# Ozello



## LoneRanger (Dec 11, 2006)

I invited a good friend and charter captain down from Jacksonville to fish immediaetly following the cold front on Sunday. I dont ever check the tides there because I seem to do fine no matter what the tides are.

I should have checked the tides. : he got to my house from Jax around 7am and we were on the water by 820 or so, no other boats were where we were headed and only one other trailer at the ramp (hey it was 34* w/ the wind chill  ) So I jump on plane and over the rocks and through the bars to redfishes house we go! The tide was rolling out pretty good and I prefer to fish the outgoing tide at my "spot" no worries. B A N G : I found a new rock! apparently there is less water there than I had thought. I taco'd one of my three blades pretty good! (it was a brand new prop) no worries I have a spare! we continue on~ 
5 miles later we shut down and drop the troller and attempt to troll; then we re-stow the troller and I silently pole between 2 islands blowing out only 1 fish. wow it is shallow! I am 1/2 a mile from where I want to go and I am already in 5 inches of water? WTF ...over.

pole pole pole pole pole....... get stuck on a bar as I exit the 2 islands. Kaptain gets out in ankle deep water and pulls up into another boats prop scar and we float/ get dragged through. deep water again (<6") pole pole pole pole pole pole poole pole pole. drift.....................................................

the sun still hasnt come out the wind is blowing from the east, and the tide is STILL going OUT. then the sun peeks a bit, WHOLA a TAIL! pole pole pole. sun goes away tail disapears. Damn. pole some more... sun peeks out AHHH HA Tail! POLE POLE POLE. sun goes away again. tail disappears.  well this is just a little bit annoying. the wind is blowing, there are hardly any fish the water is missing and the weather man should be shot cause he said it was going to be SUNNY! errrrrrrrr we get stuck in a sponge garden, we get stuck on grass humps, finaly I decide I have poled enough and I let a 24V troller work for me. ;D

20 minutes later we are out in deep water (10" or so) in the middle of the gulf staring at exposed reefs that i never knew were there! (yeah I put them on my GPS  ) so we wait and wait and the Capt looks at the tides on my GPS and goes hey its a negative tide, my response was something like "no it is a negative negative tide." I figgure tide charts dont factor in wind helping blow the water out. 

but look its supposed to come back in in 30 minutes. well thats good. we have been on the water for 5 hours now only seen 6 or 7 fish, the sun still isnt out, I am running out of coffee, and I am cranky. :-?

fast forward 1 hour or so. we watched the water and grass switch- I dropped the troller and i stayed as close as I could w/o making a lot of racket. we went back to the mouth of the bay where I saw most of the fish and the sun FINALY started to creep out more. by now the water is really rolling in. I stow the troller and get on the platform and push in with the tide. I am telling the good captain how to present the baits and he is not listening : finaly however while we were drifting further in he spots a fish makes a cast and gets hooked up! (I was amazed that he actualy saw the fish)  8# line the 26 & 3/4" red takes a while to subdue  finaly landed and I make a cast up current kind of a test cast if you will to get a feel for the rod and such. I feel a flip flip and bam! hook up with another 27" fish same spot 45 seconds later. landed in a fraction of the time and released we move on. push over a flat that must have had 25 fish sitting on it, we blew em all out! ;D no worries keep poling. tail ahead in the middle of the creek! perfect cast; twitch twitch FISH ON! I cast over him for a double and get chased down but no takers. land fish #3 and were off again. we turn a corner and WOW  Stuud of a red tailing in some slower water... we ease in Capt makes the cast and he over shoots it! Iam screaming reel reel reel reel!!!!!! now its a top water bait and about the time I say STOP the red charges broaches the water and INHALES the bait! It was Fantastic!    

the sun is droping now and has gone behind some clounds so we troll out to deeper water fire up the etec and haul azz out of there- 

No worries I creamed a bar on the way out which pretty well totaly destroyed the prop ;D we made it in though no prob.

If anyone went fishing out there this AM they would have had a STELLAR day! we left them chewing, and they were chewing HARD~

I LOVE OZELLO!

L.R.


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## tgaud11 (Sep 30, 2008)

good report...i enjoyed reading it!


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## james_bingham3 (Oct 22, 2009)

great report , pics would have been nice


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## G2OMARINE (Dec 29, 2008)

What ramp do you use?


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## LoneRanger (Dec 11, 2006)

as soon as I get pics I will post them. I use the ramp at the end of Ozello trail on weekends and the ramp at the end of ft island gulf trail during thhe week (If weather permits) 


L.R.


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## LoneRanger (Dec 11, 2006)

your using what sized reel??? 










landed!











different fish












my turn while poling










what I look like when the boat goes askew and the wind does its thing while the fish does its thing~ This is a multi tasking pose for you ;D ;D


















































thats all for now folks! I gotta find another prop!


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Pretty exciting day! Way to pull out some nice fish after the struggle. 

I wouldn't dare go out without checking the tides around here...


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## LoneRanger (Dec 11, 2006)

I aint skeered! and I am giving the new etec hell out there! 


so far so good. another trip planned for friday am. (another negative tide too!) ;D


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## pole_position (Dec 5, 2009)

WTG!, do you have any links to pics of your rig , just curious but it looks like a side console?


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