The Calm Before the Storm

4:18 PM jbond352 1 Comments

The weather in NE FL this time of year is either sunny and mild or windy as hell.

Last weekend I had a chance to experience a 48 hour window of < 5 wind at ALL times and temperatures in the mid 60's.

I started the weekend waking up before 6am and heading to a launch called "Cedar Point". One of the local guides, Capt Rich Santos, frequents this area and has a fantastic youtube channel showcasing this NE corner of the Timucuan Preserve.

I launched just before sunrise and paddled up horseshoe creek at dead low tide. No wind/low tide= EASY sight fishing. I immediately saw a school of tailing redfish as well as some "lone wolves" chasing bait, which was great considering that the air temps were in the mid 40's.

Here is a quick video I made of the morning:

I caught two redfish in the low 20" range, but sight casting to them and hooking up was a thrill.

The bite slowed down and I was off the water by 10am. Fun morning!

Sunday I started the day early with by teaching buddy on his 28ft Pro Sport ProKat. We ran 18 miles offshore St Augustine to similar conditions as the day before....glassy seas!

Our first spot was in 85 ft of water, with a 30ft high school of snapper under the boat. Between the 4 of us we had to have caught over 100 snapper....too bad the season isn't until later in the year :(

Our second spot produced sea bass in the 13"-20" range and we kept 20!

Fast forward to this weekend to find temps barely in the 50's and wind well over 20kts. My best friend and I planned on fishing this weekend so out in the shitty weather we went!

Every time I bring someone out fishing on the boards I use live bait, and my clutch live bait is mud minnows on a jig head.

Despite the TERRIBLE weather we got 2 reds in the slot, which was a thrill for my friend, who doesn't fish on the regular.