Hand Select Big Bait Best Bait

Boy was it great to be back fishing after a long 12 days off! I had
the pleasure of fishing again withAdam Alfrey, his daughter Rose Marie, his dad Randy, and father-in-law Bill. We met up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park and boat ramp early, and made a run up the Bell River with plans to fish some docks on an outgoing tide. Why so far? The bait shop was a zoo with anglers trying to get in and get bait, and the parking lot had a few dozen boat trailers, so I knew that spots close by would be crowded. The strategy worked - we had the Bell to ourselves and I believe Rose Marie's first cast netted a nice hungry Seatrout, the first fish of the day! We were fishing with live shrimp on jigs on an outgoing tide and we found a good handful of the Trout, but the biggest was just a tad shy of legal size. We ran around and into the Jolley, stopped at the MOA, which unfortunately did not produce, and continued on around to the mouth of the Jolly where we worked the bank slowly, fishing up current. Again, no real bites. The wind had begun to kick up out of the NE so we made a run to Tiger Island and this did the trick! We were mostly out of the wind and we began to get good fish. Six year old Rose figured out that if she picked out the bigger of the shrimp (medium sized) she had more luck catching big fish, and catch them she did! Rose would have a hookup and could reel the big fish all by herself! There was a couple of times where her grandfathers needed help so she would reel those in too! The four anglers caught about 10 Redfish with three of them being Slot Sized fish, and they also had a few 12" Black "puppy" Drum to round out their Amelia Island Back Country Slam. We fished until the baitstealers were all that was biting then we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

North Wind and Fly Fishing

It was a beautiful morning today, albeit somewhat "breezy", as the weatherfolks like to call it. I had the pleasure of fishing with Mark Thibodeau again, a fly fisher. This time we met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and headed up the Nassau River to fish an outgoing tide with an intermediate 8w sinking line and a new "live shrimp" fly that I had tide this past week. As usual, Mark was making excellent casts, and into a 9mph wind, at that. We worked along one shell bank, then an outflow, then another, but had
no real bites. Our next stop was over at some docks at Seymore's Pointe. Mark was putting his fly right up next to some pilings and in between, and this did the trick. He had a good "thump", set the hook, and patiently worked in a nice keeper sized Flounder (all fish were released today). And just a few minutes after that, he had an even stronger bite and a hookup. This fish had more "shoulders" and made a run across a shallow mud and oyster flat but Mark kept the pressure on and soon landed a nice feisty Redfish. The wind was picking up so we ran down the Nassau River and past the Oyster Factory and found a haven on the lee side of the land mass where we worked some more docks. We had no bites so we continued on down to Broward Island - my "go to spot" for the day. Unfortunately the tide was still ripping out and meeting the wind head on and this made for some difficult fishing and boat handling. We gave it our best but even though the tide was getting down to where it needed to be, it was just not meant to be. We ran back and through Jackstaff, fished the far bank, then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Fly Fishing Shrimp Pattern

Last week I fished with a guest who wanted to fly fish here at Amelia Island, Florida. He was making excellent casts with a "shrimp fly" (right) that I had tied in years past. We had a good tide but we were getting no takers. Luckily, he was open to tossing a live shrimp on a spinning rod and wouldn't you know it, BOOM! Redfish on the first cast. He went on to catch  a few handfuls of feisty Reds and a couple of Slot sized fish and some nice Seatrout. So why wouldn't they eat the fly? If the Reds were relying on smell then there's not a whole lot I can do about that other than squeeze some scent on the fly. There's a chance the fly was getting pulled out of the zone too fast so I think I'll try a longer leader and maybe invest in a sinking line (we were using a floating line at the time). And then I got to thinking I needed to tie a fly that at least resembled a live shrimp color. So I stopped by the fly shop this morning and here's what I came up with:

 

Here's the "recipe" for my Live Shrimp:

Supplies:

1/0 O’Shaunesy Hook

Grey Thread

(2) Mono Shrimp Eyes

(2) Copper tentacles

Brush and Wing Fibre -grey/natural

1” Stream Brush streamer material – natural

Scuplture flash – natural,

Large Dumbbell eye

Tan Marabou

.025 lead

Tying Instructions:

Place hook in vice with point down.

Wrap thread at bend and then up to eye.

Tie on dumbbell eye at hook eye on top of hook.

Tie in about a ¼” of .025 lead behind dumbbell

Roll hook over. Behind dumbbell, tie on clump of tan marabou, hanging over hook eye. Trim to   

       make “tail” of shrimp.

Roll hook over. Wrap thread back to bend of hook.

Tie on mono shrimp eyes on each side of hook. Place a drop of glue between eyes at hook and let 

      dry to keep eyes spread out. Glue thread and lead and dumbbell, too.

Tie on tentacles, hanging out from bend of hook.

Tie on clump of Sculpture flash hanging out from bend of hook to form head

Tie on small clump of Brush and Wing Fibre hanging out from bend of hook to form horn.

Tie on Stream and Brush streamer material

Wrap thread to dumbbell eyes.

Wrap Stream and Brush forward to dumbbell eyes, tie off, cut.

Whip finish., glue

 

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Big Trout, Tourney Red, Most Variety

I got to fish again with Dave Little this morning and this time he brought along a couple of other friends, Chris and Rob. We met again down at the Big Talbot Island Park ramp and after a good start yesterday, decided to repeat the plan, so we headed over to Broward Island. There was less breeze and more gnats when we got there but the fish were biting. All three anglers were making excellent casts and began to hookup with feisty Redfish and hungry Seatrout. A few of the Trout were of keeper size (all fish caught today were released). Chris was biding his time, getting his casts down when, BOOM! FISH ON! He played the fish expertly to the boat and landed the biggest Trout of the day, a nice 22" fish. We worked up and down the bank, picking up a fish here and there. They added a small Black "puppy' Drum to the catch, a small Sheepshead, then Rob put a really nice Sheepshead in the boat. We made a run back down the Nassau River to the Spanish Drop area and worked some flooded oysters. They again put Trout in the boat. Our next stop was over at some docks at Seymore's Pointe. It
seemed like every fish caught by Rob was a different species- he had a Bluefish, a Flounder, a Ladyfish, and a Snapper. The trio even landed a Blue Crab! But as that was being hauled in Dave had put his jig and shrimp up near a piling and BOOM! Another Big Fish on!  This was a big fish! He played it patiently and let it make a few big runs, but as it made it's way to the pilings he applied the pressure and worked it out. After a good battle Dave landed a 26 3/4" "tourney" Redfish, boy what a fish!  We finished the day over in Jackstaff and landed another handful of Seatrout, a great way to wrap up good day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Trout Swarm The River

We went south today, fishing out of the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp. I met Dave Little, his brother Andy, and their friend Hal early and we headed up the Nassau River with plans to make the long run around to Broward Island.  The anglers first cast got a nibble and the second got a feisty Redfish -  not a bad way to start the morning. From then on and for about an hour and a half, they were catching fish! They landed a good handful of small but feisty Redfish, then they'd put a Slot fish in the boat. Interspersed were hungry Seatrout with a keeper sized one now and then. Then another Slot Red (all three anglers were using 1/4oz jigs and shrimp, either live or recently dead). Dave added a feisty Black "puppy" Drum and a Sheepshead to garner his very own Amelia Island Back Country Grande Slam. We fished it thoroughly then headed over to Christopher Creek where Andy put two fairly nice sized Blue Fish in the boat. Our next and final stop was around at Seymores Pointe fishing some dock pilings. We began to get Seatrout almost immediately and burned through the bait, catching one after another, with a few of them in the keeper sized range and then the largest of the day caught by Hal. When we ran out of bait I switched them to jigs and Contender plastic grubs and they continued to catch Trout right up until closing time! Now that's the way to have a great day fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Super Grande Slam

We had a cool morning today, with just a slight wind that was supposed to pick up as the day went on. Greg Bancroft and I launched up at the Dee Dee Bartels boat ramp and ran around to the Jolley River to fish some structure as the tide continued to come in. Greg was making excellent casts with an 8w fly rod and shrimp pattern, but had no takers. The minute we switched to live shrimp and  a jig, BOOM! Fish On!  Crazy. But that's what they wanted and Greg caught fish after fish: feisty Redfish that just missed the
Slot, then he put a nice 19" Slot Red in the boat. He picked up a Trout now and then, and finally got a keeper sized 18" one. We worked the bank thoroughly with Greg catching a feisty Black "puppy" Drum to make it a Slam, then he added a keeper sized Flounder to make it a Grande Slam, then he added a Sheepshead to make it a "Super Grande Slam"!  And to top it off, he had a strong hookup and a Big Fish On! Greg played it patiently and worked it slowly to the boat. The fish rolled up and we saw it was a really nice Slot Redfish. It was no match for Greg and he landed the 24" Slot Red -biggest fish of the day. We fished the area a tad bit more then ran around to the Bell River, found a Trout and a Blue, then continued over to Lanceford Creek where we wrapped the day up catching one hungry Trout after another - another great day fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.