of the shrimp on my small rod and started fishing the hole I hoped would produce some nice Sheepshead like the ones I had seen caught there on a previous trip. Nearly an hour later, I had not caught anything other than a couple small "trash" fish on my small rig and there had not been any bites on the Fish Bites. I could see the high tide line approaching from the east (a sort of slickened or oily looking flat section of the water) and I thought optimistically that the action should be starting up about when it arrived.
Sure enough, when the line of water arrived at the point, I caught two small Black Drum (they look like Sheepshead with black, vertical stripes but, they're flat on the bottom) one after the other. Both were less than the minimum 14 inch size so, I released them and put another piece of shrimp on my small rig and threw slightly farther out. Shortly after it settled down in the water, something hit really hard and the rod doubled over and some line began to peel off the reel as the fish tried to head for deeper water to the east. I thought the fish was going to take my line into the boulders as it headed for deeper water so I set the drag tighter and reared back to turn him and started to crank on my reel -- and then, the crank broke off in my left hand and the other half of the crank fell into the water (so much for the good luck). I thought for sure this big fish would get away or tangle me up in the boulders and break the line so, I climbed onto some of the bigger boulders to my left to get the rod higher and Istarted to turn the spool with my left hand as the drag kept it from turning the other direction while I hoped to steer him back toward the hole.
Fortunately, there were two new arrivals on the point behind me and I had noticed one of them had a net with a long handle and as I got the fish steered back toward the hole, I yelled to see if one of them could bring their net over and help me land this fish. Thanks to one of them and his net, I got the fish steered through the openings in the boulders and into his net and it turned out to be a nice twenty-one inch Black Drum (tastier than Red Drum). Another nice Birthday Present. Thank goodness and thanks to the guy being there with his net. I gave him and his buddy that spot and left them with some directions where I had been catching the Drums. Hope their luck was as good as mine.
Since my small reel is still broken, I have only returned to the jetty to fish for Whiting since Monday and have been nicely rewarded with a dozen on Tuesday, another dozen on Wednesday and eighteen yesterday (almost one on every cast toward the channel). I gave seven of the cleaned Whiting to each of my neighbors across from me (Chris and Tina and Ethel and Stan). Stan had hurt his back and shoulder a few days back fishing in the surf and is in too much pain to fish anymore so, since my luck has been better, I decided to fish some for them. It's taken less than two hours each of those days to catch all those Whiting (and so much fun).
Today, I am going to get my backup reel switched onto my big rod and move that reel over to my small rod sometime this morning and then will head south to Packery Channel jetty around noon to look again for some of those Sheepshead (I'll make room in the freezer, if I'm lucky).
After arriving near the end, I discovered a group of a couple men and three young boys there before me but, they had not taken up the positions I had my eyes on -- more good luck, I thought. I threw my big rod deep toward the southeast from the right side (or south) of the point -- it already had some bits of Fish Bites on it. Then, I put a piece of the shrimp on my small rod and started fishing the hole I hoped would produce some nice Sheepshead like the ones I had seen caught there on a previous trip. Nearly an hour later, I had not caught anything other than a couple small "trash" fish on my small rig and there had not been any bites on the Fish Bites. I could see the high tide line approaching from the east (a sort of slickened or oily looking flat section of the water) and I thought optimistically that the action should be starting up about when it arrived.
Sure enough, when the line of water arrived at the point, I caught two small Black Drum (they look like Sheepshead with black, vertical stripes but, they're flat on the bottom) one after the other. Both were less than the minimum 14 inch size so, I released them and put another piece of shrimp on my small rig and threw slightly farther out. Shortly after it settled down in the water, something hit really hard and the rod doubled over and some line began to peel off the reel as the fish tried to head for deeper water to the east. I thought the fish was going to take my line into the boulders as it headed for deeper water so I set the drag tighter and reared back to turn him and started to crank on my reel -- and then, the crank broke off in my left hand and the other half of the crank fell into the water (so much for the good luck). I thought for sure this big fish would get away or tangle me up in the boulders and break the line so, I climbed onto some of the bigger boulders to my left to get the rod higher and Istarted to turn the spool with my left hand as the drag kept it from turning the other direction while I hoped to steer him back toward the hole.
Fortunately, there were two new arrivals on the point behind me and I had noticed one of them had a net with a long handle and as I got the fish steered back toward the hole, I yelled to see if one of them could bring their net over and help me land this fish. Thanks to one of them and his net, I got the fish steered through the openings in the boulders and into his net and it turned out to be a nice twenty-one inch Black Drum (tastier than Red Drum). Another nice Birthday Present. Thank goodness and thanks to the guy being there with his net. I gave him and his buddy that spot and left them with some directions where I had been catching the Drums. Hope their luck was as good as mine.
Since my small reel is still broken, I have only returned to the jetty to fish for Whiting since Monday and have been nicely rewarded with a dozen on Tuesday, another dozen on Wednesday and eighteen yesterday (almost one on every cast toward the channel). I gave seven of the cleaned Whiting to each of my neighbors across from me (Chris and Tina and Ethel and Stan). Stan had hurt his back and shoulder a few days back fishing in the surf and is in too much pain to fish anymore so, since my luck has been better, I decided to fish some for them. It's taken less than two hours each of those days to catch all those Whiting (and so much fun).
Today, I am going to get my backup reel switched onto my big rod and move that reel over to my small rod sometime this morning and then will head south to Packery Channel jetty around noon to look again for some of those Sheepshead (I'll make room in the freezer, if I'm lucky).
posted by Ray at
6:35 AM
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