Jackson’s blog

 Today was a help-around-the-house day. I helped my mom clean up along with starting to plant her vegetables in the garden. We planted cherry tomatoes today. Then we started to shed some of the trees that overgrown the fence into our yard. Later in the night, I watched a good fishing video explaining fly fishing. It does not seem easy at all, it is an extreme technique. I like to catch the fish you can catch fly fishing but you can do that with any other rod. To me, it seems like fly fishing is more of a hobby and a passion. But it is not for me. 

Jackson Downey Kelly Griffin-Brown Senior Project  May 23, 2023                 Florida Fun During our time in Boca Raton, Florida we learned a year's worth of job and fishing experience within fourteen days. Our mentor Jordan was a construction worker, who turned into a self-employed IT business creator. Now Jordan owns his own prestige fishing charter business down in Boca Raton. Jordan has shown us all the nitty gritty fishing techniques while teaching us the essentials for owning, running, and upgrading a home.  My personal favorite part of the whole trip is the fishing trips that Jordan took us on. Normally Jordan would charge $750 for five hours of fishing on his charter. He was nice enough to take us fishing on his boat five days out of the fourteen. To fish Jordan uses a technique called slow-pitched jigging. This technique is extremely common in South America where big tuna are prevalent in deep waters. The tuna we looked for is called blackfin tuna. These tun

 Today was a long and fun day. I went fishing with my friend in Marblehead, we were targeting striped bass. It is early in the season but we figured that we could get a head start on some spots. We went earlier in the day to buy bass lures, and we just went along all the rocks outside of the harbor to try and find some bass. We had a decent day, catching 2 fish which is pretty good for this time of the year.  The bass are good eating but the new regulations are between 28 and 31 inches. That is a small slot for keeping fish. It used to be anything over 28 inches, so I hope the bass population is not decreasing. It is very possible though due to everyone fishing for them all the time. We started fishing at 11 and ended at 4. Hours today: 5 Total hours: 77

                    Week 2 Reflection This week we learned a lot of different techniques for fishing and for construction. Jordan was less hands-on this week and more informative. He taught us how to dissect all the rods, clean them and repair them. While also teaching us how to do plumbing repair, and how to fix drywall. I really enjoyed this week, Jordan was thinking outside the box and has us doing a lot of great things.  On the fishing side this week it was rough. The actual fishing was not great. The conditions for boating were not good which made the fishing bad. We had two long days this week that were specifically for fishing. We went out and started looking for tuna both days, but had no luck. Jordan said to us that the dark blue spots in the water where the tuna hangout is way too deep. They were sitting in about 1000 feet of water, that's where the tuna will not go. If they do it is super deep and is extremely hard to leverage 1000 feet of water and locate them

 We had to catch an early flight back, so day 11 was our last day. Total hours: 71 and some change

 Today was a long slow day. We woke up at 7am to go over to Jordan. We got over there and immediately got to the dock to go fishing. Another day looking for blackfin tuna, we decided to slow-pitch jig again as well. Jordan prefers this technique the most, he believes it is the most effective at this time of the season. The tuna love to hang out in the deep blue water, it is around 600 feet deep where they were. But unfortunately, we did not have any luck today. We tried to go in more shallow water and look for wahoo but did not have any luck with that either. We headed back after a short day of fishing and ended up cleaning jordans boat from 1 to 2. Hours today: 6 Total: 71

 Day 10, almost there. Today we woke up at 8:30 and headed to Jordans, we went straight from Jordans to the fishing dock, and we had bags full of frozen Bonita. We got the fillet table and started to thaw out all of the frozen fish; it smelt so bad. The task was to cut up all of the Bonita into strips that Jordan can use for bait. He wanted us to cut them into triangles almost, to make them aerodynamic. This was very difficult. Then he didn't want too much meat on top of it because it would all tear up in the water. The end goal was to have perfect slick triangular, spear head looking strips. This was all we did today, just sharpen our knife skills and see a bunch of cool fish. We left around 12:30. Hours Today: 3.5 hours Total: 65 hours

 On day 9 we met Jordan at 8am at his house. We were immediately split up. Mark was assigned to clean up around the yard, picking up any excess pieces. while Sam and I went to a reel repair company to service his Accurate reels back to normal. Next, we went to a tackle store to look around, Jordan spoke with the store representative. He wanted to be sponsored by them and show off all the fishing tackle they have. Lastly, we went to Costco to get water, Gatorade, and pizza. Once we got back we took down a dying tree in front of the yard. We yanked it with the truck and it fell and shattered and we cleaned it up.  Hours Today: 8 to 1 Total: 61.5 hours

 Today we woke up at 7am to set off on a long day fishing. Jordan had us going out for big blackfin tuna today, we fished for six hours using the slow-pitch jig technique in 500-foot deep waters. We had a slow day due to the overcast and had zero fish up until the five-hour marker. We went to our last spot of the day at 1:30pm. We ended up hooking on to a huge 25-pound tuna. It was a length of 32 inches. This was a great fish to eat. We ended the day by cleaning Jordan's boat for an hour.  Hours: 8 Total: 61

Jackson Downey  Kelly Griffin Brown Senior Project May 15, 2023 ​​ Senior project this week was loaded with many different new activities and faces. Our mentor Jordan, the owner of Ejs fishing carters has been kind enough to take us fishing while keeping us busy with tasks all around his house/works space. We have caught tuna and mahi mahi early mornings, along with building concrete ramps, and a porch in his backyard.  Mark, Sam, and I have been fishing four times with Jordan, we have caught and eaten over a dozen wonderful fish, mostly tuna. Jordan brings us out at 6am to go slow pitch jig with huge two-pound steel fish-looking cylinders, in 500 feet of water. Just off the bottom, there are blackfin tuna, a smaller and more delicious type of tuna. They travel in schools and are extremely strong fish. Jordan is extremely good at what he does so we manage to catch about 7 tuna a day. We bring this tuna home and cook it into fresh sashimi and nigiri while searing some of it. Not only ha

 Today we went to Jordan's house at 9am to deep clean all of the fishing rods. We started by taking apart all the rods, and we learned how to take apart all the reels and line. Mark and I oiled down all the rods and reels while greasing up all the screws on the outside of the rod. This was really important to me because I love all of this fishing stuff, and Jordan went into great detail about the ins and outs of all types of rods. this was key information for us. We also rigged all the rods up to get ready for fishing tomorrow. We left around 1pm. Tomorrow we will have a competition day to see who can catch the most fish. split up on two boats. Mike and I vs Sam, Jordan, and Mark. 

 Today we woke up at 5:30am to meet Jordan at his house at 6am. We then headed out to go fishing for mahi mahi. Today was not a great day for fishing. Although the weather was nice, the water was choppy. This led to us fishing for four hours and only catching one fish, so we headed in at 10:30. After this, we did a quick clean of the boat and then went to the beach were we watched over Jordan's daughter. while we were there we also picked up a lot of trash that we saw along the beach. These were strong community service hours towards the end of the day. hours today: 8.5 hours Total: 45 hours

 Today we had a work day. We worked In Jordans backyard in the hot sun all day. We started off by taking the nails out of all of the boards. We used these words to make a small 8x6 deck for his boat. I had to dig a trench so we could put the water and electrical system piping in the ground. This was going to connect to the porch so he could attach his hose and the electrical port to charge the boat. This was a long day but we learned a million different things about construction. Especially how to build a deck and use the power tools, but also how to build a sturdy foundation.  Hours: 5 Total: 36.5

Today was a very successful day fishing wise. We woke up at 5:30 this morning to head out fishing for the third time for me this week. We set off with Jordan, just us four for the day. Jordan was looking for Tuna with his sonar panel that can read movement from fish in the water down to 1,000 feet! We were slow pitch jigging for Tuna and ended up hooking on to some pretty nice ones. All together we had 5 fish but one got off. We were catching Tuna up to 500 feet In the clear blue Florida ocean. After about five hours of fishing we headed back to the doc, on the way back we saw where Ariana Grande lives along with Adam Sandler. Jordan was filleting the tuna right on the boat doc, he cut u some pieces for us to try fresh sashimi. It was amazing, as fresh as it gets, tender with that rich tuna taste. After this we went back to Jordans place were we put the concrete ramps we made to work and lifted his boat on to them, they worked great. We ended up cleaning Jordans boat for the next hour

 Today we were out the door by 8 am, we set off to Jordans ex wifes house to completely take apart her 16x16 foot deck. The goal of this was to preserve wood to rebuild Jordan's platform for the boat he keeps at his house. we learned how to use several power tools, while also using crowbars, hammers, and mallets. This job was extremely long and tiring, in the 85-degree heat. We eventually finished, then jumped in the pool and headed back to Jordans. Once we got there we saw that the concrete ramps were filled in nicely and that we did a good job on those. We next unloaded all the wood and organized it in his backyard to take off all of the rusty nails on Friday. After all of this, we went home for a little nap and then went back to Jordas again in East Boca. Jordan showed us the rods, lours, and techniques we will be using to catch Wahoo and tuna tomorrow hopefully. Today we had a total of 7 hours of work and learning. We are up tomorrow at 6am.                                    

Today I went fishing alone. My guide Mike had a charter running so he wanted me to come out to be his first mate and learn more about the fish in the area and certain techniques he has. We woke up at 5:30am and set off to go downtown Boca Raton. Mark and Sam spent the day helping our other guide Jordan fill in the cement in his backyard for his boat ramp. While they were doing that I was out with Mike and his charter looking for mahi mahi a.k.a "dolphin" as they say in Boca. We set off learning about habitats around the area fish gather. Mike tells us about this thick green seaweed that lays on top of the water in a 500-yard-long radius about seven miles offshore. Although it is 800 feet deep below the seaweed the Mahi love to sit in 15 feet of water and feed on the fish that look wounded on top of the water. We had five hours of fishing and caught only three mahi, it was not a win for Mike he says a little later in the month when the mahi are healthier he usually catches alm

 Sam, Mark, and I had a great first-day fishing, building, and making connections. Ej's Fishing Charters out of Boca Raton, Florida was kind enough to take us three out fishing for some days; While building a ramp and porch for the boat at his house during the other days. Today we woke up at 5am to get set off fishing for Yellowfin tuna. Not super huge ones but good candy-sized ones for fresh sashimi. We used a technique called slow pitch jigging. It is not very common in the U.S, it is more used in South America, it is a patient, tedious, peaceful process. We ended up catching two big jacks and a big king mackerel. After we went to Jordan's house and started to tear apart his fence and gate to re-use them and make concrete ramps for his boat. We dug, we cut, and we assembled the outline of what it takes to make a concrete ramp today. Tomorrow we will go fishing early in the AM then fill in the concrete and learn more about the area. We worked a total of eight and a half hours.