Their First Redfish(s)

I fished with Dan McPartland and his son, Conner Saturday morning. They were in town from Pennyslvania visiting Dans daughter whose husband just deployed on the submarine that we saw leave the area yesterday - what a coincidence! We fished a few exposed oyster beds on the first of an incoming tide, then tried a few docks in Lanceford Creek. At our third dock Dan hooked up with a hard fighting and feisty Redfish; he battled the fish for a few minutes and then handed the rod over to Conner so that he could get the feel of it. We landed the 18" Red, snapped a few pictures and then released it to be caught another day. After another stop or two we headed for Tiger Island and trolled the backside shore line, strewn with logs. The guys had a few nibbles then a aggresive hit on Connor's jig/shrimp combo and FISH ON! Conner played the fish perfectly to the boat and into the waiting net, a nice 17" Redfish! What a day of great fishing with some great guys!

Submarine and a Quick Start

I had the pleasure of fishing Friday with Barry Deming and his son, Brian, who were visiting from Ohio. We left the dock that afternoon with some nice sunshine and a brisk breeze, running to Tiger Island. We had the treat of seeing the procession of a submarine deploying along with it's tenders, gunboats and helicopters! We made our first stop at a creek mouth and while demonstrating how we hook up the live shrimp as bait I felt like I had a nibble on the 1st cast! We began a troll of the shoreline and in just a few minutes Brian had a nice trout on and into the boat! I thought to myself, "what a way to start a trip"! Both Brian and Barry were excellent anglers and their casting was dead on as we continued to hit spots around Tiger and up into the Jolley River. We had bites here and there and boated another Trout while enjoying the late afternoon sunshine, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!

Drumming in Nassau Sound

I had a day "off" so I got to go fishing with buddy Charlie Jones in his boat, the Tommyknocker. We had a bucket full of live blue crab and a pound of big fresh shrimp when we left the Holly Point boat ramp heading for the south end of Amelia Island. We ran through the sound, around the south end and up to the American Beach area to make our first drop in about 15' of water in the lake-like ocean. After about 45 minutes, no bites and the tide about to peak, we pulled anchor and ran back into Nassau Sound, up to the Middle Marsh area, again dropping anchor in about 15-20' of water. The tide had just started out and it wasn't long before we hooked up with a hard fighting 30lb Black Drum built with enough bull and stamina to make his Red cousin proud! But we had some serious tackle - a Penn 6500 on a stout rod with 25lb test line and a 40lb fluorocarbon test leader and after about a 10 minute battle, landed the fish and snapped this picture. We headed in with the sun headed down and only a slight breeze to our back, another great day to be out on the water!

Bombs Away in Nassau

If you're fishing the Horsehead area and happen to hookup with something that looks like a bomb you probably need to practice "catch and release"...and then get away as quickly as possible! See the News Leader story at HERE

Windy but Worth It

I fished with Tommy Hinson, son Brandon and their friend "JB" this afternoon and we enjoyed a beautiful day of sunshine, even though we faced some tough conditions with winds in the 15-20+ knot range. Again, I might add! I've found that the month of March will tease you with some beautiful weather then challenge you with some winds that make even the experienced angler wince! We hit a number of spots - Spanish Drop, Bubble Gum Reef, Jackstaff, all on the last of an outgoing tide with 62 degree water temperature, then headed for Broward Island in hopes to enjoy fishing the incoming tide. However, the west wind blew and blew, keeping the tide and current pushing out. We made one pass of the entire island with only a few bites, then circled back and made another pass when Tommy finally hooked up with a nice Trout and then shortly after JB had a hookup. With the wind and current and downed trees, I even thought he may have had a snag, but he assured us that this was a FISH and and by the way the drag was ripping off and the pole was bending, we new he had a big fish. The fight took JB from the bow to the stern and from port to starboard, around the engine and after patiently wearing the fish out, we netted a slot sized
26" 6lb Redfish. We looped around and made another quick pass and Tommy hooked up with a hard fighting fish, played it perfectly, and boated the 17" Redfish. After a few more bites, and the sun beginning to fall, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!

Redfish Bite

Kenny and Aimee Lee were in town from Savannah with their brothers, Tyler and Adam and took in a fishing trip with me this morning. The weather report called for 16knot winds and we had that, then some, but the fishing party was up to the challenge so we left the south end boat ramp at 7:30am with the tide just beginning to fall. I thought the best plan would be to run to Broward Island in hopes that the land mass would block the wind but unfortunately it was still wreaking havoc with the boat positioning and casting. We tried a couple of spots before finding shelter at Seymore's point and it wasn't long before Tyler had hooked up to a nice fighting Redfish.















Tyler had cast his live shrimp under a weighted popping cork up near a dock and rocks and as it drifted with the tide, the Red took it and ran. We fished there a while longer then ran to Nassau Sound to join a dozen boats fishing for whiting. We boated a few then hit a couple of more spots, adding Sand Trout, Speckled Trout, and a few "baitstealers" to the species list. Even though the wind made for some difficult fishing, we all agreed that it was great to be out on the water!

Just Photographs

Whiting Biting

This morning I fished with Joyce Hanula, Joan Warren and son Max. We had the nicest morning that we've had in a long time with sunshine and just a slight breeze with a low tide estimated to arrive a little past 9am. We ran up to Jolley River and began a troll along the banks of exposed oyster beds. The conditions were perfect and after the anglers warmed up their casts were on target. We hit 3-4 spots in Jolley, all of them beautiful and I expected to have a hook-up at any time, but it was not to be. We eventually ran around to Tiger Island and again began a troll of the island with perfect conditions, but after two passes and some sand gnats beginning to pester us, we decided to head for the open waters of Cumberland Sound. Anchoring in 24' of water, the anglers dropped their pieces of peeled shrimp to the bottom and it wasn't long before all had hookups on nimble whiting. Max was keeping score and the crew ended up catching over 15 whiting for the short hour we were there. After a brief tour of Ft. Clinch and Old Town Fernandina we headed in to the marina counting it as another great day to be out on the water!

Recipe of the Month: Stuffed Redfish Prosciutto

(4) 1/2" thick Redfish Fillets
(1) Package Prosciutto
(1) Cup small shrimp
(1) Can crabmeat
(1) Cup stuffing (I used cracker crumbs)
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1 T Olive oil
1 t Konricko seasoning

Saute the onions, celery, bell pepper and Konricko in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes then brown the shrimp slightly. Mix with crabmeat and stuffing and add a little water to get the mixture to hold together. Lay two slices of prosciutto on a cutting board the one fillet crosswise. Spread stuffing mix over fillet then make a "sandwich" with the other fillet. Wrap the prosciutto over the fillets and pin with a toothpick. Use anther slice of prosciutto to cover if necessary. Heat the skillet you used to saute the vegi's and place wraps in the skillet, browning on both sides. I covered the skillet to make sure the fillet's cooked through.

First Day of Spring and....Fish ON!

Carol and I launched The Anglers Mark at the Goffinsville boat ramp this morning just after sunup. It was still a cool 45 degrees with no clouds but the weather report called for a high in the low 70's. I noticed that the water had warmed to 57 degrees. What a beautiful day! We cruised down Nassau River with porpoises rolling on both sides, turned the corner at Seymore's Pointe, cut through Jackstaff, made a brief run up the Intercoastal and into a new creek that I have never fished before. More porpoises greeted us as we dropped the trolling motor to fish the oyster banks on the first of an incoming tide. We pitched our Sure Catch jigs tipped with live shrimp to the bank and had a few nibbles but no real bites. As we prepared to pull up the trolling motor we were treated to the sighting of four otters playing and rolling and cavorting across the creek. We watched them disappear up a runout then cranked the Big Johnson and ran back to Jackstaff. The tide was perfect as it creeped in and carried us up the creek. Again, we had a few nibbles but no takers so we pulled up and ran to the southern tip of Broward Island. Carol switched to a float rig with a live shrimp "hanglin" underneath and it wasn't long before she began to pickup bites that made her float disappear then she had one good one and had a fight on her hands...and it got off! Ouch! I had stayed with the jig/shrimp combo and had a couple of "bumps" then UMPH, a good bite, a good battle, and the fish won, getting off after a few runs. Darn it! We had another treat, this time the sighting of a pair of Bald Eagles; I thought they looked a little haggard and I realized that they may be new parents! The sand gnats declared war and Carol retreated to a makeshift tent under my foul weather jacket,

but I "endeavored to persevere", switching to her vacated float rig and was soon rewarded with another strong bite and the fight was on! With me hollering "FISH ON" Carol came out of hibernation and grabbed the net, ready for the scoop. I had full confidence in the FINS Windtamer 15lb Olive braided line so I took my time working the fish to the boat where Carol scooped up what turned out to be a 26" fat Redfish! We continued to fish the log strewn bank with the float rigs and boated a few more Redfish, one being a keeper, and with our limit in the box and the gnats still swarming unmercifully, we pulled up and headed for the open water of Nassau Sound. The drum fishermen were out - I counted 12 boats at Black Hammock as we passed and when we got to the bridges I pulled up short, electing to fish on the west side. We could see through the pilings and estimated 25-30 boats on the ocean side fishing for whiting! We anchored in 25' of water off of Longpoint with only a few boats as neighbors and dropped our bottom rigs to the bottom with a small piece of peeled shrimp as bait. It wasn't long before we were catching whiting ourselves so we sat there and picnicked, listening to the radio, and catching some spring sunshine. We caught 23 whiting, all 12" and under, but had a awesome time, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!