Grouper in the Back Country

Just another beautiful morning fishing the back waters of Amelia Island!  I had met David Howard and his son Graham at the Atlantic Seafood dock down at the City of Fernandina Beach marina this morning at 7am and we'd made our first stop at the outside of Tiger Island.  We had only been fishing a few minutes on the glassy waters when we were treated to a Manatee popping it's head up just in front of the bow!  We also had a number of Dolphin sightings throughout the trip.  We had just a few bites but no takers and had a crowd of boats nearby so we headed up to Jolley River to enjoy our solitude.  Fishing a small marsh run out, Graham was able to haul in a feisty Redfish.  We moved around to "Snook Creek" and after fishing for just a little while, we had a strong hookup.  Graham again fought the fish and this one gave a pretty good battle, diving deep under the boat before being subdued, and as we netted the fish, Graham nailed the identity, calling "Grouper!"  And it sure was!  I've had guests catch some of these small Grouper but this was the biggest so far and I think I was more excited than Graham and David!  We continued to fish the creek and caught a keeper sized Snapper before moving down to Jolley Bank and trolling the exposed oyster beds.  The anglers picked up a couple of Trout, a Croaker, another feisty Redfish before we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island
waters!

Young Angler Catches Big Fish

We were greeted by another beautiful morning down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp at Big Talbot Island Park today.  I met Ron Cerniglia and his son Sam at 7am and the creek was like glass as we pulled away from the dock, heading towards Nassau River.  We made our first stop at a nice creek run-out and began to fish with live mud minnows under floats on an outgoing tide.  It wasn't long before young Sam had a hookup and reeled in a feisty Redfish.  Ron added another then Sam hauled in a pesky Stingray.  We made a move up the river and this time we switched to a 1/4oz jig with the mud minnows.  Sam caught a hungry Snapper then Ron's rod bent double and the drag began to sing, oh boy, FISH ON!  He played the fish patiently as it rounded the bow a couple of times and as it dove deep to the bottom,  Keeping pressure on the big fish, Ron was eventually able to wear the big fish out and we netted a nice, 24" Slot Redfish!  Sam was fishing out the other side of the boat and it wasn't long before he too had a big fish on!  He fought the fish all by himself and landed another nice Slot Redfish which measured to 21 1/2"!   As the bite slowed we ran around to the mouth of Jackstaff and trolled the oyster bank.  The anglers picked up another feisty Red and Sam fought a high-flying Ladyfish.  The sun was up and with just a little time left, we ran back to Nassau River and fished the last 15 minutes of our trip.  Although we had a few nibbles we had no real takers, until Sam again had a good hookup!  Big Fish On!  He worked the fish in patiently and we were somewhat surprised to net a very large 20 1/2" Seatrout!  What a great way to wrap up another day of fishing here at Amelia Island!

Big and Bigger

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with friends and neighbors Mark and Nilda Laurint along with their son Brent, home from college for a brief visit.  For a change, we met out at the Goffinsville Park at 7:00am this morning and then headed over to the Horsehead area to fish Jackstaff as the tide was going out and the oysters beginning to show.  I eased The Anglers Mark along the marsh grass as the anglers tossed jigs tipped with mud minnows to the shoreline.  We had a few hookups of Jack Crevalle, feisty Redfish, and a nice sized Stingray.  Our next stop was around at Nassau River and again we had a couple of hookups with feisty Redfish.  The Bonnethead Shark were cruising the shallows at every stop.  As the tide got lower we moved to a nice creek outflow and the bite began to pick up as the morning went on .  Nilda reeled in a large Catfish and Mark and Brent picked up a good handful of hungry Snapper.  Finally, Marks rod bent over and the drag began to sing, FISH ON!  And a big fish it was.  He fought the fish from starboard to port and from bow to stern.  After a long and patient battle, Mark landed a BIG 29" oversized Redfish!  What a fish!  Not too long later it was Brent's turn to battle a big Red.  His drag was ripping but Brent kept the pressure on.  This fish wanted to stay at the bow of the boat and Brent had to dip his rod a couple of times to avoid the trolling motor. But he played the fish patiently and we soon netted a "Tournament Red" - a 26 1/4" Redfish!  We fished the area while longer, fished Broward Island briefly, then headed in ,counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!  Later, we had a great meal at Shuckers Oyster Bar to top off a perfect day!

Bite Grows Stronger

It was smooth sailing as we pulled out of the marina today.  I had met Tom Meagher and his friend Steve Strickland at the City marina this morning at 7am and when we came around the last dock into the river it was smooth as glass.  We headed up to the Jolley River and made our first stop at an oyster outcrop on the last two hours of an outgoing tide.  These anglers had numerous bites on their mud minnow/jig combo and picked up a Snapper or two.  We moved around to Snook Creek and here Steve picked up a feisty Redfish.  We fished Jolley Bank and picked up another couple of feisty Reds then Steve landed a keeper sized Flounder.  Tom hooked up and had a good battle with a nice Jack Crevalle.  The bite had picked up just a little bit as the tide started to come back in.  We made a run to Tiger Island and here we saw plenty of action.  Steve caught another keeper sized Flounder and had a very strong battle with something big found its way into the tree limbs an broke itself off.  On the last cast of the day Tom had a strong bite and then he played the fish patiently.  It was a good battle, but one that this nice Redfish lost to a good angler.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Big Flounder Makes the Day

I got out this morning with Zack and Audrey Feldkamp along with Brian and Amy Deibler.  We met at Atlantic Seafood at 7am and headed up to the Jolley River to fish the very last of an outgoing tide.  Our first stop was at the MOA  (Mother of All) Spot and the water was like a mirror as the anglers tossed their jigs with mud minnows up to the fully exposed oyster banks.  We had good action early with Zack starting things off early by picking up a couple of Snapper and then Audrey and Amy had a double hookup, catching a feisty Redfish and Snapper respectively.  We were getting good bites until a heavy rain shower passed through and all of us had to turn our backs to the sheets of rain and work through it.  After the rain the bite slowed so we made a run back to Jolley Bank to fish the first of an incoming tide.  Again we had good bites, catching Snapper, a couple of Trout, a feisty Redfish and Brian had a good fight with a Jack Crevalle.   While fishing Zack spotted an Atlantic Saltmarsh Mink roaming the oyster beds.  We made our final stop at Tiger Island where the anglers picked up a couple of more Snapper and a Trout then Amy had a big hookup and her rod bent over, FISH ON!  She worked the fish patiently and after a good battle where the big fish hugged the bottom, she eventually landed a big 23" Flounder!  This fish puts Amy in 2nd place in my Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament, Flounder category (scroll down right side to see standings). We were surrounded by bird life, including a large flock of roosting Rosette Spoonbills.   Audrey picked up a keeper sized Snapper then another keeper sized Flounder to wrap the day up, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters.

Left 'Em Biting

It's almost like a holiday for me when I have a sole angler on The Anglers Mark and that was what I had today, fishing with Alan Reeves this morning.  We met down at the Big Talbot Island Park at 7am and headed up the Nassau River to fish the very first of the incoming tide.  It's always fun to start a fishing trip off with the first cast resulting in, BOOM!  FISH ON! and that's what happened.  We had a BIG fish on first cast and the rod bent over and the drag ripped out.  But this big fish had been around for a while and it eventually made its way around some structure and broke itself off. OUCH.  But not to be deterred, Alan made another cast (his second), and, FISH ON!  He played this big fish patiently and we soon netted a big 21 1/2" Seatrout!  This Trout placed Alan tied for 3rd in my Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament, Seatrout category (scroll down right side of this report for standings).  We continued to fish and it was almost a bite on every cast.  Alan boated 10-15 Snapper, 8 of which were keeper sized.  He also landed a handful of Redfish with three being in the Slot and the biggest measuring to 24".  Before we left the first spot he had a nice sized Croaker and limited out on Seatrout over 20".  We made a run to Broward Island and were soon catching fish again.  Alan added another Slot Redfish, picked up some hungry Seatrout and we also tangled with a couple of Stingrays.  We had caught so many fish Alan had gotten his fishing "fix" in, so we called it a day, left 'em biting, and headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing on Amelia Island waters!

Persistence Passed Down

I had the pleasure of fishing again this morning with Wade Dial and his son Pierson.  We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7am and headed out of the marina with the tide just beginning to come in.  We hit some dock piling early and picked up to feisty Redfish then reeled in a nice Flounder.   Our second stop was the logs at Tiger Island where Pierson got a fat Snapper and  Wade landed a keeper sized Flounder.  We moved on the Jolley River and after boating another Snapper and theaving Croaker Wade had a good hookup and battle on his hands.  He handed the rod off to Pierson who worked the fish perfectly and we landed big keeper sized Seatrout, to round out the anglers Amelia Island back country Slam!  Wade continued to work the bank patiently and every so often he'd  hookup and either reel the fish in or hand it off to Pierson.  Later, while fishing outside of Tiger Island we found some more Trout and this time Pierson was working the bank patiently and he hooked up, FISH ON!  Another Seatrout for a persistent angler!  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Fish Catch'n Day

We had a beautiful morning today when I met Bill and Scott Kennedy down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp at Big Talbot Island Park.  We headed up the Nassau River to fish the incoming tide with jigs and mud minnows.  Guess what happened on the first cast?  BOOM!  FISH ON!  Scott worked the big fish patiently and after a good battle he landed an oversized Redfish!  2nd cast? FISH ON!   Bill had a hookup!  It went like that for at least an hour with hookups, oversized fish, Slot Redfish, nice Snapper (some were keeper sized) and even break offs.  One nice hookup had a Slot Redfish but when we got it to the boat there was nothing left but the head!  OUCH!   We eventually made a run to Broward Island picked up a feisty Redfish, some more Snapper, then Scott hooked up and caught a nice keeper sized Flounder with his TFO Gary Loomis Tactical Series spinning rod.  Bill added another Slot Redfish then he rounded out their Amelia Island Slam by landing a hungry Seatrout.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Amelia Island Afternoon Fishing

We scheduled  a late afternoon fishing trip yesterday so  I met Ricky Williams along with his two
sons Riley and Cooper and their friend Conner down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at Sawpit Creek.  We headed up the Amelia River with a bait well full of mudminnows and "Tiger" minnows that I had gotten from another anglers who was heading home.  We started easing along an oyster lined bank at Jackstaff and Conner started things off, catching a Seatrout, then another, then another.   Ricky added a Trout, Cooper picked up a feisty

Redfish then a Ladyfish and Riley wrapped up the spot with another Trout.  We moved on around to the Nassau River where Cooper's rod began to heat up!  He landed a hungry Snapper then he had a strong hookup and, FISH ON!  He played the big fish perfectly and we soon netted a nice Slot Redfish!   We eventually made a move up to the downed longs of Broward Island and after a little fishing we pulled in a small Flounder then Cooper had another strong hookup and boated another keeper Slot Redfish!  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Doubled Up and Oversized

Today was one of those once in a lifetime fishing trips that just makes you wonder, "can this be happening?"   I had met Robert Golden, his son Tanner and their friend Mark down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp this morning and you could see yourself on the water it was so calm and glassy.  We headed up the Nassau River to fish the Horsehead area with just a few hours of an incoming tide.  We held up at a marsh runout and began to fish jigs on the bottom with mud minnows.  The first casts by Tanner and Mark produced a hookup, a feisty Whiting and  a large Sail Cat.  Well that was cool to have fish on the first cast but little did I know that we were in for some serious fish catching.  Both Tanner and Mark began to hookup with oversized Redfish and two or three times they both had one on, FISH ON!  FISH ON!  Their light tackle TFO Signature Tactical Spinning Rods were bent double as one fought a big fish at the bow and one fought a big fish at the stern. They'd pass each other at amidships and continuer their fights at the other end of the boat.    I eventually had to ask each of the young men to keep a tally of how many of these oversized Reds they caught and released and by the end of this amazing day they each had released 4 fish, measuring to 30.5"!   In the middle of the extravaganza Robert was able to put a Slot Red in the boat and Mark added one, too.  After being checked out by the FWC officer, we moved back down the river and the anglers wrapped up the day catching Seatrout, Blues, and Jacks.  With that, we headed in, counting it as a super great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Flounder For Dinner

Kevin Sweeney brought his three sons over to Amelia Island for their first saltwater fishing experience this morning. We met at the City marina at 7am and headed north to fish the outside of Tiger Island with float rigs on the very last of an incoming tide.  We had no real bites on our mud minnows so we continued on to the Jolley River  and ran a pretty good ways up the river.  We fished a nice marsh runout with no real bites then eased into a larger creek and anchored in the grass.  Bryce got things started off by hauling in a couple of bottom hugging Stringrays then Ronan had a brief and intense battle with a Shark then Bryce was back at it reeling in a couple of keeper sized Snapper.  We moved down to Jolley Bank as the tide really started out and found a good handful of fish.  Dana got real hot at the stern of the boat, drifting a float rig along the grass line.  He got his own personal "Slam", catching a couple of Redfish, a keeper sized Flounder and a hungry Seatrout.  Ronan's rod then heated up as he picked up back to back keeper sized Flounder then he put the last fish in the boat, a very nice 17" Seatrout.  With that, we called it  a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Tie Dyed Slam

We had a beautiful start to todays fishing trip, launching out of Big Talbot Island Park with sunny skies and just a light breeze.  I had met Mike and Sarah Terry and their daughter Madeline at 7:30am at peak high tide and headed up the Nassau River to fish the Spanish Drop area at a nice marsh runout.  We held there for an hour or so because the anglers commenced to catch fish!  Sarah hooked up with something big to start things off but the big fish had no intention of getting caught!  Then Mike had a good hookup and a battle on his hands.  He played the fish perfectly and soon landed a nice 20" Slot Redfish!  All the anglers caught fish - they had a couple of Seatrout, a Jack Crevalle, and Madeline reeled in a hard fighting Stingray!  Before we left, Mike caught a nice keeper sized Flounder to round out their Amelia Island back country Slam.  We ran down to Broward Island to get out of the rising wind and held outside of another marsh runout.  The anglers added two more keeper sized Flounder.  We also had a fast cruising Manatee come by the boat and had a nice visit from the Florida Wildlife Commission who checked us out and gave us the OK!  With that, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Shark Awakening

Pat and Sharon Galvin were visiting Amelia Island with their two young kids, Kacey and Drew, who had never been out on a boat.  So they set up an back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark for this morning.  We met at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at 7am and headed up the Amelia River to fish the mouth of Jackstaff.  Our first stop was at a large marsh run out and then we hit some smaller ones.  The anglers were getting some pretty good bites then we all of sudden hooked up with something big, FISH ON!  Both Pat and Kadey fought the fish for a while then Drew stepped in to have his share of the battle.  His dad, Pat, finished it off and with patiently angling, landed a big 3'+ Bonnet head shark!   The wind had picked up out of the east so we headed over to Broward Island which turned out to be a good move because the bite picked up.  Drew landed a couple of Snapper then Sharon joined in with one or two also.  Kacey picked up a couple of hungry Croaker who croaked their displeasure of being pulled from the water!  Then Sharon had a strong hookup, her rod bent and the drag ripped - this was a nice fish!  She worked the fish in patiently and we soon netted a nice 22" Slot Redfish!  We photographed and released the fish.  We picked up another couple of Snapper and Croaker then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Rainy Weather Dampens Fishing

How can you go from one of the best days of fishing on one day and the very next have to struggle to find a fish?  I think the biggest reason was that the water was muddier due to the heavy rainfall we've been having.  I had the pleasure of getting out and fishing again with Mark and Shelly Davis today and even though we got a little wet heading to our first stop, that was all the rain we got during our trip.  We had an excellent tide with the water moving out of the marsh and the oysters beginning to show.  We began fishing with float rigs and mud minnows tossed to the edges of the oysters up in Jolley River but had no real bites.  We then made a move to a large creek mouth and tossed the minnows on jigs and may have picked up a Croaker or two.  Our next stop was at Jolley Bank and here Shelly hooked up with a handful of feisty, fun to catch, but small Redfish.  We then made a run to Bell River to fish the dock pilings and although the conditions looked perfect, we again needed to rely on Shelly to find us a feisty Redfish.  This young couple gave it an all out effort and did pick up a few fish but today just wasn't the day for the fish to be biting here at Amelia Island.

Banner Day With Big Reds

The Pleasant family was back in town for their July vacation and took in a back country fishing trip today on The Anglers Mark. We met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp on Big Talbot Island Park and headed up the Nassau River to fish the Twin Creeks.  I used the Minnkota I-Pilot trolling motor to hold us a the marsh runouts as the anglers tossed their jig/mud minnow combo on an outgoing tide.  William hooked up and landed a keeper sized Trout and they also had some Ladyfish action.  We made run around to Jackstaff, fished an oyster bank, and had Alex land a really nice 20" Seatrout.  William fought a nice Jack Crevalle and Ben landed a keeper sized Flounder.  Our next stop was at Bubblegum Reef with the tide still going out.  We'd only been fishing few minutes when Alex hooked up and had a BIG fish!  FISH ON!  He played the fish perfectly, around the bow and back to the stern, but this wiley old fish had been around for awhile and with the boat held in place, it found some current to add to its weight, and broke off, OUCH! Ben was next up and hooked up to a BIG one too!  He fought his fish

patiently but this time I released the I-Pilot and we drifted with the current, fighting the big fish.  Eventually Ben landed an oversized 28.75" Redfish!  These anglers were in for a big day of fishing because the BIG Reds were not through!   Alex hooked up and played this big fish perfectly, determined to land this one, and he did.  We measured it before we released it and found it to be 33.5" would put Alex in the lead in my Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament, Redfish category (scroll down right side of this report for standings)  Ben added a 26.5" Slot Red, and then a 30" oversized Red.  Alex added 20" Slot Red, and William put two 21" Slot Reds in the boat.  The anglers wrapped the day up by landing two keeper sized Black Drum. And with that, we called it a day, another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Recipe of the Month: Cornbread Salad

This is a great "side" for your fish fry...

(2) Premade 15oz pans of cornbread
(1) 8oz pre-chopped bell pepper combo container
(1) 8oz pre-chopped tomatoes container
1/3 of a 80z pre-chopped purple onion container
(1) Large cucumber, peeled and cubed
(8) large scoops of mayonnaise

Crumble the cornbread onto two cookie sheets and bake in oven at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on cornbread and remove from oven and turn crumbles to get a crispy browning. Let cool then add ingredients and stir thoroughly. Taste and add salt and pepper as you like. Cut these ingredients in half to make a smaller batch.

BOOM! FISH ON!

I had the pleasure of again hosting the Kesel family fishing this year - Russ and Denise and their two young anglers Noah and Sam.  We met yesterday morning at the Atlantic Seafood dock and headed up river to fish some dock pilings of Eagans Creek.  As I was getting the jig rods ready I handed one off to Russ who made a good cast up to the pilings and BOOM! FISH ON!  First Cast!  He played the big fish patiently and landed a nice Slot Redfish!  Boy what a way to start a fishing trip!  From then on it was a good 'ole fish catching time.  Noah was catching Slot Reds, Denise joined in on the action and then Sam had a strong hookup and the fight was on!  He and his dad worked the big fish around the stern, to deep water and back, and after a few deep runs, they brought to the net the biggest fish of the day, a 28 1/4" oversized Redfish!   All of the Kesel fish were photographed and released.  They also had a number of fat Snapper, a couple of black Puppy Drum and some Croaker.    We then hit another dock where Noah caught another Slot Redfish and then a very nice keeper sized Trout.  We fished Jolley River and had a few bites, then the outside of Tiger Island to wrap up another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Anglers Persevere In Tough Conditions

The Conroy's  - Neil and his son, Lewis, and grandfather Bob fished with me Thursday afternoon.  The weather was actually pretty nice with some cloud cover but the wind had picked up to 10-15 mph and made it difficult to fish open water areas.  But these anglers were here to fish and persevered through the conditions to catch some fish.   We hit Jackstaff as our first stop, had a Ladyfish hookup and then Neil landed a hungry Seatrout.  The wind was rocking the boat so we made  a run to the sanctuary of Broward Island and fished the downed logs.  Here, Neil floated a lively mud minnow past a submerged log and when the float rig disappeared he had hookup, FISH ON!  He worked the nice Trout in to be photographed and released.   We ventured back out into the wind, fished the Twin Creek area of Nassau River and picked up a Jack Crevalle, two hungry Redfish and a Sea Bass.  The wind was again making fishing difficult so we ran over to the docks of Black Hammock, fished them, then wrapped up the trip back at Sawpit Creek.

4 Generations of Fishing

I got to fish with Kurt Freese and his family again they other day - he, his dad Clyde, his daughter Kara and his grandson Julian.  We met down at the Big Talbot Island boat ramp on Sawpit Creek Thursday morning and headed up the Nassau River to fish Bubblegum Reef with jigs and mud minnows on the first of an incoming tide.  Clyde got things started off, hooking up with an aggressive Croaker.  We ran around to Jackstaff and the fishing picked up with Julian hauling in a Ladyfish then he picked up the biggest Trout of the day. Kurt landed a couple of Trout and Kara landed a Jack Crevalle.  Then she had a really good fight with a large Jack that ripped the drag on her reel.  We fished the Nassau River Twin Creeks area where Clyde wrapped up the fishing action, picking up a nice Trout and another Jack.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Lady Anglers Lead All Categories

We had to let a late afternoon thunderstorm pass through yesterday but when it did we had clear skies for a beautiful few hours of fishing. Adam Garner, his son Ryan and Ryan's girlfriend Morgan met me at the Atlantic Seafood dock and after the storm we headed north to fish some dock pilings at Eagans Creek. We had numerous bites and caught Croaker, Snapper, small Trout and a Puppy Drum. Then Ryan hooked up with something big up near the pilings. He played the fish patiently working 'em away from the dock, and we soon landed a nice 20" Slot Reddish! We made a move to another dock, fished for a while then Morgan had a hookup, a head shaking
fight, and landed a nice 20" Seatrout. Minutes later she had another bite and this fish was big! Morgan took her time as the big fush went deep and from stern to bow and back to stern. After a 5 minute battle (and some unneeded coaching from the peanut gallery) she landed an oversized 29 1/2" BIG Red! We photographed and released the fish. Then Adam hooked up and he to landed an over sized Red. Then Morgan battled another to the net, this one measured 32 3/4", putting her in first place in The Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish category! Now, all three categories are led by the ladies! (scroll down right side of this report for standings). We moved on, fished a couple of more spots, landed 2 flounder to round out an Amelia Island back country slam, then headed in as the sun was setting,  counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Shark Bit

John Massey had his son, John Allen and grandsons Jonathan and Joshua set up to fish with him The Anglers Mark. We headed up to the Jolley River to fish the incoming tide with the water creeping up on the oysters.  The anglers immediately began to get bites and hookups with hungry Croaker. Then, Allen hooked up (kinda!) and had a battle on his hands. The big fish circled the bow then headed to the stern and out to deeper water. We soon saw a nice sized shark....and then it was off!  Allen reeled up his line and found a half eaten Croaker! The shark wasn't hooked but had latched on and it was a tug of war that ended in a tie! Young Jonathan caught a hard fighting Puppy Drum while his Grandad reeled on a feisty Redfish.  Later, John also caught a angry Jack Crevalle.  The tide got up and we hit a few more spots with Jonathan catching a high flying Ladyfish. During the trip we saw dolphin, osprey, Rosette Spoonbills, a raccoon, and numerous bird life today in the backwaters of Amelia Island.

Family Tournament

Richard Fritz was visiting Amelia Island with his wife, son and father in law and planned an Amelia Island The Anglers Mark yesterday.  We met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp back country fishing trip on
and headed up the Amelia River to fish the Horsehead area during the last few hours of a high and incoming tide.  The family had a small "tournament" going amongst themselves for the "first fish", "biggest fish", "most fish" and "last fish".   Although we had a beautiful morning with absolutely no wind we found that it was somewhat detrimental to our comfort and the fishing!  The bait fish were way up in the marsh and so were the fish and with no breeze it got rather warm, quickly!  But these anglers were determined to catch some fish and they did pickup a couple of hard fighting Ladyfish.  We fished the mouth of Jackstaff, Bubblegum Reef and then moved on down to the Spanish Drop area, and sure enough, when the tide started out we began to get a flurry of bites.  Young Amir hooked up with a couple of Ladyfish and helped reel in an angry Jack.  Richard landed a very nice keeper sized Trout and Ed reeled in another high-flying Ladyfish.  We did see a number of Dolphin rolling through the water and took a short tour of the Big Talbot shoreline to make it another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Slot Reds And A Bunch of Trout

I had the pleasure of fishing with John and Andrew Allen again today who were visiting Amelia Island on their first leg of a vacation.  We met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp this morning at the peak of high tide and headed up to the Horsehead area to fish with some top water lures.  We had a few "spits" at the lures but no takers so we switched to float rigs and mud minnows as soon at the tide started out.  This did the trick and the anglers started picking up some fish.  They landed a number of Seatrout, a few Ladyfish and a Blue then John had a strong hook up and landed a nice Slot Redfish.  We eased along a bank flooded over the oysters and they picked up some more Trout along the way.  We made a run around to Nassau River and fished the Twin Creeks and again picked up Trout, a small Red, and a few Jack Crevalles.  Then Andrew had a slow take, patiently waited, then hooked up.  He played the fish perfectly and we soon netted a nice keeper sized Flounder.  He caught a 2nd Flounder later, too.  We made our last stop at Bubblegum Reef and landed one more Slot Redfish, then called it a day, another great one to be out on
Amelia Island waters!

Sisters Day Out

I fished with sisters Karen, Lynette and Mitzi yesterday evening, launching from the Atlantic Seafood dock during the last few hours of a high and incoming tide.  We made a stop on the outside of Tiger Island and Mitzi was the first to hookup, catching a hard fighting "poor man's Tarpon" - the Ladyfish.  Shortly after that Karen hooked up and had a good bend put in her rod.  She patiently played this big fish and eventually landed a very nice sized Bluefish.  We made a run around to the inside of Tiger, fished the flooded logs, then ran up to Jolley River to fish Snook Creek.  We'd had a number of bites but no takers but then Lynette had a good bite and she quietly reeled in a feisty Bonnethead Shark.  Our last stop was back at the outside of Tiger Island as the tide began to start out and things heated up.  The anglers picked up a couple of hungry Seatrout then Mitzi reeled in another Ladyfish to claim the coveted "Golden Pocket Knife".  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters.

Change of Strategy Makes the Day

We again had a beautiful morning today, somewhat cloudy, and a slight breeze to make it real comfortable to fish the Amelia Island back waters on The Anglers Mark.  I had met Rich Euler and his daughter's boyfriend Mike down at the City marina at 7am and we headed up to Jolley River to fish the outgoing tide.  The oysters were just showing as we pitched topwaters along the first stretch of marsh.  We had no real bites on the lures so we switched to jigs and shrimp and soon found that the "baitstealers" were gonna keep us busy!  We moved around to the MOA (Mother of All) spots and held off of the oysters, tossing are bait up current and dragging it back into deeper water.  Rich was the first to hookup and it was a good battle.  He played the fish perfectly and we soon netted a nice 18" Seatrout!  We picked up a hard fighting Puppy Drum then Mike had a hookup. This fish pulled hard and was shaking its head furiously but Mike kept the pressure on and he too netted a nice 20" Seatrout.  We picked up a few more Croaker then ran back to the mouth of Jolley to fish the now exposed oysters. We fattened up a number of Croaker but had no real bites. The water was muddy from the SW wind and no game fish were to be found.  So we decided to run around to Bell River and fish the dock pilings and sure enough the water was clear and just "looked" fishy!  BOOM!  FISH ON!  Mike had a hookup, a bent rod, and some drag ripping!  He played the fish patiently and soon brought to the boat a nice Slot 21" Redfish!    Shortly later he had another hookup and while he battled this Slot Red, Rich hooked up and his drag sizzled!  BIG FISH ON!  We landed Mikes fish then went to work on Rich's.  Rich was very patient with this fish as it made a number of deep and long runs but he kept the pressure on with his TFO Tactical Spinning Rod and after a long battle we landed a BIG 30 1/2" Redfish!  This fish put Rich in 2nd place in my Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish category. (Scroll down right side of this report for standings).    The big fish was photographed, revived and released.  We fished a few more docks then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!