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me and my dad Iove to fish. we live in jacksonville florida were the water is dark.
we have big prolbems trying to catch fish.
we find places where they are most likely to be.
but once we get out to the spot,we get lines in the water but have no luck


what kind bait should we use if we were fishing for red bass or black drum.
what could we do to make them bite.

for the great fishermen, any suggestions, darryl:(

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Darryl I saw your earlier posts. You will find a lot of good fishing info for that area on thehulltruth.com. While many of us whaler owners love fishing it comes second to talking about our whalers.

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You want to speak to the fishermen in your area. Nothing beats local knowledge. I suggest uou pick up some of the local publications, sometimes they have fishing reports. Check out some of the local marinas or look for some local fishing seminars...This worked very well for me and my catch rate really improved. Check out, www.tidalfish.com Good luck!

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Go to Florida Sportsman.com, look for "Forum" in the headings at the top of the page. After clicking on forum, look for "Northeast Florida Fishing reports." Click on that link and you will see postings by local fishermen concerning every type of fishing in North Florida including Jacksonville. The discussions include where to fish, when to fish, how to fish, what bait to use for each type species targeted. Good Luck!

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My brother in law lives in Florida, the Melbourne/Port Canaveral area and fishes everywhere from the Bahamas, Bimini, Florida, North Carolina, to here in New York on his 22' Pathfinder. Hewes, which makes the Pathfinder, maintains an incredible forum for its' boat owners. They are a big friendly group with lots of hardcore fisherman and many of them are local to your area. Check out their website/forum. These guys love to help guys like you out with any question you can think of. Good luck!

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In addition to the Florida Sportsman forum and fishing forecast section which is updated every Thursday night or Friday for the coming weekend look at the Florida Sportsman magazine which has an Action Spotter section covering the different regions of Florida. Yours would be the Northeast. I n the August issue they say that this is the time when big Redfish start showing up at your local inlets. It says much of the activity is focused on St. Johns River from Mayport to the Dames Point Bridge. The St. Mary's river in Fernandina Beach is also a good spot. They also say that where the St. Johns intersects with the intracoastal is good.

There is a lot of info out there but you have to obtain the publications and read them.

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I used to have fun fishing when all I had to do is dig for a few earthworms. All this reading and searching websites doesn't leave me any time for boating.

Capn Js

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Well Capn,

I bet you ain't done the kinda fishin you usedta have fun doin when all you did was dig a few earthworms in a long long time. I also bet the fishin you do now is a lot more sophisticated than that. ah bet you use them fancy rigged ballyhoos and all.

I bet you could also waste a lot of time droppin earthworms into dark water and not ketch nuthin. 'Cept ah reckon ifn ya don't know nuthin and ya did sum readin ya maight save sum taihme.

Ah also reckon you ain't goin ta find nuthin to read on how to "make them bite" Darryl. and if you read sumthin or you figure out how to make 'em bite, you all let me know yah he'uh.

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Well red drum and black drum will eat about anything.
We here in Charleston love using a half a blue crab fishing the jetties.
They will go out of there way for the crab.
Shrimp and mud minnows are another form of bait that works with them.
Crab for the big ones you cant eat and shrimp or mud minnows for the ones you keep.
Remember the big ones can have worms so dont risk eating them.
One other thing to remember is the tides.
Bass move and at high tides go in the grass to feed.
So fishing 2-3 hours befor high tide is good. And no more then an hour after.
Good Luck.

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Also, try your local tackle/bait dealers.

They are selling bait, and hear what's biting, and where. Also, based on the bait they are selling may give you an indication on what's biting and how.
I've found my bait dealer quite informative and reliable with this info.

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I live in Jacksonville and fish the river, hte ntercoastal and the Atlantic beaches.

When it is calm sharks are easy to hook up with off any of the beaches along with mackeral, jacks, trout and reds.

Florida Sportsman board has been slow.

There are some really great guides that fish out of Vilano. Cost is about $350 for a days worth for both of you. One time and you will learn a lot about how to fish around here.

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Hey Darryl give me a call i can point you in the right direction, I live in Jacksonville and fish the surrounding waters as often as possible. (904)228-6941