Rose Marie's Secret Fishing Spot

It was a somewhat gloomy morning that greeted us at the boat ramp with a few raindrops falling as I launched the boat. A thin fog was settled on the water but there was almost no winds to deal with. I had met the Alfrey family down at the City marina -  Adam Alfrey, his wife Olivia and 5 year old daughter Olivia and tagging along was Granddad Bill for the fishing trip. We headed up river to fish Eagans Creek on the first of an outgoing tide and our first stop at a clump of marsh grass produced  no bites on live shrimp under float rigs. Unless of course you count the No-See-Ums who attacked us
from the start. But we were ready with bug spray and young Olivia modeled a face net and this did the trick. Our next stop was at an old dock where we switched to jigs and shrimp and it was almost immediate for the anglers to begin catching fish. Grandad Bill "knocked the skunk off" when he landed a nice 20"+ Slot Redfish then it was BOOM! Fish on! BOOM! Fish on! BOOM! Fish on. There were smaller 17" "feisty Redfish" and then they'd get a stronger bite which took a while to work in, but they were patient and ended up landing at least 8 Slot Sized Redfish with a 24" one
that Olivia caught being the biggest. Rose Marie helped reel in a few of them and then she took over the role as "netgirl" to help land the fish. Just when we thought things were going to slow down the Black "puppy" Drum started biting. After putting two smaller ones in the boat they landed two nice keeper sized fish, the biggest being about 18". We wrapped it up at this spot after Oliva landed a small Stingray. Our next stop was up Bell River at some now exposed oyster beds and although the bite had slowed, Bill did hookup and land another Slot Redfish. Our last stop was around at Tiger Island and again, a slow bite, but then Adam had a good hookup, and FISH ON! He played the big Redfish patiently and a after a good battle landed the group's 10th Slot Redfish of the day. Bill made it an Amelia Island Grande Slam when he landed a keeper sized Seatrout. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Cold Day But Hot Fishing

When I checked the weather report last night I saw that that we'd be battling the wind today but it'd be nice, sunny and clear. I forgot to look at the temperature though, so when I stepped outside I realized I better head back in and get some back up jackets, and boy I'm glad I did! I met Jason Lane, his son Robbie, his father-in-law Tommy and brother-in-law Chad down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and luckily all of us had some cold weather gear on as the temperature was hovering just over 40 and the wind was blowing 12-15mph. But we were all in for some fishing so we headed up the Amelia River and then tucked in to Jackstaff to fish an exposed oyster bank on the last of an outgoing tide with jigs and shrimp. These anglers were making excellent casts (and into the wind) but we had no real bites after fishing a good stretch so we headed over to Seymore's Pointe to fish some docks and this did the trick. After fishing for just a little while Jason "knocked the skunk off" the boat when he landed a hard fighting keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. There must have been a school down there because they all began to haul in fish. Young Robbie hooked up and played his share of fish, casting and reeling in  a few of  his own.  I think Tommy had the biggest one, a 20"er and he and Chad had a double on at one time. Then Chad spiced it up by landing a fat keeper sized Seatrout. They put a good "mess" in the boat then we ran down to Broward Island to fish the still outgoing tide. They were getting nibbles here and there when Jason had a strong bite and, FISH ON! This was a big one! He played the big fish perfectly with his light  Fenwick HMG 6'6" rod, battling the fish smoothly with the Stradic 1000FJ and 10lb braid. He worked it out from the bank then it went deep and into the current but Jason kept the pressure on and landed a big 25.5" Slot sized Redfish, boy what a fish! We worked the area up and down and Chad completed a personal Slam when he put a keeper sized Sheepshead in the boat. Our last stop was back at Seymore's Pointe where Jason wrapped things up when he caught another Slot Redfish, this one on a float rig and live shrimp. It was cold and windy but the day turned out to be another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Black Drum Makes an Appearance

We had a low tide that had just started back in when I met Brian Cochran and his friend Phillip down at the Altantic Seafood dock today. There was just a slight breeze and overcast skies as we headed north to fish Tiger Island with jigs and live (kinda) shrimp. It was somewhat slow fishing although both anglers had a couple of good bites, fish on for a while, then off. Ouch.  But they persevered and when Brian had a strong hookup we knew it was a nice fish as it bulled its way deep and fought to keep from coming to the surface. But Brian kept the pressure on and after a good battle
landed a nice 22" Black "puppy" Drum. Shortly after that Phillip put a keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. We had one or two more Trout here then ran around to the Jolley River to fish the now covered oysters with float rigs and live shrimp. The wind had picked up which made for some difficult fishing - and the fish didn't cooperate, so we continued further around and into the Bell River to fish some docks. It was almost immediately that we had hookups with hungry Trout (back to fishing the jigs) and we had one on a jig and grub, white with red tail. Our last stop was back near the marina where Phillip caught a small Flounder to round out the duo's Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Drum, Seatrout, and Flounder. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.