Will Kieley: Angler

Amelia Island resident Libby Wilkes likes to do something extra special and personal with her grandchildren when they turn 8 years old. Her grandson Will Kieley was in town and turning 8 real soon so she treated him to a fishing outing in the backcountry of Amelia Island. We left the dock bright and early at 7:30 this morning and were pleased to see that the weekend winds had subsided and left us with a beautiful morning. We made our first stop at the mouth of Lanceford Creek and I soon found out that Will was already a very good angler - his casting was on target. He quickly picked up a Rock Bass then went on to hook up with a few 14" trout and then WHAM - a 18" Black Drum was on the line. Will played the fish superbly and we netted the fish. The bite slowed somewhat so we moved on up into Lanceford Creek to what is now known as "Will's Spot"! After fishing for just a little while, Will hooked up with another Black Drum, this one 21" and a bull fighter. Will worked the strong fish in and we eventually got a net under him and lifted him into the boat. Libby joined in by catching some more of the 14" trout and Will contributed with a few, too, yelling "NET" whenever he had a hookup. With Will casting precisely to some dock pilings, it wasn't long before he was hooked up again, this time with the "Grandaddy" of them all! He fought the fish to the boat, handed the rod off to me, grabbed the net, and pulled in his own fish - what turned out to be a 22" 6.5lb Black Drum! Total for the day: (3) Drum, (10) Trout, (1) Bass, (2) Croaker. What a great day of fishing!

Reb and Lynn Stewart

Reb and Lynn Stewart were visiting from Steinhatchee, Florida and took in a fishing trip this morning. We left the docks at 7:30am and because the wind was still blowing, cruised up Lanceford Creek. Although the bite was not near as good as yesterday, they picked up a nice flounder and puppy drum. We eventually pulled anchor and ran up to Jolley River where Lynn hooked up to a 3'+ Bonnethead Shark. After what seemed an eternity, with the fish going from front to back and under the boat, Lynn handed the rod off to Reb and he eventually boated the shark. We got a couple of great pictures and sent him back to his home waters! Reb was able to get some fly fishing when the wind subsided and had a few "hits" on a shrimp fly. In this picture, Lynn holds up the flounder she caught. Notice the great coloring.

Cold and Windy? The fish were biting!

Karen Turner and her friend Cary Maxey visited Amelia Island early this morning and Carol and I greeted them along with a blustery cold wind. You always think of the ideal weather when you plan a fishing trip and wonder if you're crazy to even go out on a day like today. I'm glad we did!

We ran up into Lanceford Creek thinking that it might afford some protection from the North wind - and it did to some degree. It wasn't long after our first anchorage that Cary hooked up with a nice puppy drum. Then everyone joined in, catching drum after drum. Some were Red Drum and some were Black drum. Fishing and Catching was fast and furious for a few hours. By the end of the day we had totaled (7) Black Drum in the 14-18" range and (6) Red Drum in the 14-17" range. All the fish were caught on live shrimp floated under a Cajun Thunder or bounced along the bottom on a Sure Catch jig. In the picture, Karen holds up a drum she just caught while Cary fights another.

Epic Battle!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Gerry Adams and his friends John and Ken last Friday; they were in town from all points of the USA: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Colorado. We got an early start and launched from the south end of Amelia Island. After one brief stop, we headed up to the Horsehead area and fished from the mouth of Jackstaff on up into the marsh. After a bend or two Gerry hooked up with a huge fish that took line down the river, up the river, under the boat, to the front of the boat, to the back of the boat --and then got off. Ouch. Well, that's just the way it goes. Although the "bite" for the rest of the day wasn't so great, we had a good time getting to know each other and seeing the sights of the marsh. The guys did get in a few Vermillion Snapper and a neat Ray. This picture shows Gerry fighting his big fish.

Chamber of Commerce Day!

The air temperature was in the high 50's when I picked Cody and Samantha "Sam" Buettner up at the dock and there was only a slight breeze. We purchased some really nice live local shrimp from the Bait House on N. 14th Street and headed up to Jolley River. Cody and Sam were visiting from upstate New York and were excellent anglers; with just a few casts under his belt, Cody was hooked up with a beautifully colored Seatrout. He picked up a couple of more and then Sam hooked up with a huge fish. The drag ripped off and she fought the fish like a pro. Sam and Cody both worked the fish together and then Sam handed the rod off to Cody to finish the battle. After what seemed like an eternity, we netted the 30", 10lb redfish - a beautiful specimen. Fishing the flooded oyster beds with the live shrimp under Cajun Thunder floats produced (9) Seatrout and (4) Redfish for the day. In addition to the oversized Red, they also boated a nice 26" slot-sized Red. You know it's a nice fishing day when your guest (Sam) says after catching her 3rd Red, " Ok, I'm ready to catch a trout!"

Fall Fishing and Football!

I've had a few customer's ask me when the best time to visit Amelia Island. For me, the answer has to be Fall. As the weather and water begin to cool off it seems the fish bite picks up and it' much more pleasant to be out on the water. If your favorite team is playing that afternoon or the next day, that's icing on the cake! I fished yesterday, leaving the dock around 7:30am. The air was cool, but nice and there was only a slight breeze. There was a high tide (6.97') expected at 8:45am so I checked a couple of my usually spots that tend to have some tailing reds show up, but there were none to be found. I eased up to a grass flat that I've never fished and was there only a minute or two and saw a tail pop up. It wasn't within casting distance from the boat so I lowered a river anchor over the side, grabbed my flyrod and a couple of spare flies and stepped off into the grass. I inched closer to the tail and made numerous casts but the fish wouldn't eat and eventually disappeared. Luckily, there was another tail flopping around about 50 feet away so I slowly worked my way in that direction. Again, the fish wouldn't eat my fly (a shrimp pattern) so I switched to a Dupree Spoon Fly. That didn't work either. I eventually got a little too impatient and nailed the fish with a cast - whoosh - he was gone! With no more tails showing I went back to the boat. It was already full high tide, but I motored up the river a ways, finding another nice flat, and saw a huge tail about 50 yards away. After lowing the river anchor I again eased myself into the water and slowly worked my way over to the fish - a fish that was vigorously eating away on the bottom. Before I got there, another tail popped up closer to me so I changed directions and made some casts in his direction. These tails were not redfish tails; they were black and probably attached to a Sheepshead or puppy Drum. All told I probably cast at 4-5 fish on this flat. None would eat the spoon fly; I had one more fly in my pocket and they wouldn't eat it either. I remember thinking how great it felt to be out on a beautiful day stalking fish early in the morning. I eventually ran around to Jolley River and caught a few trout (all small but one), a few reds (all undersized, but fun to catch) a bonnet head shark, a ray (with no tail) and a nice black drum. They were all caught on live shrimp. The keeper trout and drum made great meal; a buddy stopped by so we fried them up with some hushpuppies and added a spinach salad!

Tailing Reds and a Sunset

Carol and I planned to launch the boat after she got off of work on Friday. We left the ramp at 6pm and were heading up to Trolleys in St. Mary's for dinner, but we took a detour at Tiger Island to look for Manatees and possibly some tailing Redfish. We didn't see any Manatees, but Carol quickly spotted a tail, so I put the bow of the boat up into the grass. There turned out to be two HUGE tails flopping around as the Red's gorged themselves on bait in the grass. As Carol kept an eye on them, I scrambled to put a fly rod together. They must have known something was up because by the time I got up on the deck ...they sank out of sight and didn't re-appear. Can you find the tail in this picture? We eventually ran up to Trolleys and had Crab Cake sandwiches and caught a nice sunset on the way.

Saturday morning fishing

I launched at 7am this past Saturday - the parking lot was full - and ran up to Bell River. I had planned to fish some artificials and wanted to try a few spots for trout. The tide was high at 7:34am. I tried a number of different jigs with artificial baits along with some top water lures, but didn't have much luck. I ran around to Jolley River and tried some there too, but I just wasn't getting any bites. I caught some nice finger mullet with a cast net and moved to the "MOA" (mother-of-all) spots, where I picked up a nice Trout, Flounder and Black Drum, all on the outgoing tide. I had a few other bites, lost one at the boat and had one wrap around the anchor line. Turns out the Florida Lure Anglers were having a tournament - when I got back to the ramp, there was a long line but the Anglers let me in so I didn't have too much of a wait. I don't keep a whole lot of fish, but I thought I might want to cook these up, so I kept them.

Recipe of the Month: Stuffed Fish!

So I had a keeper Trout, Flounder and Black Drum and needed something to fix for dinner. I seasoned the fillet's with my favorite seasoning - Koriko and sprayed up a 9x12 cooking dish - and layed a the Black Drum fillets out. Then I took a box of unflavored stuffing, mixed in two cans of crab meat, a cup of chopped celery, a cup of chopped onions, some more Konriko, a few dashes of Franks hot sauce and a little more water. The stuffing mix was spread heavily over the drum filets then the remainder of the fillets were layed over the stuffing. I baked the dish for 30 minutes and served it with some home made Ramoulade sauce and ...butter beans!

Riverside Art Show

We had a great time at the Riverside Art show - the weather was perfect, there were plenty of people and the shade tree's made it very comfortable. Now that the show is over, I've returned a number of pieces to the Salty Feather, located on St. Johns Bluff Road in Jacksonville. The Salty feather is a full service fly shop that carry's fly rod's, reels, kayak's, and fly tying materials. The owner, John Botko, has agreed to show my work on consignment, which is working out good for both of us. I'll be working on some new pieces - probably a number of journals - and I also plan to work in some wood items - with a touch of leather - of course!