Wrapping Up The Old Year With Some Great Fishing

 We wrapped up 2025 yesterday with some great fishing - although it was a bit cool at 35 degrees as we
left the Sawpit boat launch!  I had met Mark Averbuch, his son Jared and grandson Max early to get a fishing trip in the last day of the year - we ran up the intracoastal, then up the Nassau to make our first stop up at Seymor's Point - I lost my knit cap on the way and paid for it with a cold forehead those first few runs! Although the bite was not "one fire" as we drifted float rigs and live shrimp at a large drainage but Mark, fishing off the stern, did get the "skunk" off when he hooked and landed a hungry Seatrout then battled a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum to the boat. All fish caught today were released.

We knew the wind would be blowing all morning at 10mph, with gusts, so we had made a plan to try and stay in behind a land mass to get our fishing in, and the plan worked, although we did have run thru the wind to get to where we were going. Our next stop was around at Littlefield where we pitched jigs and the shrimp and all three anglers began to get fish. They found that they had to fish those jigs sloooowww and when they felt a "bump", set the hook. Most were Seatrout just below the size limit but we did have a couple that would have met the size limit. Both Mark and grandson Max hauled in a Flounder each that were right at keeper size. The "baitstealers" began out-competing for our bait though, so we moved on.

After a long run up the Nassau we turned into a small creek and fished a log lined bank and here we found some Redfish. You got to work that bank its full stretch - I was expecting some bites where we started but as we got to the opposite end they began to hookup. I guestimated they caught 10 Redfish, most being right at 17 7/8", but we did get one that was right at 19". The sun had really warmed things up and we'd had pretty good action all morning so as we headed back to the ramp we counted is another great day to wrap up the year fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

It Snowballed

 

A little bit cooler today - 46 heading to the ramp this morning, but clear skies and sunshine for  3/4 of the trip. I met Gregg and Dannie Fitzgerald out at Goffinsville Park as the sun was coming up and with a tide that still had a long hour of coming in, we ran down the Nassau to Twin Creeks and tossed float rigs with live shrimp to the flooded grass line. Dannie was on the stern and she made good use of her drifts, picking up a good handful of hungry Seatrout, most in the 14" range. We then ran back up the Nassau to Pumpkin Hill and drifted the floats and again put those small Trout in the boat until finally, Gregg hooked up and landed a barely legal 15" Trout. But it was legal - I measured it three times!

We then came back to the Seymores Pointe area and fished a large drainage and this really kicked things off. The duo caught Seatrout, almost one after the other, but a couple were up to 17".  Dannie had to tangle with a school of Bluefish, which were fun to catch but we tossed them back. We then dropped down the grass line a bit and again caught fish. Gregg put a handful of small but feisty Redfish in the boat, another 17" Trout while Dannie tried out a jigs fished on the bottom. When that area slowed we moved back up to the original spot and this paid off again! Dannie hooked an landed a nice 16" Black "puppy" Drum, then she expertly battled another big Slot Redfish to the net. They added another couple of keeper Trout before we moved on.

Further down the Nassau we went with jigs and the live shrimp, bumping them on the bottom, and got another handful of small Seatrout. The clouds had rolled in but we had fish in the box, some good action, so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.