Day one had one of our boats fishing the beach between St Augustine and Jacksonville. As usual when fish are reported to be on the beach, boats were stacked up at the favorite sites – the captain’s house, the picnic tables, the red tops, and the Gate station. The names of all these locations are derived by the visible beach landmarks – none of them show up on a map. On any given Saturday in July, however, they are easy to find – just look for the crowd of boats trolling the area.
Our second boat ran thirty miles southeast to an offshore wreck we call Capo. This same boat placed third in the 23 and under class last year with a 33-pound fish off this wreck. There is usually at least one decent size king on this bottom, and we thought we might be the only boat there and snatch a quick fish. Unfortunately, the barracudas had already taken the wreck over, and all we did was feed a few of them.
Boat one, captained by my son, Tom stayed on the lower end of the beaches toward St Augustine for half a day with no luck. He decided to run to a closer wreck – some reef balls in seventy feet of water. There he caught eight kings, the largest of which was 16 pounds – the one he weighed that day.
Jason, captaining the second boat, came in from offshore and ran north to Ponte Vedra grounds bottom where he caught several kings, one that he weighed in at 17 pounds.
The reports from day one can be confusing and misleading. Some anglers simply clam up about where they caught their fish. Others use diversion by reporting fish caught in the opposite direction from their honey hole. Either way, it’s hard to get a fix on where the fish moved without an inside line.
Tom thought he had an inside line – which he probably did – and ran south on day two to fish off of Flagler Beach and Palm Coast. Local St Augustine friends had reported large kings there.
When he arrived, the water temperature was 76 degrees, some five to six degrees cooler than farther north. Kings like warm water – that’s what drives them to the beach to spawn. So after a short time down south, he ran back north and fished the same beaches he fished on day one.
Jason ran back to Ponte Vedra grounds, ended up coming back to the beach and managed another small fish.
When all was said and done at the awards ceremony, it looked like the big fish were caught north of where our two boats fished. The Southeast hole, to the southeast of the Mayport jetties, and the beach off of Amelia Island seemed to be the prime big fish locations.
We had great bait, great weather, and a very good plan based on the previous three weeks of fishing reports. Unfortunately the bigger kings apparently moved north, and we didn’t move with them.
Every year that we miss the money we sit back and say this is the last year. With the $300 entry fee, bait, gas, etc. it costs about $500 for an average angler in a 23 foot boat to fish this event. Add food and motel bills for those who choose to stay close to the launch site, and the total grows.
Lots of pros in huge sponsored boats fish this event, and sometimes it looks as if we don’t have a chance. But, the fact that a large number of pros did not weigh a fish coupled with Bill Rew’s winning catch in his 17 ft Carolina Skiff has put the fever back into us for next year. This is surely one tournament where anyone can compete with the big boys and win - if we get lucky and get into the fish.
