While we were there, I took the opportunity to catch up on some fishing with my two sons, Tom and David. I fish with each of them individually pretty regularly, but seldom get all of us together at one time to fish. I considered letting Tom take us after redfish and flounder on the intracoastal flats and creeks, but then we do that all the time. This was a special occasion and I wanted to do something different. Then it hit me - I've been writing about fishing party boats; why not follow some of my own advice?
I suggested one of the larger boats out of Jacksonville, but Tom took us further south to St. Augustine. He had practiced what I preached and had been scoping the Sea Love II party boat. In fact he made a couple of trips to get an idea of the Captain's talent and fishing knowledge. This boat holds 40 fishermen, but today, as with most midweek days, only 18 fishermen were aboard.
The boat leaves at 8 AM, so we got there early to make sure we got the stern of the boat (actually we were in line at 6:30 AM before anything opened). We boarded the boat ahead of the other fishermen and claimed our stern positions. Next to us on the stern were the only two fishermen, other than us, who brought their own rods. It was probably a good thing we brought our own rods, because the rods that were "provided" had seen better days.
The ride out took about 2 hours through all of the smoke and haze. Northeast Florida was experiencing massive brush and woods fires, and visibility was about one quarter of a mile. But, the ocean was calm, the boat was not crowded, and I had my two sons with me. What more can you ask?!
