Surf Report 10/15/2014 Part 2

The kids had some shore break action And by the end of the day, Marlon had ventured out into the realm of the unbroken wave. I think he is still intimidated by the drop, but I reassured him that that will quickly become the most exciting part of surfing (taking the drop and leaning into that first bottom turn of the wave - making torque and G's out of speed, gravity and positioning). The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

Surf Report 10/15/2014 Part 1

We spent a long day at the beach yesterday - offshore breeze, cooler temperatures and a decent swell surely make it easier to spend that time at the beach. La took some pictures of me from the beach And at the same time I had the GoPro going At least I think that was the sequence. I missed a barrel on two waves. If the one above wasn't the one La took pictures of, then this one is: I did lose a fin - I think from not tightening the set screw down far enough and I did have my share of wipeouts. A very nice day in any case!

After the Rain

An after dinner stroll on the beach. Some big thunderstorms have been dumping rain this afternoon - definitely gives the sand a different texture. Take a few minutes, stop and smell the proverbial roses and enjoy the fine details you get to see when you open your eyes. La took all these pictures.

A Handful of Flies

I got the urge to tie up some flies today. I especially wanted to tie an improved version of the "Bloody Guts". I used UV epoxy on all of the ones I tied today. This is a Black Crab on a size 6 Mustad 34001 hook - pretty much the same size as the fiddlers and marsh crabs I've seen on the salt marsh flats. This is a Yarn Legged Shrimp - I envisioned this from the last needlefish I caught that took the shrimp fly I was chucking. This should be easier on the needlefish. Maybe I can fool a flounder with this one also. Last but not least, I tied up these tiny flies on a size 16 barbless Gamakatsu hook - both are for the baby whiting and small pompano that swim in the surge line (where the waves wash up on the shore). The redhead is a general attractor and the orangebutt fly is a mole crab imitation. I want to cast these two with the Epic 480 that I built out.

Flounder Gyotaku

I made four prints from the flounder I caught several days back. I got these prints just short of done - I need to put a watercolor brown over the entire fish. Or I might just leave them at this point (although the one with splotches will definitely get the brown undercoat. I think it is really interesting how multiple prints from the same fish can come out so different.

Art Lesson

Sunday afternoon art lesson (heck yeah we're taking credit for this - we are homeschooling after all).

Fishing Report 10/12/2014

We spent Sunday playing catch up on some projects we had laying around the trailer. I'll make another post on the gyotaku-ing in a little bit (as the pictures are on La's phone) - but for now, here are some of the fish we caught in the late afternoon draining tide. Marlon caught: a spot tail pinfish, a sergeant major, another spot tail pinfish, a blenny and a stone crab - yup, a stone crab!!! I got hooked up with a spot tail pinfish, a couple of blenny, a sergeant major and a mango snapper (mangrove snapper, at least that's what I think it is). I think if I get a job down here, we might setup a large saltwater tank to grow out some of these nice little fish from the jetties. Tons of fun fishing with ultralight gear!!!

Fish Dinner

Nothing like fresh fish fried crisp for dinner! Speckled trout tastes awesome!!!

Fishing Report 10/10/2014

I took the Hooked SUP out to the salt marsh just outside of Mayport Naval Station. I brought the St Croix Tidemaster and an old friend that I haven't had out in a while - the Epic 686 built out by Chris Barclay. I ended up catching a 15" Speckled Trout (Spotted Sea Trout) on a gulp mullet. Decent fight, but the Tidemaster was just a hair too much for this fish (my lightweight St Croix Triumph would have been sweet!). But when you are fishing for meat, getting the rod power right is just gravy - I'll take the meat! After a little bit more time with the spin gear, I switched out to the Epic 686 with a full sink line - basically the same setup I used when fishing for shad in the Potomac Shad Run. On the first cast I got this needlefish on a shrimp fly - it jumped a few times just to make me smile a little bit more than I already was! Casting a lighter fly makes using this combo oh so nice - I was able to throw very pretty loops - I really LOVE this setup!!! I think I am going to tie up more shrimp flies (smaller and slightly heavier) and cast the rod with both a DT6 and WF6 to see what I can get out of it - it really has been a while since I used this rod. I saw a few other fish, but didn't bring anymore to hand. Awesome fishing day!!!