Amelia Island a favorite among travelers.

The 2009 Conde Nast Travelers' Readers Choice Awards named Amelia Island the No. 4 North American island to visit. In addition to great beaches, hotels, B&B's, shopping, restaurants and golf, you've got some great fishing!. Get away from it all and let's go!

Trout Tourney Results

Carol and I fished the Nassau Sportsfishing 23rd Annual Trout Tournament yesterday. It was a beautiful morning with the temperature around 56 degrees and a slight breeze. We picked up some live shrimp at the Bait House on north 14th street, launched at Dee Dee Bartels, and checked out around 6:30am. Being so close to Rayonier pulp mill we decided to fish the warehouse pilings while we were there...and had no bites. Our intent was to run south so we headed that way but when we rounded the pipeline we stopped to fish the shoreline and picked up (2) nice, but small trout. When Carol lost a hook on an oyster I then realized that I had forgotten to load the tackle! OUCH. We pulled up and ran back by the Bait House and picked up some hooks and jigs then crossed the river to fish Tiger Island. We were there for only a few minutes when Carol caught another small Trout and with another cast drifting across an oyster bed the battle was on. Eventually she worked the big fish to the boat and my net, boating a 23" Redfish. We have a legal Redfish in the boat and were catching Trout, albeit little ones and it's not even 9:00 yet so we've got a shot at the "Slam" entry in the Tournament, right? We moved around behind Tiger Island to get out of the wind that's picking up, fish the south end of the island and get no real bites. With Carol nodding off (I got her up at 4:30am), we pull anchor and run to the south end of the island, heading straight for Leon's Spanish Drop spot. The wind's whipping pretty good but we have sunny skies and we've shed most of our jackets and soon pick up another couple of small Trout then Carol hooks up with a hard running fish. We're hoping for a huge flounder but it makes some pretty strong runs, deep, then shallow and after a long fight we see the shark fin. It's a 3' Bonnethead. With the tide starting out around noon, we run to the mouth of Jackstaff, anchor up, and catch a couple more small Trout. Then I start a troll along the bank, heading up into the creek and we catch more small Trout and then UMPH, fish on! I play the fish on my light tackle, 10lb test rig and hope for a big flounder. I felt a number of head shakes initially and then change my guess to a BIG Trout. After what seemed like a 15 minute battle we get a glimpse of a large Redfish and eventually boat the 31" oversized fish. We quickly got a picture and released. We ended up catching more small Trout, ending up with a total of 14 for the day, 2 nice Redfish, a Blue, a Bonnethead Shark, and some pinfish, but no Trout to weigh in. We saw dolphin, Osprey's, Cranes, Pelicans, and other shore birds - a great day to be out on the water...and fishing!

Project Boat II

The "project" boat is coming along. I've filled and sanded any holes in the interior and shored up the motor mount area with 3/4" plywood fiberglassed to the the inside and 1/2" Starboard bolted through on the outside. The interior is painted and now I'm ready to flip the boat over and start on the outside. Creek fish are beginning to tremble.

Anglers Taking Advantage of Winter Discount

Once again I'm offering the "Winter Discount", November through February. This is $50 off the normal $350 half-day trip. Even if our North Florida temperatures start out in the high 30's or low 40's the days usually warm up for a nice outing. It's actually a better time to be out on the water than those hot July and August trips. Just plan to wear a few layers and as the sun warms things up you can shed a layer. I usually have a hot cup of tea, coffee, or cider on board to help tide us over! If it's too windy we'll just cancel and try another day. Get away from it all and....let's go fishing!

Florida - Georgia Slam

Hordes of Dawg fans decended on Amelia Island this week for tomorrows Florida/Georgia football game and those of us that live here get a "holiday" feeling and you know there's nothing better than a fishing trip with friends to kick off a holiday. I left the new Goffinsville boat ramp at daybreak with friends Don Hughes and Foy Maloy and ran to the Spanish Drop area of Nassau River. We had our rods rigged with topwater lures and also had a few rigged for shrimp under a float and with the sun just coming up we started a troll. There were a few clouds, a light breeze and the Marsh Hens were raising a ruckus as the sun came up. We didn't have any hits on the topwaters, but picked up a couple of nice Bonnethead Sharks so we cranked the Johnson and ran around to the mouth of Jackstaff. After trolling a short while we began to pick up Trout and Redfish, all on the shrimp under a float rig. I noticed that we had very little, if any Pinfish/Croaker nibblers that keep you busy; every now and then we'd have a hookup and it would be a Trout or Redfish. We worked the bank up and down with Don and Foy making pinpoint casts to the shoreline, catching about 6 Trout and 6 Reds with a couple of nice Blues thrown in. Finally, Foy rounded out the inshore "slam" by hooking up and netting a nice 19" Flounder. With the big game coming up tomorrow, this turned out to be another great day to be out on the water!

23rd Annual Trout Tournament

The Nassau Sport Fishing Association has set the date for their Annual Trout Tournament benefiting the Big Brother and Big Sisters organization. A Captains meeting will be held at Tiger Point Marina on November 6, 2009 at 6:30pm. Check out at Fernandina Harbour Marina will start Saturday November 7th at 6:00am. Weigh in will be at Tiger Point Marina. Weigh in line opens at 3:00pm and closes at 4:30pm. Entry fee is $120 per boat with checks made payable to N.S.F.A. There will be an awards dinner at 7:00pm Saturday November 7th at Tiger Point Marina. There are first prizes for Largest Trout, Aggregate (3 trout) and Slam (Redfish, Trout, and Flounder). Prizes will also be awarded for 2nd and 3rd place in each category. Register at Atlantic Seafood, The Bait House, Amelia Bait and Tackle, Leaders and Sinkers, and at the Captain's Meeting.

Recipe of The Month: Roasted Seatrout with Bruschetta

This recipe comes from the Florida Times Union, who got it from "The Best of Relish Cookbook".

16 oz of Seatrout 6 Tbsp Olive oil

1/4 tsp Sea Salt Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1 Lb Grape Tomatoes, halved 1/2 Cup red onion finely diced

1 Tsp sugar 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

4 thick Italian ( or one long roll) 1/2 Cup shredded basil leaves

3 large cloves garlic crushed, divided

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a sided baking sheet with nonstick spray and place fish on sheet. In a small bowl, stir together 3 Tbsp of the olive oil, 1 crushed garlic clove, the salt and pepper. Using half this mixture, brush over the fish.

Place the fish in the oven to bake for about 10 minutes or until tender and opaque.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, remaining garlic cloves and sugar. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until slightly thick, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in parsley. Keep the mixture warm.

Remove the fish from the oven. Brush some olive oil on bread and bake in oven for 3 minutes or until slightly toasted. Place bread slices on each plate and top with some tomato mixture. Place fish on top of mixture and then add some more tomato mixture and shredded basil leaves.

Project Boat

This 15" Waterbug boat was built by B & W plastics in Brooklet, Georgia - probably in the 80's. It was my dad's boat, who sold it to my buddy, Charlie, who eventually gave it back to us. I told him I'd fix it up and we'd all use it for some shallow water and creek fishing. This is the boat that I borrowed from my dad when I first started fly fishing in Lofton Creek, Boggy Creek and the little St. Mary's River. One day while fishing for bream in Lofton Creek with a fly rod and popping bug I made a cast a little too long and hung the bug up in a overhanging brier. I eased the boat's bow up to the creek bank and reached out to retrieve the popping bug. At the last minute I saw a big 'ol fat Water Moccasin start moving and slither down the bank, alongside the bow of the boat, and into the water. As the snake went by the boat all I could envision was it coming right into the bow where I was standing....so I started dancing trying to get my feet up off the floor of the boat...and in a split second the serpent slipped into the water and disappeared! I'm glad nobody was watching! Anyway, I've replaced the wheel bearings, wheels, and springs on the trailer and have removed any "loose" stuff. The stern has a crack or two so I'm in the process of repairing those and attaching a new motor mount. Then my plan is to patch some holes on the interior of the boat, sand and paint. Stay tuned!

A Family Affair.....

....with a little bit of sibling rivalry thrown in! Brothers Mike Craig, Steve Leary and sister Loretta Hayes, along with Mike's son David met me at the boat ramp bright and early Sunday morning for Mike's birthday fishing trip. Although we launched from Atlantic Seafood, we decided to run south to the Horsehead area and I'm glad we did. Pulling into the mouth of Jackstaff, it wasn't long before we began to hook up with Mike catching a Bonnethead then David boating a Seatrout. Then all heck broke lose with everyone joining in catching Red after Red after Red. They were all in the 15"-17" range but they were very aggressive and put up some good battles on the light tackle gear. David did hook up with a drag-ripping fish that first headed down river, then up...and kept going, snapping the line and gone for good! We tried a couple of more spots in Jackstaff with Loretta catching a Flounder, David another Trout and then Mike had another Red. We ran to Broward Island where the anglers picked up a Puppy Drum and Snapper. This was a beautiful day with a light breeze that made the unusual October heat tolerable.

Hot Fall Fishing

I fished Saturday with Josh and Molly Frederickson, along with Emily Buck, all in from New England visiting Amelia Islanders. We left Atlantic Seafood early with a full baitwell, headed up to Jolley River and unlimbered our spinning gear with the shrimp and jig combo. We immediately began to pick up bites with Molly boating a couple of Seatrout and Emily joining in with some Croaker. We moved on up the river where Josh hooked up with a 3'+ Bonnethead shark that gave him a battle - one that Josh eventually won when we netted the fish for pictures. We caught a couple of "Rat Reds" then ran back to the front side of Tiger Island. Emily had bite after bite from "nibblers" while Molly hooked up twice with something big - the last looked like a flounder before we lost it at boat side. We toured Cumberland Island and saw a couple of wild horses and then ended the trip by cruising historic Fort Clinch.