Silently saying it all on the back of Harrison’s T-shirt
My eleven year old son, Casey & I were invited to fish with our friend Mark Davey aboard his 283 Grady Release, the Knot Worthy. Mark was taking two other boys out for a fishing trip and we met them at the Mayport ramp; eleven year olds Ryan & Harrison along with their fathers Pete & John. The common bond between us all is that we are all in the same Boy Scout Troop (Troop 277).
At 7 a.m. the seas were none existent and the running was easy-perfect conditions for a trip with the boys! Everything was aligning for a great trip! We first headed north along the beach looking for pogies but we didn’t find any. While running out to the first spot however it was apparent that the bait was offshore in 60 feet as bait was everywhere. At 90 feet it wasn’t hard to see the wreck we were going to fish as spadefish splashed the surface along with baitfish (and some large cudas).
First Spot: Here, the boys got to practice a bit with the sabiki rigs and play with small AJs, beeliners, and grunts.
Casey up with the first fish
Harrison up next with help from his father John
Ryan and his father Pete with Ryan’s first AJ of the day
Second Spot: Running to the next spot in 130 feet of water was pretty easy with lake like seas. Who arranged this weather? At this spot the fish were a bit larger:
Casey his larger AJ (Mark holding it)
Even the captain, Mark got to catch a few fish. Mark was fighting a large fish when we finally saw that it was an African Pompano. The excitement on the boat picked up by an order of magnitude and there was a mad rush to get the gaff. With a good gaff shot the AP quickly made it into the boat. What a beautiful fish!!
Harrison with Mark’s African Pompano
I can’t say Ryan was next as everyone was hooked up and the fish were biting aggressively. It was hard to keep up with everyone fighting LARGE fish. These boys were definitely getting a workout and these fish were fighting hard. A couple of times I was concerned about the boys getting crushed hands as the fish surged and pulled the rods down close to the gunnels. The fathers were alert to this and helped when assistance was needed.
Ryan with a head shaker …..
AJ coming over the gunnel
Taking a break the boys went to the bow refocusing on catching cigar minnows and taking it easy. The dads then got a couple of opportunities to catch a few fish:
Pete with a nice AJ
I even got to catch my first African Pompano
First AP for me
John with a nice AJ
With some large cudas hanging under the boat we rigged up a couple of cuda rigs and the boys got to see what cudas do when hooked up. Going aerial was fun to watch and that added to the fishing day as well. I didn’t take any photos of the cudas as there was too much going on. If the boys were not fighting big fish they were in the bow fishing sabiki rigs catching live cigar minnow which were quickly being devoured at the stern.
Seeing Harrison bowed over with a good fish the excitement got a bit louder as you could tell this was not an AJ as the fish was running outward instead of straight down. We all were hoping it was finally one of the numerous cobia that had been popping up. After a lengthy tug of war with could see that it was a big African Pompano (with another large cobia with him). Once it came into the boat there was a lot of excitement and High Fives going around! What a fish for an eleven year old!!
Harrison and his father John with Harrison’s first AP.
With the afternoon growing late and a LONG run back it was time to clear the deck, stow gear, and head in. Not exactly helping was Casey in the stern trying to get one last fish. I told him twice to put the rod down and help but he wasn’t exactly listening. As I was getting a bit irritated Casey shouts “Fish On!”
Casey about to be spanked……… and probably gonna be sore there
Something big
While Casey fights this last fish another large cobia free swims by. Free gaffing kept coming into mind but we knew better. Regarding the LARGE cobia swimming around, some approaching 60+ pounds, it was comical that after two hours of teasing us by swimming nonchalantly up to the boat they no longer elicited the same excitement and hurry to prep baits to throw at them. They continued to only “sniff” our offerings and swam away-talk about frustrating. It was also interesting that at least one cobia always swam up with a hooked African Pompano but they did not follow any of the AJs up. Interesting.
Just another of many non-interested large cobia saying HI
After a tough fight with a lot of give & take one large fish is about to come over the gunnel. Gotta love the sound of Power Pro singing ZIP, ZIP, ZIP off the reel as drag is taken!!
A wore out Casey & I with his big fish of the day-his largest AP yet. It’s almost as big as he is!
This was the largest fish of the day and Casey kept pleading not to release it but with our boat limit of African Pompano we didn’t have a choice. I know for the rest of my life I’ll never hear the end of this. I’m sure he’ll always remember to remind Mark about it too…
Running in was easy but it did get snotty as we got closer to the coast. The boys however took it all in with style.
Chillin’ on the run back
At the dock we stopped off at the Jacksonville Offshore Fishing Club (JOSFC) building and weighed Casey’s AJ & smaller African Pompano for a club youth contest. Twenty five and ½ pounds and 33.0 lbs, respectively. It would have been nice to see what Casey’s large released AP would have weighed…..
As I write this report I can only imagine there are some sore young boys this morning getting ready for school. This was an AWESOME trip with some cool dads and three outstanding young fisherman. Thanks for the invite Mark-that trip is now emblazed on these boys memories forever!! Well done!
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
and I know some big boys who would like some of that AP action "I know one reallll well" 
