She Was A Big Trout

 

I wrapped my week up fishing south with Howard McClure and his buddy Joe - we met at Sawpit Creek boat ramp early and headed up the Nassau River to make our first stop at a nice drainage. The two anglers were tossing jigs and mud minnows to the shore line and got some good hookups - they hauled in two keeper sized Flounder and a small Redfish. We moved up the way and fished Twin Creeks for a bit before we moved on. Our nest stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe where we pitched to the pilings. We weren't getting many bites, if any, until Howard said the felt a bump and when it got heavy he expertly set the hook and Big Fish On!  Howard played it patiently and after a good tattle he landed an oversized 20.25" Seatrout, big enough to land Howard in a tie for third place in the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament, Seatrout Category. Scroll down the right side of this report for standings.

We fished some rocks at Seymore's, had a bite or two, then made our way down to Pumpkin where we drifted the float rigs. On the first pass Joe had a drag ripping bite that quickly snapped the leader  and after that we picked up  a Ladyfish and a hard fighting Jack Crevalle. There as a storm brewing north of us so we headed back to the ramp and called it another great day to be fishing at Amelia Island, Florida.

Finally, A Banner Day

 

It's been a good while that we've had one of those Banner Days of fish catching, but today earned that moniker. I had met the DeNight boys, Jeff and his brother Scott and his nephew Abraham out at Goffinsville Park and we made a quick run down to Broward Island on a tide that was still going out. We set up and began to toss jigs and mud minnows and it didn't take long before they were catching fish. Jeff had a big 26" Slot Red pretty early, then he and Scott teamed up with a "double", catching keeper sized Flounder and Trout, respectively. We dropped down the island with the tide and Scott got hot catching Slot Reds and became the self-proclaimed "Redfish Master".  To top that Jeff had put a few more  

Flounder in the boat and he took the title of "Flounda Man".  Abraham got on the board when he expertly hooked and landed a nice Flounder of his own. 

We fished back down the Nassau and caught more Flounder and more Reds, and tangled with a couple of Ladyfish, then we ended up back at Pumpkin Hill drifting floats. The trio added a Jack Crevalle to their species total, then Scott added another keeper Flounder to the box. He then went long with a drift, way long, and sure enough, hooked and landed the biggest Trout of the day, one that

measured right at 18".  The GPK had  been in contention all day but it was the young angler who took it home - Abraham went long too and when his float disappeared he tightened up and let the circle hook set and Big Fish On!  Abraham played it perfectly, let it run, worked it in, let it run, then patiently brought to the net a nice 24"  8-spot Redfish to wrap things up. We had ended up catching 6 Slot Reds, about 7-8 Flounder with 4 of them keepers, and we had two nice Seatrout in the box, so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Big Jacks Show Up

 It was kind of a weird day today - overcast and breezy and the water was chopped up and muddy, but itwas comfortable for the most part with the sun blocked. I had met Glenn and Patti Langford down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp and we made quick run up the Nassau to make our first stop at Spanish Drop where we went with jig rods and mud minnows tossed to the bank...and didn't get a single real bite. After running up to Seymore's Point we fished some dock pilings with some left over live Shrimp and Glenn did outsmart and hooked up and landed a small Grunt.

We then came back down the Nassau and fished Twin Creeks with floats and may have had a nibble or two but no takers. Back up the Nassau we went and fished small point of grass, and again, no takers. It wasn't looking good for the fish catching today! But Glenn and Patti persevered and when we got to the next spot at Pumpkin Hill we got some bites. Patti had her float go under and boy did it take off! She kept that rod bent and worked it in closer to the boat before it made went deep again. She got it close, let it run, got it close, and let it run before bringing to the net the biggest Jack Crevalle we've had on the boat all year.  Then Glenn had drifted close to a grassy island and when it went under Glenn tightened up and let the circle hook set and Big Fish On! This fish was ripping drag right off and it boiled up and we knew it was a big Redfish. Glenn worked it slowly to the boat and it came in steadily until it saw the boat then it made a few strong dashes to deeper water. But Glenn kept the pressure on and soon landed a nice 26" Redfish. Patti had another huge battle with an even bigger Jack Crevalle before we  moved on.

We fished around the corner, down the bank, then back at the Tourney Red spot before 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. 

Flounder and Finally Some Slot Reds

 Short report today...did a "double" then an AIGA meeting this evening, reporting late...

I fished with Steve and Carron Frost this morning on a tide that was coming in. We fished the outside of
Tyger with jigs with minnows and shrimp, had no real luck, then ran up the Jolley and fished the "bank", then further up to Snook Creek. Along the way we had some pretty decent action, catching some small Flounder, small Seatrout, and small Jacks. The highlight was when Carron went into a small "cove" with a good cast and had a hookup, as she was bringing her keeper sized Flounder to the the net, Steve went to the same hole and BAM! He had a hookup and reeled in is own keeper Flounder. We caught a few more Trout, with one of them being of keeper size, and ended the day with a total of 7 Flounder caught. 

The afternoon trip had Brian Roach, his son Mike and his friend Mark - we again ran up the outside of Tyger and worked the bank with jigs -Mark "knocked the skunk off" when he landed a nice Flounder. We moved around to Jolley Bank and worked it and here Brian had a hard thump and set the hook. He battled a big Flounder to the boat - it measured right at 19" and put Brian in the lead of the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament - Flounder Category (scroll down the right side of this report for standings). 

And then the bottom fell out! Boy what a rain - we could see it coming from the west and it drenched us good! But it passed after a while and the wind calmed and it became very pleasant to fish. We ran up the river to JC's spot and worked the exposed oyster beds and it paid off - Brian hooked and landed a nice 22" Slot Red, then Mike followed that up with a big 21" Slot Red of his own.  It was a long day but we caught some fish so as we headed back to the dock we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Nice Breeze and Pleasant Fishing

 I kicked off the week with a trip out of the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp after meeting Chanterelle and John Damer and their daughter Ava early this morning. We eased out of Eagans Creek then made our way up and around to the Jolley River where we made our first stop at Tyger Cut with plans to drift float rigs and live shrimp and mud minnows on a tide that still had about an hour and a half of coming in.  Ava kicked things off with the hot fishing rod - she hooked up and brought to the net a fine Croaker, then she battled a hungry Seatrout to the boat. John hooked and landed a Trout while we there, and we had a few more good bites before we moved on. After dropping back to Jolley "bank" and working it pretty good- we had another Trout and a hard fighting Jack Crevalle, then John had a bite - it bumped is bait, then came back and BAM! big fish on! The drag was ripping and the big fish put up a good fight - it had John scrambling from stern to bow and back to stern - the ladies cleared the deck and the fight settled in for a tug of war, which John eventually won when he landed a big 4' Bonnethead Shark for photograph and release.

Back at the outside of Tyger we fished the first of an outgoing tide with the float rigs, had some nibbles, but no takers then we crossed over the creek and worked that bank. Again, just a few nibbles, but then John had a good hookup - he expertly played it the net and landed a hefty keeper sized Flounder.  We moved back up the island and fished a large drainage and here all three anglers got in on the action. Chanterelle hooked and landed a feisty Jack Crevalle and a hungry Seatrout - Ava put another Trout in the boat, then John added another keeper sized Flounder to the box. We'd had a nice breeze all day, there had been some action here and there, so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.  

Recipe of the Month: An 1870's Recipe for Oyster Fritters

 I was reading a book, The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky - it's a very interesting story about the history of oysters and oystering and oyster houses in New York City beginning when native Americans lived there, then the Dutch, then the British, and finally we Americans. There are many recipe's in the book and when I reached an easy one I decided to make it, but first the back story from the book...

"Juliet Corson was born in the Roxbury section of Boston in 1841 and opened the Free Training School for Women at age thirty-three, before she learned how to cook. She hired a French chef, thought to have been the celebrated Pierre Blot. Two years later she was living on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan giving cooking classes in her home. She called her classes the New York Cooking School and had one thousand students a year. In everything Corson did, she addressed social conscience. The New York Cooking School tried to charge enormous fees to the rich while asking only a nickel a lesson for the middle class. The poor could attend for free. When New York's economy declined in the 1870's, she self -published controversial pamphlets such as "Fifteen cent dinners for Families of Six" and "How can we live if we are moderately poor". One of her numerous cookbooks, titled Meals for the Million: The People's Cookbook, has eight oyster recipes including this one for oyster fritters, a popular inexpensive dish because it could be made with the smallest, lowest-grade shucked oysters:

    The oysters should be examined for bits of shell, and their liquor strained (I used two 8oz containers of oysters (Pacific) from Winn Dixie. They were huge! I cut them into quarters) 

    Then make a batter by mixing two cupfuls of flour, the yelk [sic] of one raw egg, a tablespoon of salad oil (I used Olive Oil), a dust of cayenne pepper, and sufficient oyster liquor to make the batter just thick enough to sustain the drops from the mixing spoon; (the liquor from the oyster containers was not enough to make the batter so I added some whole milk)

    Plenty of fat should now be heated until it is smoking;(I used about 3" of peanut oil, heated to 375 degrees). The white of the egg should be beaten stiff and gently stirred into the batter when the fat is hot, together with the oysters, either whole or chopped, and it should be put in the hot fat by large spoonful, and fried brown; the fritters when done should be laid on brown paper for a moment to free them from grease (I used a paper towel) and then served.

NOTE: I probably wouldn't make this again, Hah!  As the book alludes to, it was a good recipe for poorer folks, so they could have filled up on flour we had a difficult time tasting the Oysters.  If I was going to make another fritter, I think I'd google a Cajun style recipe - one that had more flavor, and made with Corn Meal. Or maybe just lightly batter the whole oyster and fry it so you get the oyster flavor and texture. 

Vintage Fishing: Gadabout Gaddis

 Way, Way, Way back, before cable and before streaming there was an angler  Roscoe
Vernon "Gadabout" Gaddis. who flew his plane around the country in the 1940's and 50's and 60's and fished. He took along a camera man and when he got back to his shop he'd voice over the film and produce the Flying Fisherman show for television.

He was so popular that fishing tackle companies collaborated with him to get his endorsement on their tackle These were some of those  lures with the Gadabout signature:

Coincidently, JW Lures out of Jacksonville, Florida also worked with Gadabout to sell this lure pack, note that they were going to donate some of the proceeds to Florida United Methodist Children's Home...

Gadabout  worked with author George Sullivan to write a book about his fascinating life as a pioneer in the fishing/television industry..

Here's a short video of one of is trips..

New Lucky Hat

 I was back to work today, fishing south with John Foreman and his SIL Chase and grandson Nate. We left the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early, running up the intracoastal, then up the Nassau for a quick stop at Spanish Drop where we turned into the current and worked jigs and mud minnows slowly on the bottom. We weren't getting much action and when we reached a mud drainage I wasn't expecting much but then Chase hooked up BIG!  His drag was ripping - the other two anglers cleared their lines and the fight was on! Chase played the big fish perfectly - he worked it in, let it run, worked it in, let it run, and slowly brought to the net a big 26" Slot Redfish!

We bounced down that bank hitting two or three drainages and mixed in a couple of Jacks and Ladyfish then Chase had one of those funky "thumps" - he set the hook and patiently landed a nice 18" Flounder to go in the box. And shortly after that, John had let his jig fall deep and he had a "thump, thump" and Fish ON!  The way it was making the drag rip I was thinking "small Redfish" but when John brought it to the net it was a fat 18" Seatrout with a lot of fight!

We then made a run up the river to Pumpkin Hill and switched to float rigs, drifting them long with the current. The trio of anglers tangled with some Jacks and Ladyfish, but no keeper fish, so we moved around the corner and let the current ease us along the flooded marsh grass. Chase had gone up to a submerged oyster bank with a cast and although distracted, he saw that his float was gone so he quickly caught up to it and, another Big Fish on! Boy what a battle! Chase fought it valiantly and soon subdued the big Oversized 27.5" Redfish and after photographs, we released it. 

Notice I haven't mentioned Nate's name?  Nate was making good casts and getting good drifts, but the fish were ignoring his bait. I noticed he was wearing a new hat and even commented that maybe he should have worn is "lucky" hat. But Nate didn't fall for it, and persevered! We hit a couple of small grassy islands, then came back around to stretch of grass that has been good to me and continued to drift those floats. Nate was staying diligent and when his float disappeared, he tightened up his line and let the circle hook set and, another Big Fish ON! (note, this fish was caught about 5 foot from where we got the Tournament winning Red Saturday!). Nate fought the big fish furiously, and despite the coaching he was getting from the three of us, he brought it to the net and landed a "tournament sized 26.5" Redfish- the biggest in the box! And Nate had a new lucky hat!

We made our last stop over at Jackstaff and worked a bank with the jigs and here John finished things up when he hooked and landed a keeper sized 17" Flounder. We had to work for them today, but we had fish in the box so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

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Rodeo Redfish Win!

Check presentation

I don't do a lot of tournaments, mainly because it takes a different mindset to be successful, but as the

saying goes, "even a blind squirrel can find an acorn" once in a while! Yesterday Team AnglersMark won the biggest Redfish category in the Nassau Sport Fishing Association Rodeo! I was fishing with friends Chris Bremer and Brian Parent - we met early down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp and launched at 6:30am with a ton of live shrimp and mud minnows and we made our way up the Nassau River to make our first stop at Twin Creeks on a high and incoming tide. We were all drifting float rigs, mixing the bait between the shrimp and minnows, but I don't think we got a real bite. We

Chris center, Brian on right at weigh in

 then ran down to Pumkin Hill where I've been getting some nice Redfish the last couple of weeks and we drifted that edge. We were all joking that if it was a "Garbage Tournament" we might place because we were catching Jacks and Ladyfish and Catfish the entire day. But both Brian and Chris had some nice hookups and landed keeper sized Seatrout to go in the box. Unfortunately, there wasn't a Seatrout category in the tournament!

The Pig Fish!

We moved down the way where we've caught Reds in the past, but not lately. We have caught some huge Trout there recently and I was hoping we'd at least get one for the box, but after a good handful of drifts I was thinking "time to move", but then a big fish hit and Fish On! It was a team effort, Brian cleared the deck, Chris manned the net and after a a good battle we brought to the boat a THICK 22" Redfish. Boy what a fish. We called him a "Pig" - he had a big hump at his tail like it had been broken  years ago, so he grew think instead of long! But due to its length, I thought it might place but surely not win -surely a 26.75" fish would be brought in, right?

We fished back thru Horsehead over at Poteat Point and picked up more trash fish and small Trout, we fished back in Jackstaff and picked up another Slot Red for the box, then we came back thru Horsehead and fished Middle River, then we fished back down the Nassau with jigs, picking up some smaller stuff, here and there.  Brian did hookup and expertly play to the boat a keeper sized Flounder which we planned to enter in the Flounder Category. 

The earliest Check In was at 2pm, up at the City Marina, so we headed north and made a stop at the bridge where we fished with the jigs. I thought I had a huge Flounder on, but my hopes were dashed when I brought to the surface a big old Toad Fish - another junk fish to go with our others! After trying to get in a small creek and thinking it might be too shallow, we made one last long run around to the outside of Tyger in hopes for a bigger Flounder - we'd been catching them there all week. I had my eye on the bank, but not on the depth finder and....right up on a mud bank we ran! Brian said I was kicking up a rooster tail of mud 20' high! Oh  Lordy, we were stuck! Luckily the boat was still floating somewhat. Chris balanced the boat out with his weight while Brian and I got out -Brian pulled and I pushed and we backed the boat off the mud... and called it a day! That was a sign! We ran back to Check In and weighed that big Slot Red in - 6.2lbs and it turned out to be the biggest brought to Weigh In for the Tournament.  Boy it was a long day but we went home with First Place in the Redfish Category!

Chris on left, Nik on right

Note! There was a "back story"! Chris's son Nik, owner of Amelia Island Bait and Tackle, was fishing on another boat, so we had a little bit of a competition in that regard. Chris said one of his goals was to "just beat Nik". We did have the biggest Redfish but Nik and his team brought in THREE big slot Reds, with one of them placing 2nd in the Redfish Category, and they had the biggest Flounder of the day to take first in that Category. It was a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

These photos were provided by Michael Kanik, High Exposure Visuals,  thanks Michael!  If you every wanted to capture the memories of that family fishing trip, or maybe what could be the last fishing trip with your parent, or teenage kids - have it professionally produced by High Exposure Visuals!