Under Pressure

With a scheduled oyster roast and fish fry planned for the next day, neighbors, Chris O'connor, Brian Parent and myself ventured out Friday to try to add some fish to the pot. I had saved up a trout or two or three, a couple of Reds, and a a good handful of Mangrove Snapper but we needed just a bit more for the twenty or so people that were to stop by. 

I met Chris and Brian out at Goffinsville Park  on a tide that still had a couple of ours to hit high, so we eased around to the mouth of Pumpkin Hill and began to drift float rigs and live shrimp down the grass line. We all three were getting good drifts, up the by the grass, but we had no luck, not even a nibble. 

After running up the Nassau and dipping into a creek we switched to jigs and the live shrimp and began to slowly work the bank. About 10 casts into it Brian finally "knocked the skunk off" when he hooked up and expertly brought to the boat a feisty Redfish. We continued to work the bank and happened onto a "honey hole" - both Brian and Chris began to catch Redfish.  They each put a Slot Redfish in the boat and then we began to have to cull them. I counted 7 Slot Reds caught with the biggest being about 22".

In addition to one of those bigger Slot Reds caught, Chris also put a hard fighting Black "puppy" Drum in the boat.   One of the Slot's we caught we tagged with a Gray FishTag Researach tag, ID#  GFR62484 When the bite finally slowed, right at the peak of high tide, we made the run back to the Seymore's Pointe area.

Fishing a large drainage on the first of the outgoing tides with the float rigs, we began to catch Seatrout. Brian and I caught the "dinks" but Chris put a nice 17" keeper trout in the boat and then followed that up with a keeper sized puppy Drum.  

I noted that we fished 6 spots that day, but only two of them produced fish, but they were prolific, so as we headed back to the ramp, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, F.lorida. 

Recipe of the Month: Stuffed Shrimp Mushrooms

 This is not my recipe!  I got it off the internet, but I didn't record where it came from.  I "goggled" it and there are a bunch of other Stuffed Shrimp Mushrooms. This is more of an appetizer - with the cream cheese, it's pretty rich!

 Stuffed Shrimp Mushrooms

12   medium Button, Cremini or Portobello mushrooms, cleaned with stems removed and discarded

  1   box (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened

1/2  cup fresh bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs

  2   garlic cloves, minced

1/2  Tblsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2   cup finely chopped green onions

1/2   cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2-3   Tblsp  fresh chopped Italian parsley  

   1    cup shelled shrimp, sautéed, finely chopped

         Salt,pepper, cayenne to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl, stir the cream cheese, bread crumbs, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, green onions, Parmesan, parsley and shrimp. Season with salt, pepper, and/or cayenne to taste.

Lightly spray the outside of mushrooms with olive oil spray and arrange the mushrooms facing down on a baking sheet.  Pre cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Remove from oven and scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the cream cheese/shrimp mixture into each mushroom.  Bake for 20 minutes. Turn the broiler on  at the last minute or so to brown the tops lightly. Stay close and keep an eye on them - broilers can be unpredictable!

 

 

 

Six out'a Seven ain't Bad

 I don't know why when I was checking the weather last night I was more concerned about the wind forecasted at 13-15mph, and not the temperature drop - I should have  been watching both!  I figured if I met Mark Averbuch , his son Cutler, and grandson Harvey down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp we we could run into that West wind up to the Nassauville area and find some shelter. About half way thru the trip I realized the temperature was dropping!  But we made the best of it, kinda of.

We got to some docks at Seymore's and sure enough, the wind was blocked. I had the three anglers tossing jigs and live shrimp. All three were getting nibbles, and a few took the shrimp heads, but we had no real bites. We made our way around the corner and fished between another couple of docks, but again no real bites.  I was beginning to get just a tad bit worried.  We were about 2 and a half hours into the trip and not  a single fish to the boat.

But that's the way it is when you're playing chess with the wind. You can find places to fish out of the wind but if the fish aren't there, or are not biting, then you are out of luck. You gotta move. So we made a good run up the Nassau and then up a creek to fish some shallow structure of downed logs. We paid the price, losing a good handful of jigs, but finally, FINALY, BAM! Cutler had a hookup and after expertly playing it to the boat, he landed a nice Slot sized Redfish. We didn't have time to celebrate too long because Harvey had a strong bite and after setting the hook he expertly brought to the net a bigger Slot Red, this one with 10 spots. 

Cutler went back to the  "honey hole" and pulled out two more Slot Reds. I could tell the empathy was oozing out of Cutler and Harvey for "Poppa Doc" who was patiently fishing from the stern- he hadn't had a bite, but then his perseverance paid off - he put Slot fish number 5 and number 6 in the boat, that last one being the biggest of the day, then Cutler wrapped it up with a feisty, slightly undersized Red. Six Slot Reds out of Seven caught wasn't too shabby!

We fished a large outflow back at Seymore's with float rigs, still out of the wind, but to no avail, then we finally ventured out in to the wind to try some jigs deep at a drainage, and that drove us in! The wind was kicking and the temperatures had dropped. But as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Some Demographics

 Every year I track the demographics of my customers and find it interesting how they numbers add up at the end of the year. Some of my customers ask, "where are your guests from?" and "who are they fishing with?", so here's a few answers to those questions, from 2023:

Average Age of who hired me:   60 years old (this is creeping up as I get older and my repeats get older)    Repeat customers:   69%    (thank you!)                                                                                                            "Local" customers:  45%                                                                                                                                   From the South East:  81%  (includes the local and Florida customers)                                                          From the West:  6%                                                                                                                                            From the NE:  13%                                                                                                                                            Married:  90%                                                                                                                                                    A Male arranged the trip:  88%                                                                                                                        Ethnic:  1%                                                                                                                                                        Couples:  21%                                                                                                                                                   Father/child:  37%   (this could be young children or adult children)                                                             Mother/child:  1%   (Come on ladies!)                                                                                                            Sole angler:    8%                                                                                                                                              Tipped!   92%   (thank you again!)                               

Winter Maintenance and Repairs

 I intentionally didn't book any fishing trips last week and knowing that January is traditionally slow for bookings, a had been planning for months to do a complete re-wire of the Anglers Mark. A new switch panel was ordered from New Wire Marine and I have been gathering other supplies - marine wire, terminals, and connectors.

The re-wire was none to soon - the last few trips in December all of my switches began to fail and the GPS/Fishfinder and VHS Radio got to where they would not power up. I began the re-wire on New Years Eve and finished it up Friday afternoon. All of the old wiring was pulled out and new installed; new terminals, ground bus, and fuse block installed.

NEW to the boat - a permanent aerator for the front bait well; the existing rear aerator is now run thru a switch - I don't have to clamp the leads to the battery anymore. There's a new 40 amp breaker between the battery and the new terminals;  a new courtesy light up at the bow; and I finally installed a gas vent out the hull of the boat (it's been missing a couple of years). Here's a short video of the final wiring...

 

2023: It's a Wrap with a Cold Send Off

 

Those high winds subsided over night but left us with clear skies and a 37 degree temperature this
morning when I met Mark Averbuch, his on Jared and grandson Max down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. The winds were expected to pick up later in the day so we had to go early, but it paid off anyway! All of us were wrapped up with layers as we made our way up the intercoastal  and then up the Nassau to make our first stop along a shell bank at Spanish Drop.

 

Fishing with jigs I was hoping that these anglers would pick up some Seatrout out deeper, and
maybe have a shot at a Redfish up close, but "hope" wasn't cutting it - we had no real bites. Rather than try another shell bank we headed on up to Seymore's Pointe and fished some dock pilings and here we were getting some bites, but no takers. It wasn't until we pulled out a bit and began making long casts to the shore that we began to get hookups. They weren't very big but we were glad to be catching Seatrout on the  jigs.

Our next stop was around at Littlefield's, still tossing  jigs and live shrimp on that incoming tide and we did have a couple of good bites.

I knew the wind was picking up so we made our way up the river and into a creek where we turned into the current and began working back and right off, BAM! Jared had a hookup. He played it perfectly but as he brought it to the boat it thru the hook, OUCH!  But he was not to be deterred. As we worked the bank they began to get fish, here and there, feisty Redfish, but fun to catch. Then Jared put a nice keeper sized Red in the boat then we hit one spot and it was like the gates were opened!  

I counted at least 3 "double hookups" that they had and even though Jared and Mark were putting fish in the boat, Max was hanging right in there with them. He even began to call it "easy" to hookup and fight the fish to the net. The trio caught their limit in Slot Redfish and threw back a couple of more  in the Slot. Jared added a keeper sized Seatrout and on the last a bait, a big mud minnow, Max landed the final fish, a hungry Seatrout. 

We had had a cold morning and a slow start, and a hot finish so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Cool Fishing

 The high and incoming tide has been haunting me all week and we have been postponing trips until mid morning but today the wind was high and getting worse as the day wore on, so we went early, and with temperatures in the 40's, it was kinda "cool".  But John Beall and his son Brian were dressed for the weather and we had a plan to try to run to spots that would be out of the wind. 

We fished some dock pilings early  but didn't get much of a nibble, then we switched to float rigs and drifted over the flooding oysters and this did the trick. Brian got hot early - he hooked up and landed a keeper sized Seatrout, a small but feisty Redfish, then a keeper sized Flounder, then a couple of smaller Trout. We hit another couple of areas along that stretch and although we were out of the wind, we weren't getting any action. 

After pulling in to Soap Creek we worked along the bank and here John "knocked his skunk off". He began to pick up Seatrout over a submerged sandbar and after Brian followed him, he too began to gt Trout. Although they weren't very big they provided some good practice for later on! 

I was killing time, waiting on that tide to change so we stopped over in Bell River and fished a point
with the float but boy that wind was kicking our butts! It was now or never so we headed over to the outside of Tyger, found some shelter, and fished a point of grass, and BAM! Fish On!  BAM! Fish on! BAM! Fish On! They started tying in to Redfish and caught them one after the other. Many were "feisty" Reds, but we we counted 8 Slot Reds caught, along with a good handful of "almost legal" and a few handfuls of the smaller fish. 

Although it was somewhat cold, and the wind made it challenging, as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Could Have Been Snow

 

It was such a nasty day yesterday if it had been colder we may have had snow! We still had a high and incoming tide in the morning so we postponed the trip until 11am when I met William and Dara Blalock out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp. The tide had just started out so we ran around Seymore's and set up on a point to toss float rigs and live shrimp and Dara's first cast produced a hungry Seatrout. The duo dabbled with those small but hungry Trout for a bit, then we moved on. 

After running thru Jackstaff and around to Poteat Cut we set up again along a marsh line and drifted the floats as we worked along the bank, tossing the floats, but I don't think we got a single bite. But we dropped back to a point and switched to jigs and shrimp and that did the trick, picking up another handful of Seatrout.  We then ran back to Jackstaff and up a creek and switched back to the floats, but to no avail. 

Back thru Jackstaff we went and down to Littlefields and here we scored deep with the jigs - Dara found some Seatrout at about 15' deep then she and William landed a few, some of which were of keeper size(all fish caught today were released).

The tide was getting down just a bit so we made a run up the Nassau and dipped into a shallow creek
and worked the log lined bank. We didn't "tear them up" but we managed to get about 6 Redfish with about 4 of them being in the Slot range.  We did tag one Slot Red and will be sending it in to Gray FishTag Research TAG ID GFR62479

Although it had been a dreary day, and we had gotten misted on a few times, as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day  to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Fish Math Added Up

 I sure hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday! I was glad  to be back in hopes of working off some of that great food I ate!  We had a high and incoming tide this morning so we put off meeting until 10am. That's when William and Dara Blalock and I left the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp and headed down the creek with plans to fish the first of an outgoing tide. We made our way over to Tyger Island and set up on a corner as the current swept around. Both William and Dara were making excellent casts and it too a few minutes to find the "hot spot" but boy did they!  And yes, I began to work off some of that food I ate!  They caught Redfish non-stop for about 45 minutes, fishing fixed float rigs with about a 3' leader and live shrimp. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...and....BOOM! 3/4 of the fish were smaller "rat" Reds but a good handful of them were in the Slot, the biggest being about 21" caught by Dara. All of the Redfish were released.

When things slowed we made our way down the intercoastal and dipped into a small creek to try our hand with jigs and the shrimp, up by some dock pilings. I was about to "lose a dollar" when Dara saved me and hauled in a nice Slot Redfish. Then William had a good strange "bump", set the hook, and brought to the net a keeper sized Flounder. Although this spot wasn't as productive as I had hoped, we did put two good fish in the boat!  

But Dara had been eyeing a drainage behind us - it all added up - good current pouring out of the marsh and a funnel between a bank of marsh grass and a large, now exposed, oyster bed. She did a bit of "Fish Math" and suggested we give it a try, so we switched back to the floats and began tossing up current in the drainage and it paid off big time! Both Dara and William began to get keeper sized Seatrout, then a couple of Reds, then William hooked up and battled the biggest Red of the day to the net, for photograph and release.   This new spot, right next to a pretty good old spot, went in the back pocket for future use!

After fishing Soap Creek for just a bit, and the mouth of Bell, we called it day and as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Trout Flurry Redfish Flurry

 Boy what a storm we had yesterday! My wife and I went out to Main Beach yesterday to watch the waves
kicking up and it was crazy. Crazier were the surfers catching the waves!  But the wind was supposed to die down this morning, and it did somewhat -when I launched the weather app was showing 17mph out of the west, which made me cringe just a bit!  But I met Mark Smith and his brother in law Ryan down at Sawpit Creek and we had a plan to try and stay out of the wind.

We first ran up to Seymore's Pointe and pulled up to a dock on the very first of an incoming tide, and sure enough, it was very calm. Unfortunately the fish didn't cooperate!  We may have had a nibble or two, but we had no takers. We then move around and up the Nassau to a couple of other docks  and began to toss jigs and live shrimp on a tide that seemed to still be going out, and we soon found some fish. Ryan got hot, fishing off the stern and hooked and landed a good number of small but hungry Seatrout. Not to be outdone, Mark, on the bow, hooked up and landed a few Mangrove Snapper (odd that they are still here), one of which was of keeper size. He also found a few Trout to bring to the net. 

Our next stop was down at Broward Island, and after working the bank in a couple of spots, we found one Seatrout to take the bait.

The wind was still kicking but we had some beautiful skies, and some Bald Eagles hanging out above us. The tide was getting up a bit and rather than got to float rigs we decided to run up a shallow creek and try our luck with the jigs, and be out of the wind, and the plan paid off. 

As we worked the bank the duo began to catch Redfish at all the likely spots. As per the norm, they weren't real big, but probably about four of them were in the Slot, the biggest being around 20". But they others were fun to catch on our light tackle and we guestimated we had about 12 Redfish caught, so 10 released, and as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.