Fishing with Capt Dave Sipler

As a father, a sailing father at that, I have done what I can to make sailing a second nature aspect in the life of my daughter Caitlin. I think I've done a pretty good job of it. She likes to go. She is comfortable aboard. And she will quite often make my day by asking to go. However, despite all my efforts, there is one activity that acts as a wedge to my making her a full fledged blow-boater... fishing!

Anyone that has come to know my daughter will tell you, “that girl loves to fish." Ever since about age five when she caught her first Bluegill under the 369 Bridge, she has loved to fish. Even to this day, at damn near 17 years of age, she loves to fish. As a matter of fact, she will pick digging up her own worms and getting a line wet over boys any day (I guess maybe every setback has it's own hidden benefits).

Knowing her passion for a rod and reel, I thought it a good idea to hire a guide and do some serious fishing. With an upcoming family trip to Jacksonville, FL, I asked my buddy and neighbor Mike Jones of StriperTackle.Net for a suggestion and he recommended I call a fellow named Dave Sipler of Capt Dave's Sport Fishing. On his suggestion, I did just that and was immediately satisfied with my decision to book a day on the water.

When I called Capt Dave to talk about a day of fishing, I fully expected to reach some guy that was prepared to grab a calendar, jot my name down on a day, take some credit card information, and move on to more interesting things after hanging up. However, that is not what I got with Capt Dave. He was very interested in knowing what I was looking for in a fishing trip. And based on his enthusiasm in educating me about the type of fishing he does, it became very apparent this is a guy that loves what he does. All you have to do is read his Daily Fishing BLOG Report to understand what I'm talking about. This guy is crazy about his job, and that means a lot to me.

In short, Capt Dave is an “Inshore Fishing” expert and, as he affectionately likes to refer to himself, a “Float Freak”. Now, I'm not about to go into technical aspects of Inshore Float Fishing, but what I will say is this, you're fishing minutes after leaving the dock, as opposed to racing for an hour and a half to some popular fishing reef offshore. We just wanted to go fishing, so Capt Dave's style fit us like a glove.

The day before our trip he called on my cell phone to announce they had some success pulling in some big flounder at the jetties, and he wanted to try and re-create the day with us. That meant, toes on the Mayport dock at 6:30 in the morning.

The next morning, we found Capt Dave and we were off to the jetties. Well, without going into a lot of detail, our success at the jetties was very limited, but it wasn't for the lack of trying from our skipper. He battled a sea condition that just wasn't playing fair. Caitlin caught a few small fish and a Mangrove Snapper which was big enough for the cooler. It had to be frustrating for Capt Dave after having such high hopes for the day. But the day wasn't over.

We left the jetties and headed back into the inshore area of the St. John's River. We did some close in shallow stuff, till we decided to head off the shoreline for a bit of deeper water. Blamb! Caitlin landed an 18” Speckled Trout for the cooler. You should have seen the look on her face. I would have taken a picture, but the fact is, I had a fish on as well. We were now in the fish.

For the next hour and a half or so we were catching fish. Quite regularly, we landed more Speckled and Lemon Trout, and various other varieties of bait stealers. Unfortunately, none of the good eating fish were big enough to keep. The keeper size on Speckled Trout is 15”, and we were regularly tying into 14 and 14 and a halfers. The keepers were just smarter than us that day. And as quickly as we were in the fish, they seemed to just disappear.

No longer satisfied with our spot, Capt Dave decided to try a spot over by the shipyard. That location, however, was simply a nightmare. The freak'n stinkpotter knuckleheads of the weekend were out in full force now, and we were just getting pounded by all the wake chop. Bastards!

“Pull in your rigs. We're heading back for the jetties.” Once we were again fully underway, looking over at me and speaking above the hard working Honda 225, he said, “I want to get Caitlin into some Jacks before we call it a day. They ain't much for eating, but they're one hell of a fighter.”

We anchored just along the rocks off the jetties and got the hook set with the outgoing tide. Caitlin, with rig and shrimp set, placed her float in the water and, Blamb! We were in a “Jack Attack”. That first one was about a 5 pounder, and for the next half hour to forty five minutes, we were pulling in Jacks about as fast as we could get our rigs in the water. I did land one more Mangrove Snapper that made its way into the cooler. And Caitlin got into a fish that we never put our eyes on, but put up one hell of a resistance until the 15 pound test leader decided to give it up. The fish was gone.

With Caitlin all grins, Capt Dave said, “Well, is that enough for one day.” Not hesitating, the thumbs went up. She was tired. Hell, I think we were all tired. On the ride back to the docks, we got into a bit of rain as we just caught the edge of an afternoon shower. It felt good against our hot bodies, but it didn't last.

Back at the boat ramp, while Capt Dave was good enough to quickly fillet our three prized souvenirs of the day, I sent Caitlin to the car to get the cooler. I could tell that Dave was a bit disappointed in how the day turned out. He really wanted to put some damn fish in that cooler. So I told him, “Thanks Dave, she really had a great time. We really couldn't have asked for better day.”
“You're welcome”, he said. “I just wanted to get you guys some good fat flat Flounders for your cooler.”
“I know, but trust me. That would have been great, icing on the cake if you will, but that wasn't what we came here to do. We came to fish, and to that end, we were all very successful. You showed us a great time.”

On the ride back to the condo, I stopped to buy myself a single beer (Yeah, you can do that in Florida. What a State!) and Caitlin a soda. As we sat in the parking lot, I handed Caitlin the phone, so she could call her mom and fill her in on all the details. I just sat there and enjoyed my first one of the day, and somewhat patted myself on the back for coming through as a good, well maybe great, Dad.

Long story short, our experience in fishing with Capt Dave Sipler was a great one. He not only took us on what I consider a great fishing trip, he educated and entertained us. He was honest, straight forward, and damn funny. A real pleasure. I would most highly recommend anyone looking to do some great fishing in the Jacksonville area to give him a call. I would, however, call well in advance, three to four weeks maybe. The chances of booking a trip the day you roll into town are, well, damn near impossible. Don't expect to be able to do this. He isn't just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, he's out fishing! That said, I will book my next trip way in advance, because as you will learn, the strength of the tide means everything, and getting to pick your perfect tide speaks volumes.

Kirk Jockell
SailLanier