Ladies Bring Home The Bacon

I'm back! After a down week of engine troubles (again), I was back fishing today, meeting the Bernot group - Chris and Marianna, and Mike and Katie.  We launched early at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp and made a quick trip over to Tiger Island to fish the very first of an incoming tide. I had both live shrimp and mud minnows to put on 1/8 oz jigs to be tossed up near the downed logs.  We had fairly good action early catching small but feisty Redfish and a couple of hard fighting Black "puppy" Drum.

After working the island we came back out and ran up to the Jolley River and fished the "bank"
and again, found some nice feisty Redfish. Mike landed a keeper sized Flounder then Marianna hooked up, close to the bank and when her drag ripped, I knew she had a nice fish. It flopped out of the water a time or two but she kept the pressure on and worked it patiently to the boat, landing a nice 20"+ Seatrout.  We worked down the bank, catching feisty Reds, Ladyfish, Mangrove Snapper, Grunts, Croaker, and Stringray...then it was Katie's turn to tangle with a big fish. She had just made an excellent cast to the edge of some oysters when BOOM! Big fish on!  Katie let the fish rip the drag, worked it to the boat, and landed a nice 22" Slot Redfish.  Chris finished that spot by landing a keeper sized Seatrout which we released to be caught another day.

The only downside to getting so many bites and fish was that we blew thru the bait! We came back to Eagans Creek to stock back up but it was closed, so we cast net for a few finger mullet then headed out again. Our first stop was up Bells River at a flooding marsh line and all four anglers tangled with high flying Ladyfish. After a brief stop up Lanceford Creek, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Sea Sample

We had an outstandingly (is that a word?) beautiful day this morning when I met David Smith and his sons Wright and Michael down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. After a brief safety orientation, we headed up Middle River and around to Pumkin Hill to set up outside some small grassy islands with the plan to pitchy float rigs and live shrimp. The three anglers weren't fishing ling before they were tangling with fish!

Between them, they landed some Bonnethead Shark, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, Seatrout and a Pin Fish. We eased around the corner and caught
more Ladyfish and Sharks. After trying our hand up in Christopher Creek where we had no real bites tossing jigs and shrimp, we came back out and made a stop at Seymore's Pointe. The Mangrover Snapper are back!  Although we had none of keeper size, it was good to see that they were there in numbers. We left 'em biting to try our hand elsewhere.

Our next stop was down at Spanish Drop where we picked up another Shark or two, David reeled a Flounder to the boat, and we also landed Stingray. It was a fun, action packed fishing trip here at Amelia Island, Florida.

A Biggun and a Bunch of Little Ones

Local resident Cindy Gray treated her two grandsons Alex and Henry to a morning of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. We met down at the south end ramp early and made a short run up the Nassau River to make our first stop at a large, twin run out. All three anglers were making excellent casts and we had a nibble here and there but no real takers until, BOOM! Cindy had a strong hook up and BIG FISH ON!  I was really surprised that Cindy fought the big fish so patiently - someone taught here well!  She played it perfectly on the Florida Fishing Products size 1000 Osprey reel, spooled with a 10lb braid. The big fish took her from one side of the boat to the other but she kept the pressure on and eventually landed a big 30"

Oversized Redfish. After a quick picture it was releases to swim off slowly to the deep.

Both Alex and Henry caught a couple of small but feisty Reds at that spot then we moved up the way and things really got heated here. Alex found the "hot spot" and picked up one Redfish after another.  We had set out a minnow trap and were getting low on bait so we ran up and picked up the trap, and added another 4 dozen minnows to the well, then kept going to fish a dock with some live crab the boys had netted while I was getting the minnow trap.  Although we didn't get any fish at the docks, Alex did have a strong hookup that broke off in the pilings.

The tide had started back in so we came back to the Spanish Drop area and fished an oyster bank and again, the fishing heated up. Alex hooked up and landed a nice 19" Seatrout then he rounded out his Amelia Island Back Country Slam when he hauled in a Flounder.  We left 'em biting and counted it as another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

A Fun Day of Fishing

I came across these vintage reels the other day and it reminded me what the "Anglers Mark" is all about. These reels are not of any real value, other than the coolness of their design that takes you back to the 60's and 70's - times when we were growing up and getting out on a jon boat and doing some fishing.


This vintage automatic fly reel was manufactured by the Shakespeare Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. The Shakespeare NO. 1822, Model ED, OK AUTOMATIC fly rod reel offers silent winding, a chromed line protector, and will hold 80 yards "G" and 34 yards "D" line. According to Lures And Reels.com, This model was made in 1967.  What the heck is "G" and "D" line? Evidently fly lines were given an Alpha rating way back. Here's an article that explains the switch from the Alpha to numerical rating.

The Shakespeare Model 1810DK was designed to be used on spinning rods which hade either sliding reel seats, sliding rings, or fixed reel seats which were mounted behind the hand, and under the rod, in a similar position to that of a fly reel. The DK stamp indicates that it was produced in 1970.

Shakespeare's Model 1837 GB Tru-Art Automatic Fly Reel could hold 80 yards of "G" line and 35 yards of "D" line. The
Silent Tru-Art was made from the middle thirties till 1977. This reel was made in 1949.












 

The Shakespeare WonderCast Model 1795 DK

We Gambled On The Bait

With a beautiful  morning expected today, we
gambled that we could find some bait on the water rather than waiting on the bait shop to open so I met Bob and William Blalock out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp earlier than usual.  As Bob and William were walking up I was able to get a dozen or so nice finger mullet in my cast net so we made a short run down the Nassau River and used a couple of cut up mullet in a minnow trap that we set out - then we went fishing!

The tide was still going out for another two hours but the oysters were well exposed and both anglers were making excellent casts to the bank ( as usual).  Bob "knocked the skunk off" with a feisty Redfish catch, then added another, then added a nice Flounder.  We worked a couple of banks and the duo caught one nice Slot Redfish and some small Seatrout.

We checked our minnow trap and had a couple of dozen mud minnows and also netted some more mullet so we had a stocked live well that would get us thru the day. We fished a small grassy island than ran parallel to the bank and I thought for sure we might get a Flounder  on the shallow side and William proved that true when he caught a small one. But the bigger fish were on the deeper side and when Bob had a strong hookup we were speculating what it was. Before it came to the surface Bob proclaimed it was a Trout and sure enough - he landed a nice 19" Seatrout.

We fished Broward Island and added one more keeper sized Flounder (all fish caught today were released) and one more Slot sized Redfish. Starting early was a treat and helped beat the heat for a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

One Day to the Next

Yesterday we caught Slot Redfish and today we caught keeper sized Seatrout! After meeting Brett Johnston and  his sons Lyle and Jake down at the south end ramp, we made the run up thru Middle River and around to Pumpkin Hill to fish some flooding marsh on a high and still incoming tide. We did have some live shrimp today, something I haven't fished with in a while, plus some left over mud minnows.

It didn't take long before we were getting bites and we had a good flurry of catching. There were a couple of undersized Seatrout but we had a good handful of keeper sized Trout, the biggest being around 19".  Both Brett and Lyle hooked up with those Trout while Jake tangled with a hard fighting Shark.

We fished a number of spots as the tide hit the top, then fished the outgoing tide and logged in catches of Mangrove Snapper, Ladyfish and Bluefish.  Brett also put a keeper sized Flounder in the boat, fishing a jig and live shrimp. We had pretty good action early in the morning but things fell off as the heat got up. All in all, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Nothing But Slots

Now that the temperatures have dropped just a bit we've had some excellent days to be out fishing here at Amelia Island. That said, the fish catching has been a bit slow but if we "endeavor to persevere" we do catch some nice fish. Today, I had met Jeff Parks down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. We had clear skies and just a slight breeze as we ran up the Nassau River. We made our first stop at a large outflow near Seymore's Point and began fishing float rigs and live shrimp up near the grass. We had no real bites.  We then tried fishing some docks and rocks at Seymore's and again, no real bites.

We ran down to Pumpkin Hill and fished a grassy island and again, no real bites. Ouch. How could it be such a beautiful day and not have any bites? But Jeff persevered as we eased around a point of grass and began fishing some pockets and points over a shelly bottom and sure enough, BOOM! Nice fish on. Jeff worked it patiently to the boat and landed a nice 22" Slot Redfish. We continued on down that bank, fishing shallow on a high and outgoing tide. I didn't see it but I heard it - Jeff's drag ripping and, Big Fish On!  This one went out deep, ran back shallow then back out deep again. Jeff kept the pressure on and soon landed a bulky 26" Slot Red.

While we were in the area we ran down to Broward Island and fished some outflows with jigs and minnows. Although we did have a small Flounder latch on, we didn't get any to the boat. We made one more stop back at Spanish Drop and noted that the tide had dropped significantly -shell bank was showing- and as I eased along the bank Jeff had a good drift going and down his float went - another Slot Redfish!  Although the bite wasn't on fire, we had three nice fish which made for another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Get'n Rained on and Fishing

We launched with overcast skies this morning, gambling on the forecast of 50% chance of rain would mean we'd be in the 50% that would not get rain. We lost.  I had met Hayden Page and his dad Gary down at the south end ramp and we made the run up to Seymore's Pointe to fish the marsh on an outgoing tide. Although we had a bump or two on our float rigs and our mud minnows, we had no takers.

We then eased around the corner and fished some rocks and here Gary hooked up and expertly landed a Slot sized Redfish (all fish caught today were released). We tangled with some ladyfish before moving on.

After dropping back to Spanish Drop we fished a couple of large marsh runouts, then a marsh line and we got a bit of action. Both Hayden and Gary landed some feisty Redfish and a hungry, bent up Seatrout. Gary had just landed another Slot Redfish, then another that almost made it when the bottom fell out. We didn't mind getting wet but when the lighting flashed and the thunder boomed, we pulled up and headed in. Although we had to cut the trip short, we still counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

We Had to Work for 'em, but we got 'em.

I fished with Frank Wytiaz and  his wife Joanne today, meeting them early down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp for a quick run up the Nassau River. Our first stop we were fishing float rigs with mud minnows and had some good bites but no takers. The second stop we switched to jigs and minnows and Frank almost immediately hooked up with a hungry Seatrout.  Later he put hard fighting Jack Crevalle in the boat then Flounder.

We fished some docks at Seymore's Pointe but had no luck then we bounced around and fished some rocks and here the action picked up just a tad. Joanne hooked up and landed another Flounder then Frank tangles with high flying "something" - we couldn't tell if it was Ladyfish, a Bluefish, or a small Tarpon. Then he caught a nice keeper sized Flounder. Joanne added a Mangrove Snapper to the catch total.

Our final stop was down at Broward Island and here Frank landed a feisty Redfish then just before we wrapped things up, he had a strong hookup, a good battle, and landed a nice Slot Redfish to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam which made for a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

A Lot Of Action For Action Jackson

We had a beautiful morning that greeted us when I met Robert Newton, his wife Michele, and their son Jackson down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp today.  We have been having some good success in the Spanish Drop area in the Nassau River so we headed back there today and set up at a large marsh runout.  It took a few casts with a jig and shrimp combo but soon the action was hot!  Robert "knocked the skunk off" when he boated a hard fighting catfish then "Action Jackson" took over - catching one feisty Redfish after another.

As we worked up and down the bank the trio of anglers caught Redfish, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, and a big Bluefish. Finally, is the exact same spot as yesterday we had a strong hookup and the drag was ripping! But Jackson was up to the task and soon landed a nice Slot Redfish.

Our final stop was around in Jackstaff, tossing float rigs and minnows and here Jackson landed another feisty Red and then wrapped things up with a keeper sized Flounder catch which made for another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.