On the couch 11:30pm my buddy Jeremy comes running in and says, “You gotta come out the Jacks are busting.” We grab our gear and head down to the old man light on Venician Bay in Naples Florida. After a few minutes of observing shrimp floating by and exploding Jacks and Snooks, we start to make our casts. First Jeremy and then me. Jeremy had been having luck on a micro minnow, but they wanted nothing to do with it anymore. So, I put on a finger mullett pattern and casted into the darkness on the outskirts of the lighted water. First cast, SLAM! A big Jack 5+ pounds was on. He ran up and down the sea wall in and out of the lights and after a relatively short but sweet battle he succumbed to my nine weight. He smiled for the camera, we let him go and reqrouped. Five minutes later another wave of shrimp drifted through the light and the Jacks went wild and Jeremy was hooked up. The stink was off and Jeremy was a happy camper. He had been chasing the Jacks until wee hours of the morning over the last couple nights but wasn’t having any luck. So, even though I was comfortable on my couch and right in the middle of a great movie, I’m glad Jeremy came to get me. Between 11:30 and 12:10 we hooked into a bunch with the evening bounty being 4 Jacks and 2 Snook. What a way to leave Florida. In less than 12 hours I’ll be standing on the banks of Cobosse or the Shepscott wondering why I am not casting to Jacks, snooks, Red Fish or Tarpon. But then I will hook into my first Brown Trout, I’ll know I am home and wouldn’t want to be anywere else. See on the river. joe-m
