It Was a Big One

 We passed on the early morning fishing today with thunderstorms rattling the windows before the sun
came up, but we met at Noon up at Old Town Bait and Tackle to take in an Amelia Island Back Country fishing trip. David and Ellen Capps met me at the dock and after easing out of Eagans Creek we made our way up to the Jolley River and further up to JC's spot to catch the first of an incoming tide and toss jigs with mud minnows to the exposed oysters. It only took a minute or two before David hooked up and expertly landed a feisty Redfish. Both anglers had numerous nibbles after that but no takers.

We came back to Snook Creek and fished that stretch with floats and the minnows, then came further back to Jolley "bank" and drifted it with floats, then back to Tyger Cut and again, fished teh floats. The bites were few and far between. But after running back and around to Lanceford Creek we hit BM#2 spot and here we had some pretty good action. Ellen hooked up and landed a hungry Seatrout, David found a trout up deep in a cove, then he caught a nice Redfish, then another. Then he hooked up and when his drag started ripping we knew it was big. The fish came charging to David and he cranked up the slack, thenit drove back into the marsh and over a hidden shell bed - it rolled up, a HUGE back, then BAP! big fish off! Ouch, it was a big one! We finished the day over in Soap Creek and Ellen topped it off with a small Flounder catch. Other than that one spot, most of the others we "sparse", but it was a beautiful day, we had caught a few, and it was a great day to be out fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Old Dog New Tricks

 

Amelia Island Slam

 Prettiest day all week! We noted that the water was like glass as we ran up the intracoastal, shore birds all
along the bank made for a nice ride. I had met the Arnett family, David and Kim and their girls Abbey and Bethaney, down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp. We went up the intracoastal, then dipped into Jackstaff and worked the "bank" with jigs and mud minnows, and finger mullet (and later on, some small Pogey's). We had some pretty good action, picking up some small Flounder, tangling with some Ladyfish, hooking up some feisty Redfish, and finally Abbey put a nice keeper sized Flounder in the boat.

We then ran thru Horsehead and over to the Nassau and fished Twin Creeks and picked up more fish (it seemed like every stop we got fish), Kim battled a hard fighting Jack Crevalle to the boat, then we moved down to a large drainage and fished it (maybe we got skunked here), then we headed down to Broward Island.

It was almost low, still easing out just a bit, and we had some good action here. By this time Bethaney had taken over "Net Girl" duties and did an amazing job - she didn't miss a single one, even the big Slot Redfish that her sister Abbey hooked up and expertly played to the boat. Bethaney went in there fast, under the fish's jaw and netted it right up! David had caught a short Trout earlier but this time he got it above the keeper limit, and we had an Amelia Island Back Country Slam in the box! We had good fish catching action all morning, had some beautiful weather, some a bunch of wildlife and so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Lollie and Pops Went Fishing

 Lollie and Pops went fishing at Amelia Island.

Lollie caught a Red Drum real fast! We call them "Redfish". 

Then Pops caught a lot of Speckled Seatrout. We call them "Trout".

Lollie caught a hard fighting Jack Crevalle. 

We fished near an island with trees and logs. We were using mud minnows for bait.

Lollie caught a Redfish that was 23" long! Pops netted the fish. 

We fished some marsh grass. Pops caught a few Seatrout.

Our last stop, Lollie caught a HUGE Redfish. It was 27 1/2" long! Pops netted that one, too!

We let it go. It was too big to keep. 

Lollie and Pops went fishing at Amelia Island.

 

Two Asterisks and a Slot

 Finally, we had some good weather this morning -just a slight breeze, slightly overcast, and mild 
 temperatures greeted us when I met Lee Warren and David Vice out at Goffinsville Park. We made a short run back down the Nassau and pulled up to Twin Creeks to pitch jigs and mud minnows to the drainages. It paid off - we picked up a couple of feisty Redfish then David had a strong bite that ripped his drag and took him around the boat. I was managing the net and the Go Pro and trying to position myself when David yelled "big Sheepshead" and I was thinking, "naaaah, can't be a Sheepshead" and I even called out "Black Drum?" But then David expertly brought it up to the surface and we saw it was a massive Sheepshead, and when netted we saw it had been foul hooked*. and measured right at 20" - big enough to take first place in the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament-Sheepshead Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings). Boy what a fish!

We fished that area then moved down to fish another drainage. Lee had hauled in a couple of oyster clumps and when he had a heavy rod on another cast he was thinking "shell" but then it began to tug deep and Fish On!  Lee worked it patiently to the boat and landed a big 17" Flounder*. We added one more keeper sized Flounder along that stretch. We fished some dock pilings on the first of the incoming tide and picked up a small Sea Bass and a small Mangrove Snapper, then we made a move.

After making our way down to Broward Island we fished the very last of the outgoing down there and it paid off. We had a good strong bite that was ripping drag - we saw a big Red roll, then it went deep, and....thru the hook! Ouch! But shortly afterwards, David had another good bite, played it perfecty, and brought to the net a nice 22" Slot Redfish. We had good weather all morning long, we had some fish in the box, and so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Atmospheric Changes and Fronts

 We've had a little bit of weather the last few days - lot's of rain showers passing thru and some high
winds. Those winds died down just a bit today, so we decided to fish, but they were still an issue. Anytime we have some of those weather pattern changes it seems to affect the fish bite. Today, I met Larry Soper and his son Dustin up at Old Town Bait and Tackle. We had (what we thought was) a bait well full of live shrimp, with no mud minnows available, and after making our way out of Eagans Creek we made a quick run over to Lanceford Creek and fished some dock pilings with jigs on the very first of an incoming tide. Just as a I thought, the "baitstealers" were a pain- we fed 'em good!  But Dustin, fishing off the bow and out deep picked up a nice keeper sized Whiting. He hooked an had a bigger one to the boat, then a couple of more smaller ones. We moved around the dock and Larry hooked and landed a feisty Sheepshead.

We fished a drainage in Lanceford and here Larry put up a valiant battle with a big Bonnethead Shark which he expertly landed for photograph and release, then we made our way back around and up to the Jolley River. We worked the "bank" with float rigs and Dustin got back in action when he boated a feisty Redfish. We switched back to jigs and had some good action catching those Redfish.  After running further up the Jolley we tried JC's spot for a bit, then came back and fished Snook Creek then Tyger Cut with the floats. Our final stop was around at Bell River fishing the jigs and here Dustin hooked up and brought to the boat a small Flounder. We had gone thru 6 dozen live shrimp with the baitstealers  doing their thing so we ended up tying on some DOA Shrimp to get us thru the trip. We had some actionhere and there, and even though the wind made it a challenge, as we headed back to the dock we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

My Very First Paid Charter

 I started keeping a fishing journal in 1998 - I'd make note of where I fished and what we caught, etc. After I got my Captains license in 2007,  I continued to keep a written journal while I started running charters and the very first trip was recorded on July 23, 2007:

It reads....

My first paid charter, w/ Bill Evans & grandson(?) Jokim.  Went up Boggy Creek 7am, tide hi, starting out. Started fishing past Police Lodge. Bill hung something big, got off. (Beetle Spin) Jokim caught a nice  bream on worm. Fished until 11:00

I actually remember that trip - Mr. Evans had brought along his 9' fly rod - I had it in one of my console side rod holders. As we ran up Boggy we approached the "Hump Back" bridge -cool if you've never seen it - and I slowed to a crawl to ease thru the pilings safely. But I was so intent on making it thru safely I forgot that Mr. Evan's fly rod was sticking up in the rod holder as we started under the bridge, BAM, BAM, BAM...and the top section of the rod came off!  I cringed. Luckily it just separated and pushed back together with no damage. It was an inauspicious start, to say the least.  Although my "repeat" rate for customers is pretty good, I never got to fish with Mr. Evans again. 

I kept the written journal going and also began to "Blog" my trips in 2008 (keeping a double journal) and did both thru April 2013 - that's a long time of being hardheaded and not turning loose of the "old school" recordings.

Saving The Best For Last

 After a long Labor Day weekend, we were back fishing today, and wouldn't you know it, we
had....WIND!  It wasn't so bad that we did go fishing - the rain chance was down in the single digits, but the wind was forecasted to get up to 14mph, and I believe it did. It made for some "challenging" fishing but my two anglers, Bart Mathews and his longtime friend Jaime were up for the task. We met down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp and made our way up the Nassau River to make our first stop at a large runout at Seymore's Point. They were getting good casts with the wind at their back and getting good drifts on the very first of a (very) high and outgoing tide, but we had no takers.

We then ran thru Horsehead and over to Poteat Point and drifted that stretch of grass with the floats, and may have had a nibble, but nothing more, then we came back into Jackstaff and fished a small creek and here the action picked up a bit - Jaime hooked up and had a big battle with what I thought was going to be a big Redfish - he played it perfectly - but as closer to the boat it started making that trademark dig-dig-dig and sure enough, when Jaime brought it to the surface we netted a big Jack Crevalle - a great battle! Just minutes later Bart had the strong bite - he played it expertly and I thought for sure we had it but the fish headed right for some submerged oysters and "BAP" fish off! Ouch. 

We ran back thru Horsehead and down to Middle River and fished a stretch, then continued on down to Pumpkin Hill where we switched to jigs and Bart picked up a an "almost legal" Redfsih, then came back to Twin Creeks where we tangled with a couple of Ladyfish. We then moved east to another nice drainage and pitched the jigs. Bart had put on a finger mullet, tossed it to the drainage and almost instantly, BAM! Big Fish ON! And boy was it big. A long fight ensued - that fish took Bart from the Bow, down the port side, around the stern, back around the stern, back around the stern and finally Bart wore 'em out and landed an Oversized 31.5" Redfish - big enough to move into 2nd Place in the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament-Redfish Category (scroll down the right side of this report for standings). Boy what a magnificent fish! After fishing Spanish Drop briefly, we headed back to the ramp and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Brothers Fishing Bash

 

The Bochy brothers, Joe and Bruce and Mark, all met up here at Amelia Island for a birthday get-together and took in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip this morning. I met them down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp and after a short run up the Nassau we made our first stop at Spanish Drop and went with the jig rods and mud minnows on the very last of an outgoing tide. The first "demo" cast produced a hungry Flounder so we were off to a good start! We worked that bank then skipped up to Twin Creeks and here we had some pretty good action.

It seemed each of the brothers had their own expertise - Joe was catching most of the Flounder (one of which was of keeper size), Mark was catching Seatrout, and Bruce was catching Redfish! Joe had made a cast  up to the bank and worked it out deep and had a big Oversized Seatrout take it right at the boat - he worked it in patiently and landed a 20" Seatrout for photograph and release. Bruce was expertly landing fesity Redfish while Joe put the Flounder in the boat. We then fished a dock up at Seymore's Point on the first of an incoming tide - the only spot we got "skunked", then we made our way down to Broward Island where Bruce did put a hungry Trout in the boat. 

The final stop was fishing back at Pumpkin Hill, this time using float rigs and the minnows and here we picked up a nice 18" keeper sized Seatrout. The anglers tangled with a bunch of Lady fish here and Bruce added one more Redfish to his catch total before we headed back to the ramp. It had been a beautiful day, we had some good action, so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Recipe of The Month: Crawfish Queso

 This came across my screen, from Hymels Kajun Kitchen...

1/2 stick butter      

1  small onion, diced                                                                                   1   can Original Rotel                                                                              1/2 bunch of green onions, the green part, chopped                                2   Tablespoons diced jalapeno's (I used fresh)                                            2  Teaspoons Cajun Seasoning                                                                    1  lb Velveeta Queso Blanco                                                                        1   8oz bag shredded Colby Jack cheese                                                    1  can evaporated milk                                                                                1  lb Crawfish tails  (the tails that I find are always 8oz, so I also cooked 1/2 lb of Hot Jimmy Dean sausage and added that to the mix)                                                                                                                    Tortilla Chips

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the chopped onions, the jalapenos and the green onions and cook them down until soft. Add the can of Rotel and cook for a bit, add some Cajun Seasoning. Add the evaporated milk and stir, add the Velveeta, cut up into chunks, add the shredded cheese and cook over low heat. (I cooked the sausage separately and added it now). Add some Cajun Seasoning if needed. When the mixture begins to get hot, add the Crawfish Tails - they are already cooked so all we really need to do is heat them up. Serve with some Tortilla chips.