2/8 - DEAD O' WINTER in Jax Fla.

[JETTYWOLF]

Since no one esle is fishing.....here's my contribution.

Man, has things gone cookies up here. I went from "strokin' the phatties" , to wishin' for a bite!!!!

Anytime our waters get below 60 it's bad, when they get down to 53, it's really bad. And recovery is a long slow proccess.

That's where we are now. Back in the 60's.....and waiting for some miracle to make them "bite" again.

Around my river area you'll hear this simple statement; "It's February.....go figure" alot. But I can't slow down or the repo man's a comin'!

So I have to make something out of this situation. And I work as hard as I can, and really show my folks that I am working hard for them dispite me knowing there's not much I can do to change the water temp.

Today was better than yesterday, when a nasty, rainy front came thru and shut evertything down.

Today we actually caught a few Speckled trout and one Sheepshead. (not even close to a good day, but at least we gave away a few live shrimp, to BITES!





Here's what knocks ya off your anchor when ya have a 1 to 1 ratio of anchor rode scope out....this baby had to be 900 feet long coming right at us, then shifted to stay in the channel. Yep, the displacement of such a biggy at dead low tide sucked the water from under my boat, then pushed it back again....which made us slide right off the Trout spot, and we caught a Sheepshead instead. Then left for the barn.

It was 72 on land, 62 on the water, with alot of sun shine that the water needs so badly. Water came up to, 65 degrees at dead low tide.
But still "BITES" are hard to get.

It's still.......FEBRUARY!

And I absolutely hate it!

[welder]

Dave , at least ya got to go fishing , hope things pick up for ya.

[JETTYWOLF]

"pick up", is called Mid March, and I can't wait.

Can ya tell I couldn't live long any where colder?

[Chaps]

What's all that whining I'm hearing from down there in paradise? I'm fishin' Monday for steelhead on one of the local rivers. It'll be raining and about 33°f but with the wind it'll feel about 20°. We've got gauges on the rivers to let us know how high the flow is running so we can pick our days as we go into flood stage pretty easy this time of year.

Anyway, this is what we're after, NW version of sea-run rainbow trout. That ain't me in case you're wondering but hopefully we'll get some like it next week. I'll try to remember to get a shot of my buddy's aluminum river sled that we fish from. Skinny water fishing machine . . .

[JETTYWOLF]

I have my Loomis hat on too right now. Heading out to the local Gander Mountain store to do a lil' PR work for myself, and G. Loomis since they are a dealer store.

Hope to bump into the Shimano rep.

The dif is "our" fish don't like cold water at all, so of course Feb sucks.
It can be 80 degrees, and has been, but as long as that water's in the 60's....it's alot of wishin'.

So that fish is a fresh water caught fish, right?

[Chaps]

So that fish is a fresh water caught fish, right?

Yup, steelhead are a rainbow trout with a salmon-like life cycle. They hatch out from eggs deposited in gravel bottomed rivers or clean, high oxygen lakes then they head down to the ocean to feed & mature. Unlike salmon that die after returning to the rivers to spawn out steelhead are capable of returning to the ocean after spawning for several cycles. We catch them in fast moving rivers that typically are no deeper than 3ft and I've hooked them in water so shallow their fins are showing. Strong, hard fighting fish. They are protected, the only ones we can keep are hatchery fish which have a clipped adipose fin. The fish in the picture above was released because it was a native as evidenced by the intact fin by the anglers right thumb. I fish them casually, some guys are devoted to fishing for metalheads and couldn't care less about any other type of angling, especially the fly casters - total cultists and for good reason, very exciting deal. Imagine hooking a powerful 20+ lb fish on a fly standing on the bank of a wild western river. Total mayhem!

[JETTYWOLF]

Okay.....they are the same fish that a buddy of mine fished for and guided for in the Niagra river gourge in NY, in his Lund.

Yeah, killer fish. With a serious fan club.

Now he's down here in the sun but not catching anything, and not getting any local charter calls, either.

I always ask him, "why the hell did ya move here then?"

[welder]

And his answer was ?

[JETTYWOLF]

He actually thought Jacksonville Florida was a "happenin" place...... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

He lived here a long time ago, so he thought he'd come back.
Since Buffalo NY was a bankcrupt city and the snow was always deep.