We Made The Right Call

The last two mornings I fished with Dan Tillotson and his son Paul. We launched both days out of the City marina to fish the last few hours of a incoming flood tide. Yesterday we fished north of the island, tossing float rigs with shrimp and mud minnows. Our first stop produced no bites but as we ran through Tiger Basin we made a stop to see if any Reds were tailing in the grass and sure enough, there was one slurping at the surface of an accessible grass flat!  We
had a weedless spoon ready but the fish was having none of it and eventually bolted. At our next stop Paul had the hot hand and landed a few Seatrout and a nice Bluefish but that was about it for the fish catching that day. Ouch. This morning we decided to go earlier and run south all the way down to Broward Island to fish the exposed logs before the tide came in. This turned out to be a good call because almost immediately the anglers began to catch fish. Within seconds of each other both hauled in keeper sized Flounder then they traded turns catching feisty Redfish. Then Paul had another heavy bite and we knew it was a Flounder again but we also could tell it was bigger. He played this big flat fish patiently and soon landed a nice 20" Flounder! We moved up and down the bank, picking up smaller Reds here and there and just before we decide to leave Dan had a stronger hookup, FISH ON! This was a bigger Red and ripped some drag, but Dan kept the pressure on and gradually worked it in to Paul and the waiting net, a nice 24" Slot Red!  We made a stop at Christopher Creek where Dan landed another Red and an almost keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum (rounding out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam), hit a couple of more spots, then called it  day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Big Red at Mother of All

I fished yesterday afternoon with Sherri Lowdenslager, her mother Ona and her friend Tiffany Schintgen  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock at 2pm to fish the backwaters on the last few hours of an outgoing tide. We made a run up to Jolley River and made our first stop at the "bank" and the conditions looked perfect with the oysters exposed. The three anglers were tossing jigs baited with live shrimp and mud minnows and within a few minutes were making excellent casts to the shoreline. But is was to no avail - only bait stealers were eating! We ran further up the river and this time the conditions looked even better as the marsh was blocking the breeze. It still took a while but finally Tiffany had a strong hookup and after a good battle, landed a nice feisty Redfish to get things started. We moved around to the MOA (Mother of All) and within a minute or two we got hookups. All three anglers began to catch fish with both Ona and Sherrie putting nice Redfish in the boat. They also had a couple of hungry Seatrout. Then Tiffany's rod bent double and the drag begag to rip out, FISH ON!  And it was a big one! It was tough to slow this big fish down but Tiffany played it patiently and went from bow to stern, from starboard to port and then back to the bow! But still the big fish was having none of coming to the surface!  Tiffany continued to apply gently pressure and after a long (and somewhat chaotic) battle, landed an oversized 34" Redfish to claim first place in The Anglers Mark 2014 Bragging Rights Tournament -Redfish Category (scroll down right side of this report to see standings). Boy what a fish. After photographs we made sure the big fish was revived and released it to swim off to the deep. The anglers picked up a couple of more Reds and Ona put a nice keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. We made our last stop at Tiger Island, caught a couple, then headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Three Generations of Anglers

I fished the Amelia Island back country on a trip set up by Dustin Taylor for he, his dad Ricky, and grandfather Rick - all experienced local anglers who normally fish down in Jacksonville.  They came up Heckshire Drive and met me at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at sunrise then we headed up the Nassau River to fish a creek run out.  It only took a few minutes and grandad Rick had put a hungry Seatrout in the boat!  I think he caught one or two more then Ricky picked up a couple.  We hit an oyster outcrop and fished
Bubblegum Reef with limited success, then made the run to Broward Island to set up outside of another creek mouth.  I think it was Dustin's first cast when he had a strange bite, but FISH ON!  He played the fish patiently and after a good battle landed a nice 18" Flounder.  Then Rick put another keeper sized Flounder in the boat and Ricky found a nice "honey hole" for feisty Redfish to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam. Grandad Ricky
made a toss to the same area and had a strong hookup and battle and landed a good keeper sized 19" Redfish.  The three anglers caught a few more fish here then we made run back to Seymore's Pointe where they got into some fun-to-catch Mangrove Snapper.   Both Rick and Ricky landed a couple of more Redfish.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Fishing Georgia/Florida Week

The Blalocks were back in town for the annual Georgia/Florida football game and it's become a tradition to get in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip.  I met William and his wife Dara, along with dad Bob, and their friend Jason down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at sunrise this morning.  We ran up the Nassua River and made our first stop at Twin Creeks with about an hour to go on a falling tide.  The water was really low and the oysters were fully exposed as the four anglers began to pitch their jigs and mud
minnows to the oyster edge.  Almost immediately the fish began to
bite!  They stayed busy catching feisty Redfish, one after the other for a good 45 minutes.  Dara had a really big Red on for a good while but it was big for a reason and made a quick turn and went full throttle to break the leader, OUCH!  But shortly after that William baited up with a small and lively Pogey, tossed it to the bank, and FISH ON!  He played the big Red patiently and after a good battle, landed a nice Slot sized 23" Redfish!  Later, we moved down the river, found a point sticking out into the river, and fished the oysters.  Again, the anglers had a good bite, and in addition to the Reds, they put a number of keeper sized Trout (up to 16") in the boat.  Jason had a strange bite and after workin the fish to the boat, landed a very nice 16" keeper sized Flounder to round out his personal Amelia Island Back Country Slam.  We made our last stop down at Broward Island, found a few fish, then called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

On The Water After Work

I fished Wednesday afternoon with Brett Caldon and his friends and workmates Lisa and Rick, all who had finished up a business related conference out at the Omni.  We met down at the Atlantic Seafood dock and headed up the Bell River with a baitwell full of live shrimp and mud minnows on the first of an outgoing tide. We made our first stop at some flooded oyster beds and within in moments of gettting there float rigs out to the edge of the marsh grass, they began to get hookups.  The bite was fast and furious as
the three anglers battled with hungry Seatrout and pesky baitstealers.
All three put Seatrout in the boat before we moved on to fish the outside of Tiger Island.  Here they picked up a couple more Trout then we made run up to Jolley River and a larger creek outflow.  Again, they had a few Trout and more baitstealers.  We moved up into the creek and after a number of casts to the corner of some grass, Brett had a stronger hookup and landed a bigger keeper sized Seatrout.  He went back to the same spot and even put his float and bait right up in the grass and within seconds the float went under, and FISH ON!  He played the bigger fish patiently and soon landed a nice Redfish, his first.  We move around to the outside of the creek, caught a couple of more Trout then Lisa put a good Redfish in the boat.  Our last stop was back at Tiger Island and caught a couple of more feisty Reds and even had a hard fighting Black "puppy" Drum.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Prettiest Day Yet

I just couldn't believe how pretty it was this morning as the sun came up over Amelia Island.  I had met Bruce Doueck and his son in law Rich out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp at sunrise and with the river so calm it was an amazing sight!  We made a run NE to make our first stop at Bubblegum Reef on the very first of an incoming tide. Rich knocked the skunk off early when he hooked up and landed a nice Seatrout. He had a hot rod going early and got a number of bites, landing a good handful of Seatrout on jigs and mud minnows. We had tossed out a shrimp under a float up  near
some oyster beds and when the bobber began to walk off we knew we had a fish, but we didn't know how nice it was going to turn out to be!  Bruce played the fish patiently and as it neared the boat it made a run deep and to the stern but Bruce was on top of it and walked him around.  The big fish made a couple of more runs before Bruce landed a nice Slot sized 22" Redfish.  We fished Seymore Pointe but had no bites then made the trip down to Broward Island to fish the first of an incoming tide.  Here, Bruce had most of the action and caught 4-5 nice feisty Redfish.  We also picked up a couple of small Sheepshead before we left.  Our final stop was over in Jackstaff, now tossing float rigs with live shrimp.  The hot hand swung back to Rich this time and he put a few more Seatrout in the boat while Bruce picked up one more Redfish.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters.

Son and Father Fishing

We had another outstandingly beautiful day today as we left the City docks to fish a high and outgoing tide.  I met Derek Carter and his dad Bobby early and we ran up the Bell River to fish some flooded oyster beds that I had spotted yesterday on a lower tide.  I think the first stop the tide hadn't started moving yet but as it started to come out of the grass the two anglers began to get bites. They both picked ups some nice size Bluefish then a couple of Seatrout
then Bobby pulled in a feisty Redfish from the grass line. We then made a run around to the outside of Tiger Island and again found a couple of Trout and a Redfish.  We moved closer to the mouth of Tiger and had a good flurry of Seatrout bites and then picked up a couple more Redfish.  We moved to behind Tiger and fished the logs and here both Derek and Bobby found some small flounder (although one was of keeper size, released) to round out their Amelia Island Back Country Slam.  And again, another Redfish.  When I thought about the whole day the two anglers actually caught a bunch of fish, just like the last couple of days which has made for some fun fishing.  There just hasn't been a whole lot of size to them.  Sooner or later some big one have to show up! Never the less, it was a great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Two Guys Fishing

I fished this morning with Tandy Morton and his buddy Tommy after we had met at the Atlantic Seafood dock and headed up to the Jolley River to fish the very first of an outgoing tide.  The two anglers were tossing finger mullet under float rigs and at the first stop, a small creek run out, Tommy hooked up with a lively Seatrout on his first cast!  I thought to my self, "oh boy, here we go"!  But although it was a beautiful morning with just a slight breeze and overcast skies, the "good" fish didn't want to cooperate.  I think we picked up one more Trout at that spot then we moved down the river about 100 yards and set up outside a larger creek.  Here, both Tandy and Tommy got bite after bite after bite after bite, but they turned out to be small "yellow tail" perch. We moved around in Jolley River, caught a couple of more Trout and Bluefish then we did find a nice feisty Redfish over some flooded oysters.  We made the run around to Bell River to fish some docks and all three of us landed fish right off, then it slacked to nothing. We move to an adjacent dock and picked up one more Redfish.  Our last stop was at a large group of exposed oysters and here the bite was decent.  Both anglers found Seatrout biting as the river rushed around the oysters.  When this bite slowed, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Trout on Fire

Boy what a beautiful afternoon we had today!  I had met Gene Roudachevski and his son Ira and Ira's friend Lucas at 1pm down at the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina and we headed up to fish the logs of Tiger on an incoming tide.  We hit two areas with jigs and mud minnows and had exactly zero bites! OUCH!  We then made a run up to Jolley River to fish the "bank" and again fished a couple of areas with no real bites other than when Gene hooked up and
battled in a rather large Gar Fish!  It was a good battle but not what we were looking for.  Our next and final stop was back to the outside of Tiger Island and this did the trick. And boy did it!  The three anglers had hardly had there float rigs out over some flooded oysters for a few seconds all of them started getting bites and fish.  There must have been hundreds of Seatrout in the area because they couldn't cast without getting a hookup. Gene and Lucas were on the stern of the boat catching fish but Ira was up at the bow tossing to a grass line and he was the one that put 4 keeper sized Seatrout to 18" in the boat.  We fished right on up until we were almost out of bait with Lucas having the hot rod there at the end, boating Trout after Trout.  It was a great way to wrap up a fishing catching trip here at Amelia Island!

Bull Redfish

I fished the river with neighbor Brian Parent yesterday afternoon using heavy tackle and blue crabs for bait.  We got out there a couple of hours before high tide with the wind blowing 10-15 and dropped an anchor to fish the edge of the channel.  The wind was blowing out of the northwest and the current was running against it so we had to stay on our toes to manage the lines.  We had no bites at our first two drops but we kept adjusting our location and as the tide went slack Brian saw one of his poles begin to bounce.  He slowly took up the slack and when he felt the line go tight he
applied just a little stronger pressure and the big circle hook did its job, FISH ON!  And boy it was a big one!  He played the fish patiently and applied the pressure as it tried to run under the boat and after a good battle landed a big Bull Redfish!  Skunk off the boat!  We continued to fish and soon found out that we needed to be on the channel side of the boat with our baits and not long afterwards picked up another even bigger Redfish.  Brian commented that both fish had bit hooks baited with a full crab rather than the half we had on some of the other hooks so with the sun heading down we re-baited all of our lines with a full crab and sure enough, BOOM!  FISH ON!  We landed an released one more of the big Bull Redfish then we headed in with the sun going down, counting it as another great day to be fishing North Florida waters!