Gladson Family

Jessica and Travis Gladson were visiting Amelia Island for the first time with there three kids, Justin, Tanner and Kasey. They came all the way from Wyoming! I caught some finger mullet before picking them up and we were on the water fishing before 8am. This was just a couple of days since tropical storm Faye came through; I had noticed the few times that I went over the bridge during the storm that the water was way up -covering the marsh grass completely. The water in the river seemed to be really clean, but dark - I assume "tannic". It was almost the color of coffee - no cream, of course! There was plenty of bait - mullet everywhere - and shrimp, too. Kasey pulled in a nice black drum and is pictured holding her catch. We also toured Ft. Clinch by boat, the jetties, and Pippi Longstocking's house. We even got an up close look at one of the Coast Guard gun boats!

New Website on line!

If you haven't visited my new website http://www.theanglersmark.com/ lately, check it out! Caroline Blochlinger with CB Advertising Services designed the site and put it all together. There's a link back to this "blog", links to other sites, and photo galleries. Hopefully the site will allow potential clients to find me quicker on the internet. Keep clicking, please!

Inaugral Patriot Day Sporting Clay Shoot

The Nassau County Fire/Rescue Professionals Local 3101 will host their inaugral Patriot Day Sporting Clay Shoot to be held at the Amelia Shotgun Sports, LLC grounds. This years proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Nassau County. The shoot will be held on Thursday September 11, 2008. The event consists of five person teams shooting at 10 different stations. The teams with the three highest averages will receive plaques. There will be opportunities for individual competions with a Calcutta Prize structure. Dinner, presentation of awards, and a raffle will follow the competition. The Event begins at 10:00am. There is a limit of 150 for 30 teams, so register NOW! Registrations will be accepted until September 1, 2008 and will be on a first come first serve basis. NO ALCOHOL PERMITTED PRIOR TO COMPETITION. Contact Chris Gamble at 904-753-4644. Sponsorships available. Make checks payable to Nassau County Local 3101 P.O. Box 3666, Yulee, Fl. 32097

Tail'in Reds

We've got some really high tides coming up and that's a great opportunity to stalk some tailing Redfish. The week of August 25th -through Labor Day will produce those hight tides. There's a few ideal days: Wed 8/27 and Thurs 8/28 there is a late afternoon High; we should launch around 4pm. Sat 8/30 and Sun 8/31 there are mid-morning High's; we should launch no later than 7am. The tides are still high enough Mon 9/1, Tues 9/2, and Wed 9/3, although they're later in the morning. There's also some good High tides the 3rd week in September around the Full Moon. Bring some wading shoes and Let's Go Fishing!

Justin Harrell

Justin and I decided to take in some late afternoon/evening fishing so we launched at 4pm from Atlantic Seafood and cruised south to the Horsehead area. We had some live shrimp and the tide had just started in so we began pitching our jigs up near the oyster beds. We probably hadn't made 5 or 6 casts apiece before BOOM I was hooked up with a big fish and BOOM Justin was hooked up with a big fish. Mine ran like a Bonnet Head shark and eventually broke off heading towards the river. Justin kept his drag light on the Shimano Stradic 1000 and played his fish perfectly. Every few minutes the fish would come to the surface and boil so we knew it wasn't a shark. After long battle, Justin had the fish near the boat and we saw that it was a huge Redfish. He played it a while longer and then we got 'em netted and in the boat. The Red turned out to be a nice 32"'er. Check out the neat spot on the fish - the standard dark spot, but with a light colored center. We released the fish to be caught another day.

Justin & Heather Harrell, her Dad Greg

It's amazing how things change from one trip to another! Unfortunately we found the boat ramp closed at the south end of the island (for a week) so we all treked to Fernandina Beach and launched from there. These guests were looking for an "experience of a life time" and I think they got it. We faced wind and rain challenges but the fish were biting! Greg hooked up with a trout early and then later we found a nice bite of small red's and black drum and some more trout. There were a few times there when I thought to myself, "this is CRAZY". We had broken out the poncho's and had gotten fairly damp so...we fished on! At one time Heather and her Dad had a "double" of drum - Heather reeled in a Red and Greg reeled in a Black. The MOA (mother of all) produced a number of small drum for Greg - who had zeroed in on the spot. Justin had the big battles with shark and then some smaller reds. After the trip I left my boat parked in the front drive and ran some errands - a bigger storm came through and filled the boat with pine straw -whooee- what fun.

Rodney Mills and friends

What a day! I launched early and cast for finger mullet - neting about 3 dozen - before I picked up Rodney and his friends, Harry and Roy. We also picked up some live shrimp at Atlantic Seafood, but we were able to run to Jolley River and be fishing by 7:30am. It was somewhat cooler today and there was a light mist that turned into a fairly heavy fog by 8:30am. There was no wind - the river was almost like a lake - and once we got settled in we began to pickup Trout and some nice, but undersized, Redfish- quite a "flurry" of action. We moved from spot to spot, picking up a fish here and there and then we settled in at the MOA -"Mother of All" spots. There was a fairly brisk bite as Rodney, Harry and Roy all had Reds, Trout and even a Black Drum. As things began to slow down, Roy had a hookup that produced a reel-screaming run and the fight was on! We all began to speculate as to what species he had on and most of us were leaning towards a Bonnet Head shark. Luckily Roy didn't trust our opinions and break it off because eventually a big 'ole Red tail flopped up and we all knew that this was a nice fish! We eventually got it netted and the fish turned out to be a nice slot-sized 26" Redfish. Later we had a few more trout and then all of the anglers had there battle with the Bonnet Head sharks. What a great day of fishing!

Riverside Art Show -Jacksonville

Whoohee! I've been accepted to show at the Riverside Art Show in Jacksonville, Florida September 6th and 7th. See http://www.riversideavondale.org/index.php?id=46 for more information. This means that after I fish and get the boat washed up and tucked away I'll need to go into my workshop and get some more pieces made for the show! Come see me at space #51 that weekend- we'll talk fishing!