Rainy Day Fishing

Ken Wood and his son Nick had this morning as their only window of opportunity to fish so they made an early morning trip down from Jeckyll Island, Georgia to meet me at the City marina.  The weather forecast called for a light rain but only a slight breeze so we all packed rain gear and headed out to fish the backwaters of Amelia Island.  We made our first stop behind Tiger Island and fished the incoming tide with jigs and shrimp, tossed up near the downed logs.  It took awhile for the fish to begin to bite but once they did the anglers were busy for about 2  hours.  Ken had the hot rod early and hauled in two or three Redfish, then Nick got in on the action and caught a couple.  Ken was getting his way out deep and he had a couple of battles with some Slot sized Redfish that almost went too big!  Nick added a couple of Slot's and after we moved he picked up some keeper sized 18" plus Seatrout, caught on a Contender lure with twin red tails and a white body.  Ken wanted a Trout too and after making a long cast to the shoreline he hooked up and had a good battle with a 20" Trout that fought all the way back to the boat.  The bite slowed so we moved to the outside of Tiger Island, fished it with float rigs, then hit Temptation Cove and Lanceford Creek but didn't get much more than a nibble as the tide began to ebb.  We'd been rained on and swarmed with gnats, but as we headed in, we called it a great day to be fishing on Amelia Island waters!

Waiting on the Wind

Brent Gore and I postponed our scheduled Amelia Island backwater fishing trip from yesterday morning until the afternoon due to the high winds, gusting to 30mph.  We saw that they were going to die down by noon and the conditions would gradually get better as the afternoon wore on so we planned to meet down at the marina at 2pm.  Brent and his wife, Julie were in town celebrating their wedding anniversary and staying at the Blue Heron Inn, just a short walk to the marina.  By the time 2pm rolled around, Brent and I were both chomping at the bit to get out on the water and do some fishing.  The tide was still going out so we headed up Lanceford Creek to fish the dock pilings and oyster beds and we hadn't been anchored long before we were hooking up with feisty Redfish.  A couple were more than feisty and turned out to be in the Slot size!  We landed about 7-8 fish, trolled an oyster bank at slack tide, then headed over to Tiger Island to catch the first of the incoming tide.  We found that the best tactic to catch fish was to fish our jig/shrimp combo slower than slow and we picked up a few more Reds, a fat, keeper sized Trout, and a couple of more hungry Trout.  Brett wrapped the day up by hooking up with a hard fighting fish and after expertly working the fish to the boat, we netted a nice 21" Slot Red!  With the sun going down, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!

Perseverance Pays Off

The Rich Berlinghof family was in in town, visiting Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach all the way from Long Island, New York, and took in an backwater fishing charter with me as their guide on The Anglers Mark.  We met yesterday morning at the Atlantic Seafood dock and headed down the river to fish the flooded oyster beds and marsh grass.  The tide had just turned at 9am and we were tossing live shrimp under floats.  There weren't many bites but young Conner did get us on the board with a nice Seatrout catch.  We made a stop outside Tiger Island where Emily got the hot rod, catching a number of Blue fish.  We moved around to behind Tiger Island where Rich and his wife Deneel picked up a feisty Redfish apiece.  Our next stop was the docks at Lanceford Creek and Deneel added a nice, keeper sized Seatrout, caught on a live shrimp, on the bottom.  After a short break and the tide getting down low we decided to head back to Tiger Island and anchor up off the downed logs.  This proved to be a good decision because it wasn't long before the whole family was catching Redfish.  Luke, Emily, Richie and Conner all caught a couple of Redfish and then Deneel had a strong hookup and after a good battle, landed a 25" 5lb Redfish!  While we were getting this big Red de-hooked,  Rich had a good bite and he too landed a Slot Redfish for a double!  The sun was going down and a light sprinkle had begun so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Amelia Island Backwater Grand Slam

The weather broke up a little this morning, just in time for me to get out on the water with Trey Dennard, his son IV (Eye Vee) and their friend, Gary Simms.  We left the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina just a little after 9am with the tide just beginning to turn and come back in.  Our first stop was behind Tiger Island and it was almost picture perfect with very little wind and the tide creeping in.  The anglers began to get some nibbles then Trey had a nibble nibble then a strong hookup, FISH ON!  He played the fish perfectly and soon brought a nice Sheepshead to the boat.  Shortly after he had another strong hookup but in seconds the big fish broke off. However, it wasn't long when IV had a good bite and he had a good fight on his hands, but he played the fish to the boat and we netted a nice 16" Flounder, putting IV on the board in my annual Bragging Rights Tournament! (See box at right for the leader board).  The bite slowed so we made a run to the Lanceford Creek docks and it turned out to be a good move when Gary had a strong hookup and after working the fish in, we had a feisty Redfish, Gary's first!  We repositioned and then all the anglers began to enjoy regular bites and the party ended up landing 4-5 feisty Redfish.  Then Gary caught another one, but this one put up a bigger fight and when landed turned out to be a nice 20" Slot Redfish.  Trey added another keeper sized fish by picking up the day's only Seatrout then Gary had something take his shrimp and he had a hard fight on his hands.  He played up from the depths and we soon saw that he had a large Sheepshead! Just as Trey netted the fish IV had a hookup and he too landed a Slot Redfish.  After fishing a couple of more spots of flooded oyster beds, we called it a day, another great one to be on Amelia Island waters!

Bragging Rights!

It's a new year and it will take 12 long months to find out who has "The Anglers Mark"!  I'll be measuring and weighing the biggest Redfish, Seatrout, and Flounder this year and recording who is in the lead and at the end of the year we will award bragging rights to the winners.  So far this year Michael Purser leads the Redfish category with a 26" 6lb Redfish and his fishing buddy Andy Hall leads the Seatrout category with a 22" 3lb fish.  These were both some nice fish but it's a long year and the competition will be tough!  Contact me to set up your Amelia Island backwater fishing trip today.