Bigger Trout

I'm slowly weaning myself off the mud minnows and going to live shrimp now. There's not quite as many "baitstealers" around and the shrimp are staying alive in the live well. I met Todd Billmire and his buddy Tripp Brown out at the Eagans Creek boat ramp Friday morning with the tide still coming in. So we crossed over to the outside of Tiger Island and fished some flooded marsh grass with float rigs and shrimp. Both anglers picked up some small Trout to get things started. We bumped up further north and fished some more marsh grass as the tide started out and here things picked up a
bit. Both Tripp and Todd picked up a couple of keeper sized Trout then Tripp put a Slot sized Red in the boat, fishing over some flooded oysters in about 4 foot of water. We ran up to Jolley, bypassed the "bank" because another angler was already there and ran further up to Snook Creek. Things really heated up here. Todd landed another keeper Trout then Tripp had a hookup. It was fighting like a Redfish but when Tripp landed it we saw it was a nice 20"+ Trout! Now that's a nice fish! Tripp picked up another feisty Redfish, a small Blue Fish, and both anglers added a couple of 17-18" Trout. Then Todd had a strong bite, fought it patiently, and landed his second Slot Redfish of the day. We stopped back by the bank, fished it with float rigs, picked up maybe one or two fish, then ended the day behind Tiger Island fishing jigs. Although we had no real bites here, we wrapped it up and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Non Stop Catching Action

I fished with the Blalock's again today, Dara and William and Bob, meeting them down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp early. Bob wasn't able to make it yesterday and after hearing about the great catches that Dara and William had,  he (and I) thought that it would be difficult to have two days in a row of good fishing. But wrong we were! You know it's a pretty good day when you debate amongst your selves "did we catch 50 fish? 60 fish? 70 fish?".  All I know is that we went through about 12 dozen's of bait and much of
that was used catching fish. We had run up the Nassau River and stopped at Twin Creeks right at the peak of high tide. It took a few minutes, but then the anglers began to put some Trout in the boat. William added a small but feisty Redfish to the catch. It seemed the fish started biting right when the tide changed. Although it was fun catching small Trout, we decided to move down the river to another marsh run out and here things really heated up. They caught a few more small Trout then began to pickup some keeper sized ones as we trolled along the bank. As we got to some submerged oysters,
BOOM! Redfish began to bite. They caught small ones, medium ones an big Slot sized fish. We had double hookups and Triple hookups. Just when you thought that there were no more big ones, there would be a strong ripping of one of the anglers drag and, Big Fish On! It eventually slowed so we moved up the river a short distance and got into some more fish. They added a handful of Flounder, a couple of small Black "puppy" Drum, and a couple of Stingrays. It was a great day of fishing and this one will be hard to duplicate!

Big Redfish For Big Weekend

We've got the big Georgia/Florida football weekend coming up and Dog fans Dara and William Blalock are in town to kick things off early with an Amelia Island, Fishing trip. I met them up at the Eagans Creek boat ramp early and we decided to stay in the creek while we were there. Both anglers were tossing jigs and live shrimp, and on occasion a mud minnow and at a large runout William picked up a couple of hungry Seatrout. We moved further up the creek and both he and Dara put a few more Trout in the boat. There wasn't a whole lot of size to them so eased out of the creek
and ran up to the outside of Tiger Island and set up at a large runout and continued to toss the jigs. It wasn't long before William had a good hookup and landed a nice feisty Redfish. Then Dara's drag ripped and boy this was a big fish, FISH ON! She played the fish like a pro taking in line patiently as she lifted the big fish when she had the opportunity and letting it run when it wanted to. After a good long battle she landed a nice 27"+ oversized Redfish. What a nice fish! And just minutes after getting pictures and tossing it back William hooked up and another big fish on! He too was working it patiently and had a good battle all the way around the boat and...FISH OFF! The hook tore loose! But William was not to be deterred and in just a few minutes had another big fish on. He worked it slowly to the boat and landed a nice 24" Slot Sized Redfish. We had  one more Red then ran around and fished the back side of Tiger, caught one more Red, then made the run back to Eagans Creek and fished some docks.Things heated up as the tide dropped down. They caught another couple of hungry Trout, two keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum, another Redfish or two, and finally, a small Grouper! Now that's the way to wrap up a great day of pre-game fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Persnickity Fish

We had a beautiful morning greet Paul Benson and I when we met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. There was only a slight breeze, just enough to keep the bugs off, and the tide was getting right as we headed up the Amelia River with plans to dip into Jackstaff to fish a marsh lined bank. We had brought fly gear and spin gear and Paul started out tossing a Clouser on an intermediate line, blind casting to the bank and making excellent casts. We worked the entire bank and about half way through switched to a
sinking Shrimp fly on a floating line, but nothing induced a strike. I had Paul switch to a live shrimp and jig and BOOM! Fish on the first cast! Paul patiently played the fish and landed a nice keeper sized Flounder. As we finished out the stretch, Paul landed a few Seatrout as he bounced his jig on the bottom. We ran through Jackstaff to the other side of Horsehead and down Nassau River just a ways and set up on the outside of two large marsh runouts. Paul had a few hits there but when we got up to some old oysters the fishing got hot. He began to hookup with one feisty Redfish after another, with a Trout thrown in on occasion. We bumped up one more marsh rounout, got another Trout  and then found a big Flounder to add to the catch. Our next stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe but all we caught were a couple of Pin Fish. We bounced across the river and fished a large outflow in deeper water and we added another Trout (Paul had long since tallied an Amelia Island Back Country Slam). After fishing that stretch up to Bubblegum Reef, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Still Catching Fish on the High Tide

I fished yesterday afternoon as part of a "group" trip. I had Mike and Mitzi and George and Sharon on my boat, and what a fun group they were. It's a pleasure going out with folks who appreciate being out on new waters and hope that they might just catch a fish! Well, we were handicapped with a high and incoming tide and on top of that there was somewhat of a breeze, but we made the best of it and caught some fish. Our first stop was up at the outside of Tiger Island, tossing float rigs with live shrimp and mud minnows as bait. George "knocked the skunk off" when he hooked up and landed a
hungry Seatrout. The bait stealers were out in full force and all of the anglers were doing battle with them. We jumped over to Bell River and George, who had been "living right",  put another Trout in the boat. We ran around to Lanceford Creek and found a flooded grass patch with underlying oyster beds and here things picked up just a tad. Mitzi got on the board when she caught and landed and nice Trout. Then George had a strong bite and this one was pulling harder. He played the fish patiently and landed a nice feisty Redfish. Mike was getting good, long casts and it paid off as he
landed his first Trout of the day. After George and Mitzi put another Seatrout in the boat things slowed so we made one more stop over at Oyster Bay dock. In just a short while Mike and Mitzi had landed another Trout, Mitzi had a Stingray and Sharon saved her catches for last, catching the only Blue Fish of the day, but also a large Stingray. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

The Girls Go Fishing

I fished yesterday morning with Debbie Corbett and her granddaughter Sidney. I picked them up early up at the Eagans Creek boat ramp and it was our first real cool day and my first for wearing jeans after a long spring and summer in shorts! We had a little bit of wind so we decided to fish some docks in Eagans and that turned out to be the right move.  I had a bait well full of live shrimp and mud minnows and for the first time in a while, the shrimp seemed to be the better bait. The two anglers were making
excellent casts with their jig rods and within minutes they were catching fish.  Sidney "knocked the skunk off" with the first catch, a nice feisty Redfish which she patiently worked to the boat. From then on and for about 2 hours were catching fishing. Debbie was fishing out of the stern port side while Sidney fished from the stern starboard side. We had one or two fish take the hook and run up into the dock pilings and break themselves out but finally Sidney had a strong hookup and, FISH ON! She applied some pressure away from the pilings and got the fish out to deeper water. This fish was digging deep and pulling hard but Sidney was up to the challenge and eventually landed a nice keeper sized 18" Black "puppy" Drum. And just a short time later Debbie did the same, fighting and landing another 17" Puppy Drum. We fished and caught until they quit biting, winning some and losing some then we ran further up the creek to try some float rigs around some flooding oysters. We had no real bites there so we ran out and over to Bell River and stuck with the float rigs. Sidney put one more Redfish in the boat here. And with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Birthday Fishing Trip

Chip Cosper treated his son Christian to a 14th birthday fishing trip and he brought along his brother Henry and his friend Austin to help celebrate. We met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp, had a brief safety session, then headed up the Nassau River to fish a marsh run out on the last of an outgoing tide. The anglers were making excellent casts within minutes, tossing jigs with live shrimp and some mud minnows to the exposed oysters, but the fish weren't cooperating. I predicted that when the tide changed we'd begin to get some bites and sure enough, we did. Austin "knocked
the skunk off" when he landed a hungry Seatrout and Christian followed that up with one of his own. We jumped up to some docks at Seymore's Pointe and the fish catching really picked up.Young Henry hooked up and landed a nice feisty Redfish, Austin put a Black "puppy" Drum. Christian put another Redfish in the boat and there were a handful of Mangrove Snapper landed. Then Chip had a strong bite and FISH ON! This was a big fish as it ripped the drag on Chip's reel. But he kept the pressure on, took his time and after a good battle, landed a nice 23" Slot Redfish. And shortly after that
he put keeper sized Black Drum in the boat (all fish were released today). Our next stop was down at Broward Island. Things started slow but picked up as we worked the bank. Christian and Austin added a couple of Seatrout to the catch, Henry landed another Redfish, and Chip caught a Sheepshead. Austin was good at catching the Trout, landing another, then Christian topped it off to get the sole Flounder of the day. This earned these anglers an Amelia Island Back Country "Super Grande Slam"- they caught Seatrout, Redfish, Black Drum, Sheepshead and Flounder! We made one final stop where the birthday boy put three Trout in the boat, BOOM, BOOM and BOOM and with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Birthday Fishing Trip

Chip Cosper treated his son Christian to a 14th birthday fishing trip and he brought along his brother Henry and his friend Austin to help celebrate. We met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp, had a brief safety session, then headed up the Nassau River to fish a marsh run out on the last of an outgoing tide. The anglers were making excellent casts within minutes, tossing jigs with live shrimp and some mud minnows to the exposed oysters, but the fish weren't cooperating. I predicted that when the tide changed we'd begin to get some bites and sure enough, we did. Austin "knocked
the skunk off" when he landed a hungry Seatrout and Christian followed that up with one of his own. We jumped up to some docks at Seymore's Pointe and the fish catching really picked up.Young Henry hooked up and landed a nice feisty Redfish, Austin put a Black "puppy" Drum. Christian put another Redfish in the boat and there were a handful of Mangrove Snapper landed. Then Chip had a strong bite and FISH ON! This was a big fish as it ripped the drag on Chip's reel. But he kept the pressure on, took his time and after a good battle, landed a nice 23" Slot Redfish. And shortly after that
he put keeper sized Black Drum in the boat (all fish were released today). Our next stop was down at Broward Island. Things started slow but picked up as we worked the bank. Christian and Austin added a couple of Seatrout to the catch, Henry landed another Redfish, and Chip caught a Sheepshead. Austin was good at catching the Trout, landing another, then Christian topped it off to get the sole Flounder of the day. This earned these anglers an Amelia Island Back Country "Super Grande Slam"- they caught Seatrout, Redfish, Black Drum, Sheepshead and Flounder! We made one final stop where the birthday boy put three Trout in the boat, BOOM, BOOM and BOOM and with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Non Stop Bite

I hear cooler weather is coming in this weekend but today we had mild temperatures with a somewhat overcast sky and only a slight breeze, just enough to keep the bugs off and make for a great day of fishing! I had picked up Pamela Linker and her husband Richard down at the City marina and we headed over to Eagans Creek to fish some dock pilings on the first of an incoming tide. I had live shrimp and mud minnows in the well and both seemed to do good. I think it was Pamela's first cast and after she had a "bump, bump,
bump", she set the hook and landed a nice keeper sized Seatrout. Well whoever said that catching a fish on the first cast was bad luck, was wrong. Because from then until about an hour and a half later, these two anglers were putting fish in the boat. They worked one dock up and down, from shallow to deep, and caught a good dozen feisty Redfish with a Slot sized one also. Richard was picking his spots and picked up another keeper sized Trout along with a handful of smaller ones. He also put two hard fighting Black "puppy" Drum in the boat to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam. When the tide got up over the oysters the bite slowed so we picked up and made the long run around to the Jolley River with plans to toss float rigs to the now flooded oysters. Bad move. This produced no fish. Ouch. But we move on around to the outside of Tiger, picked up a couple of small Trout, then Pamela put another keeper Trout in the boat. We moved around to the Tiger logs and the duo added a small Trout, a small Mangrove Snapper, a nice Croaker, and small Flounder to the count. The Flounder gave them a "Grande Slam"! Our last stop was over in Bell River and again, a couple of more Trout. Although Hurricane Matthew messed the fishing up here at Amelia Island, the bite is picking up and making for some great fishing trips.

Uptick in Fish Catching

I've fished the last three days and today was the first where we at least had some "catching" going on. The river is full of silt and mud and grass, many of the bait shops had not been able to completely restock their live bait, and fish just haven't been biting. But today was better! I had met Jason and Sam Bojsa down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp this morning...yes it's open...just the fixed dock and part of the wooden boardwalk roped off. We headed up the Nassau River, all the way to Seymore's Pointe and eased in to fish some still exposed oysters on a tide that had been coming in for an
hour or so. Both anglers were making excellent casts with jigs and shrimp  and after a short while Jason put a hungry Seatrout in the boat. We worked the bank slowly and Jason had another hookup, this time a feisty Redfish. We ran down Twin Creeks, switched to Float rigs with the shrimp and we put a handful of Seatrout in the boat and another Redfish or two. We bumped down the way and fished the now flooded marsh grass with floats and here we had a good flurry of Trout catches. Sam had picked up a couple of Trout, Jason caught a couple, then they had a "double" hookup. Both anglers landed Trout, but Sam's was the biggest, a nice 16" keeper sized fish (all fish were released today). And again, another Redfish. Our next stop was back at Seymore's Pointe to fish some rocks in hopes of landing a Mangrove Snapper, but they weren't home. We ran down to Christopher Creek, switched back to jigs, and Jason's perfect cast to a barely exposed stump produced another Redfish. Then they started picking up Mangrove Snapper. Sam proved adept at catching the sneaky fish and a couple were of keeper sized. We worked that bank thoroughly. We made a few stops on the way back to check out some flooded marsh grass in hopes of seeing some tailing Redfish but they just weren't any to be found, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Beautiful Morning Slow Bite

I fished again with Dennis Brizzi and his buddy Hal, meeting them out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp. With only a few ramps open after Hurricane Matthew came thru, it's good to have at least one undamaged! We met as the sun came up and boy what a beautiful morning it was. The tide was high and still coming in so we took advantage of that and ran around to fish Christopher Creek while we still had water. I believe it was Hal's first cast and he had a hookup - a feisty Mangrove Snapper - not much size him, but fun to
catch.  We caught a good handful of the Snapper then we eased around the creek looking for something bigger. The sun got a little higher and made for a really nice fishing experience, but the fish weren't cooperating. We made  around to Jackstaff and as we entered the creek we found a severe boating hazard left over from the storm (see pic) - a large pole stuck in the bottom with a beam attached. We got around it and ran through the creek and set up at a large marsh out flow and began fishing with our live shrimp under floats. I don't think we got a single bite as we worked that spot and a lengthy marsh line. We jumped over to the other side of the creek, switched to jigs and Hal immediately hooked up with a Seatrout. That seemed to do the trick and both anglers caught a handful of Seatrout. Our last stop was back at Nassau River, fishing some runouts, and even though the conditions were getting just right, we found just one feisty Redfish and another Trout or two. After giving it our best, we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida.

After the Storm

Today was my first day back to fishing after hurricane Matthew came through. I hope all of you who are living on the east coast came through it OK. Chris Jones, his wife Beth and their son Andrew met me up at the Eagans Creek boat ramp next to Leaders and Sinkers bait shop this morning: The boat ramp at the City marina is gone (and thusly closed). But we were itching to get out on the water and see how the fishing is, and wouldn't you know it, the very last of  Nor'easter was passing through so we had some winds! We went fishing anyway! Our first stop was around at the
outside of Tiger Island and even though the wind was pushing us hard, and the tide was really high, Beth "knocked the skunk off" and landed a handful of hungry Seatrout on her float rig with live shrimp. We fished it as long as we could stand it then ran through Tiger Basin, around to Bell River, and over to Lanceford Creek to get out of the north wind. Chris picked up a feisty Redfish and Beth landed another Trout. We stopped off at some docks on Lanceford and young Andrew got on the board with a hungry Sea Bass catch. Our next stop was over at Soap Creek and here Chris caught a Trout while Andrew was the one to reel in another feisty Redfish. Although we had started at Eagans Creek, we ran back to it's shelter and fished the bank on past the boat ramp and Chris found a "honey hole" when he began to hookup with Seatrout, the biggest being 16".  Andrew found another Redfish, Chris caught one, then Beth did, too. Before we left we fished some docks in Eagans and here the anglers rounded out their Amelia Island Back Country Slam when Andrew fought to the boat an nice 17" Flounder. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be Back on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Fighting Thru the Bait Stealers

Another beautiful morning greeted us today - not so much clear and sunny but, just a tad cooler, some crazy clouds, and a slight breeze to make for a good fishing morning. I had met Allen and Laverne Webb down at the Atlantic Seafood dock and we had a bait well full of live shrimp, mud minnows being in scarce supply. After getting thru the no-wake zone we made a B-line for the Jolley River with plans to fish the "bank" on a tide that had been coming in for about 3 hours. Both Allen and Laverne were tossing float rigs with
the shrimp up near the marsh grass and immediately began to get bites. Unfortunately there were a ton of "bait stealers" - pin fish, small Snapper, Needle fish, etc. that constantly harassed us. But these anglers were ready to fish and we worked thru the junk fish to catch some nice fish. They picked up a Trout or two and landed a couple of the Mangrove Snapper then Allen had a strong hookup and finally, FISH ON! He played the big fish perfectly and patiently and was doing everything right when the big fish burrowed itself up into the grass cut itself off on the oysters, OUCH! That was a nice fish. But we kept on fishing! We move around to the north side of Tiger and here Laverne hooked up and landed a nice keeper sized Flounder. We picked up another smaller Flounder then ran around to fish the outside of Tiger as the tide reached its peak. Again, the bait stealers were a pest but Allen fought through it and landed a nice, hard fighting, keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. Our last stop was around at Bell River, again we dealt with the small fish, had some good bites, then called it a day, another great one to be out on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Non Stop Action

For close to two hours, that is! I had met Brian and Amy Easley this afternoon down at the City docks with a pre-planned afternoon trip in mind, just to catch a lower tide. the strategy did the trick as we found at our first stop along Jolley Bank. the two anglers were tossing mud minnows under floats up to the exposed oysters on an outgoing tide, one that had been receding for about 4 hours. they almost immediately began to catch feisty Redfish. Brian was positioned perfectly out from where they were biting and he picked up a few before Amy got in on the action. Then she began to put
fish after fish in the boat. although most were slightly undersized, they were fun to catch and occasion they would land one that measured right at the slot. They had "double" hookups and landings more than once! Brian also caught a couple of keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum (all fish were released today) and Amy landed a Mangove Snapper or two. Both anglers tangled with high flying Ladyfish, Amy snagged a large Gar, briefly, and she also put a Croaker in the boat. We fished the area, (twice!) then ran up to the MOA. Fishing with jigs now, Brian landed two more Reds and a
hard fighting Jack Crevalle and Amy added another Red. We made a final stop back at Tiger Island and the duo added another couple of Reds, another Snapper, and then rounded out their Amelia Island Back Country Slam when they put a Flounder in the boat. We were also treated to a Salt Marsh Mink sighting. The sun was going down so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

High Tide Trout

We had our first cool morning today when I met Corey McKenzie and his dad Jimmy down at the Atlantic Seafood dock. The tide was about two thirds of the way in and still coming so we made our first run around to the outside of Tiger Island and began fishing with float rigs and a top water lure. Corey picked up a couple of Trout but there was nothing hitting Jimmy's lure so he switched to the float too, baited with mud minnows. Both anglers picked up a few Trout before the Ladyfish moved in and became a nuisance. We ran
around to the Jolley River and fished "the bank" and again, picked up a couple of hungry Trout. After fishing further up the Jolley, and then checking out some flooded grass, we ran back and around to the Bell River to fish some flooded oysters as the tide peaked. The two anglers had a fast flurry of Trout bites, the biggest of the day, then again, the Ladyfish moved in, and then, no more bites. Our last stop was around at Lanceford Creek, fishing some docks on the first of an outgoing tide with jigs and minnows. Corey had a hookup and we were all thinking "Redfish", but it turned out to be a rare-for-
our-area Cigar Fish, only the second one we've had on my boat. His dad followed that up with another Trout, caught on the bottom. And with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.