Sebastian inshore

duckmanJR

Well, It was a crazy duck season starting the weekend before Thanksgiving and ended with a 10 day sprint to the finish with a couple close friends from Michigan. The last 10 days were a lot of fun and the three of us managed 130 ducks. It all ended Sunday and since my buddy Jeffs daughter would be down from St. Marys Ga at noonish on Monday to pick them up for the drive north...we had a little time to play around.
I took them outside the inlet and in the hour and a half we had to fish we landed 50 bluefish....they loved it! Hot and heavy fish constantly reeling in fish.

I got out yesterday after lunchtime since I needed some trailer tires and did that first thing in the AM.
I saw a couple nice trout and one Red...but they were not in a mood for plastic and then the cloud cover came in and that killed the sight fishing...so I took off to the inlet and caught 20 or 30 Blues before heading in...many times hooking up double headers having to reel one in while letting the other fight the rod holder. Sometimes, it is just nice to catch fish hand over fist!

Today, I was hopeful to get in a couple hours before the weather got nasty...but as I got my fuel and coffee it was already changing but by the time I ramped...it was blowing pretty strong. Stayed in lee shores and did see a couple uncooperative Reds and it took a while but I finally found a couple nice trout on the white CAL. Weather was getting worse...and I remembered that my rain jacket was in my truck for duck season...I decided I would finish the spot and head in....and wound up picking up Snook #1 for the year...a little fellow but it gives me hope for a few better fish later on...



It was nice to get back in the salt....but will be giving the Bass a few lures to chew on soon too.

Pescatoral Pursuit

Can't wait for the bass reports, LOL. It's amazing how things come full circle. But the circumstances are unfortunate.

Any signs of "baby grass beds" reemerging?

AOKRVs

Nice to see you reporting again
looks like you picked up right where you left off and
I'm sure the ducks are happy your back in the salt too!

duckmanJR

Pescatoral Pursuit wrote: »

Any signs of "baby grass beds" reemerging?

Sadly, with clear water it is possible to see...NOTHING. It is just some drift algae here and there...

trousertroutman

what do you do with 130 ducks?

AOKRVs

trousertroutman wrote: »

what do you do with 130 ducks?

Duck a l'Orange, Roasted duck, grilled duck, baked duck, fried duck, duck over campfire, duck soup, tur-duc-in, etc

Stringplucker

You've had a good week or so! Glad to see you back on the water.

duckmanJR

trousertroutman wrote: »

what do you do with 130 ducks?

That was only the last 10 days with my buddies... I get a lot of ducks per season since I go almost every day.

There are many excellent recipies for wild duck and the only real "secret" is that with it being so lean of a meat...you have to cook it to medium rare ( warm pink center) and it will be delicious and tender.... if overcooked to well done...it is ruined and will be dry like liver.

I also take a bunch of breast meat and take it to a processor in Okeechobee who makes Chirizo out of it....it makes world class chili and any Mexican dish...or a killer meat sauce for pasta.

redfish27

Hey Joe, it's good to see that you are back on the water (fishing that is)...I ran into a lot of Reds way down South on Sunday. Most were hanging out under the mangroves but a few schools popped up on muddy bottom after 1pm...Very cold water & they were spooky....Fortunately, I had live shrimp because I caught 0 on arti's and ended up with 13 between 20" and 26" on Shrimp...you need to use very light fluoro leader and small hook and throw way out in front of them and then they will eat. There were also plenty of huge Sheepshead around the dock pilings but I did not spend much time on the Sheeps because of the amount of Reds that were down there.

on_the_rocks

Glad you had fun w/ the ducks.
Thanks for the report and nice to hear you are back on the water...
I have been in Cali for three weeks now for work and am itching to get out on the water. I still really want to get out and beat up the bass w/ you so let me know. I will be back Saturday and will spend the next few days getting off west coast time.
Looking forward to catching up w/ you.

on_the_rocks

redfish27 wrote: »

Hey Joe, it's good to see that you are back on the water (fishing that is)...I ran into a lot of Reds way down South on Sunday. Most were hanging out under the mangroves but a few schools popped up on muddy bottom after 1pm...Very cold water & they were spooky....Fortunately, I had live shrimp because I caught 0 on arti's and ended up with 13 between 20" and 26" on Shrimp...you need to use very light fluoro leader and small hook and throw way out in front of them and then they will eat. There were also plenty of huge Sheepshead around the dock pilings but I did not spend much time on the Sheeps because of the amount of Reds that were down there.

How far south?

duckmanJR

DuPont wrote: »

Glad you had fun w/ the ducks.
Thanks for the report and nice to hear you are back on the water...
I have been in Cali for three weeks now for work and am itching to get out on the water. I still really want to get out and beat up the bass w/ you so let me know. I will be back Saturday and will spend the next few days getting off west coast time.
Looking forward to catching up w/ you.

Feb-Mar is the time for the green fish.....call me when you get in.

redjim

Glad you are back on the water JR, looks like a nice start

I am sure the fish are not as glad.

redfish27

South Vero/Ft.P