I've been loving this wave of warm, Spring weather! Seas have been calm, the wind has died down, and the water temperature has come up a bit. I picked up some clients that were here visiting from Ohio and had never caught a Sheepshead or Redfish before. They were well versed in fresh water fishing, especially ice fishing but really wanted to get in on some larger saltwater fish. Luckily, I was able to make it happen for them. It didn't feel like it at first....
We reached our first stop, the tip of the South row in Mayport Inlet. The plan was to put them on a few Sheepshead first and later on put them on some Reds and Drum. We weren't expecting the optimal tide(ladder half of the incoming) for the Reds and Drum until 12:00 oclock. After a quick tutorial, they had their lines in the water. There was very little biting and soon we moved across the channel to the North tip. Same outcome. The water temp was holding around 61 degrees in the Inlet. After hitting a number of spots and finding very little biting, I decided it was time to search for warmer water. We started off checking water temps in a few productive areas and eventually found our way to the Little Jetty's.
Once we got situated, I noticed that the water temperature there was a bit warmer, 64 degrees. By this time, the tide was at the ladder half of the outgoing. The warmed water from the creeks was flushing through the area and seemed like a promising stop. Once the lines were in the water, it didn't take long at all before hooks were getting cleaned. My crew was having some difficulty getting used to the hook set timing but before long, with a bit of coaching, they started hooking up. One of which, took off like a missile! That one I thought for sure was a Bull Red. after a few minutes, the stalemate started to conclude with a big, striped, turkey platter breaking the surface! I slipped the net under the big girl and my crew went nuts! This was Marshalls first Sheepshead and it was 10 pounds! He had no idea how lucky he was.... After a few congratulatory high fives and snapping some pictures, it was time to wrap it up and head back to the Inlet. The tide I was waiting for was finally upon us.
We reached our spot and I set up a 3 rod Spread of Blue Crab, Shrimp and cut bait. In less than a minute or so the crab rig gets slammed. 10 minutes later and a big Bull breaks the surface. We did this a few more times and before long, everybody got a big Bull Red under their belts. The crew was fired up! Feeling satisfied, we called it a day and I headed to Morning Star to clean their fish. Not a bad day for a crew of beginners.
The pics we took with Marshall and his 10 pound Sheepshead didn't do it justice so I had to show him how to pose with it for a photo! He seemed skittish of the spines.
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Danny Pardue