Space Shuttles and Big Trout

As I was heading towards Amelia Island with the boat this morning I heard on the radio that a space shuttle would launch at 6:21am. The flag at Ron Anderson GMC was hanging limp with not even a breeze producing a ripple and when I approached the inter coastal bridge I had my eyes peeled to the south. Sure enough, right when I hit the foot of the bridge I picked up a large orange glow rising from the horizon, an awesome sight. If you heard a horn blowing and someone yelling, "Fly, Baby, Fly", that was me!

I met Mike Stanhope and his son, Bryce, at Atlantic Seafood later that morning and we headed over to Lanceford Creek on the last of an outgoing tide. Water temperatures have risen to 67-68 where we were fishing. Our first stop at a long and beautiful oyster bed produced no bites so we moved on to some of the docks in Lanceford. We anchored up just as the tide went slack and as it began to come back in, we started getting gentle bites. All of sudden one of those bites turned ferocious and we had a big trout on. Bryce played the fish expertly and eventually we netted a 20" Seatrout. We fished the dock for an hour with both anglers joining in on the action. Bryce hooked up and landed another 20" trout and Mike landed an 18" one, then they brought another keeper sized trout to the boat and a few undersized one. Mike was patient and allowed his float to drift up under the dock and soon hooked up with a hard fighting Redfish that we landed, photographed, and released. We hit a few more spots, had some "baitstealers", and then called it a morning..another great time out on the water!

Moons over Georgia

I had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with the O'Connell family yesterday afternoon: Pat and Robin, kids Ryan, Quintin, Courtney and Katherine visiting from Connecticut and taking in all the sights and experiences of Amelia Island. We ran to the mouth of Tiger Basin, anchored at a creek mouth and with four lines out it wasn't long before we had bites. Quintin was the first to hook up and had a good fight on his hands with an aggressive Blue fish. Mom grabbed the landing net and with superb teamwork, they landed the fish for a picture. Ryan was on the bow and soon proved to be the expert caster of the family as he dropped his float and bait near the shoreline. Just as I announced that we ought to move, Courtney yelled, "FISH ON" and it was pandemonium for a short while. With coaching coming from all corners of the boat, Courtney fought the fish and brought it to the net, a nice 18" Redfish! We snapped a few pictures and released "Mouthy" to be caught another day. We moved to a few more spots and eventually anchored in what I call "Snook Creek" (I caught a small snook there a few years ago). With the tide going out I expected some trout and we were rewarded when Katherine hooked up and reeled in a beautiful Seatrout, and promptly named it "Fishy". A break was in order so we did a short tour of Cumberland Island's Beach Creek in search of wild horses. Seeing none, a cruise down the coast produced the desired results and we broke out the binoculars to get a better view of a small herd. As the sun began to set and sightings of moons over Georgia, we called it day and headed in, counting it as a great day to be out on the water!

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!