Those "Chamber of Commerce" days just keep rolling on..just in time for the Spring Break visitors to enjoy their time here at Amelia Island. We had clear skies, mild temperatures and only a slight breeze (yes, the gnats were a problem) when I met Allison Olguin, her father Larry and her son Anderson up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp. We eased out of Eagans Creek and made a run over to the Bell River, ran up it a ways and then set up at a point on a tide that still had about an hour of coming in. Allison struck first when she hooked and landed a feisty Bluefish - it thrashed back to the boat all the way. We then made our way over to Lanceford Creek and fished a few spots (5 to be exact) and came away with only a few nibbles.
After running down the intracoastal and dipping in behind Piney Island on a tide that had just started out, the action heated up a bit. Allison hooked an expertly landed a hungry Flounder, one of a few that we have caught the last couple of months. Then Anderson hauled in a foul hooked Stingray that made for a fun catch. Anderson was fishing jigs and live shrimp and being patient with letting it lay for a while, and it paid off, big time. Actually, too big! That fish hit his bait and immediately started running north, under a gangway, and between the floating dock and fixed dock - there was nothing we could do. It eventually ran that line alongside a piling and broke it off, and it's still heading north, boy what a fish!
But Anderson was not to be deterred. We ran further down the river and pulled up at some structure and stayed with the jigs and shrimp. In short order Andeeron had a hookup - he played it patiently and soon brought to the net a nice keeper sized Seatrout. And his grandfather followed that up with a Seatrout catch of his own. As we headed back to the dock we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
If you've read the last few reports you may be able to tell that the fish "catching" has been slow the last week or so. I checked my notes and LAST year the first of April we had some "banner" days of catching, so I think sooner or later it's going to pick up. We gotta keep fishing!
