Building A Bag

 The weather cleared up for today, although it was a bit "crisp" when I met William and Dara Blalock and their friend Brian out at Goffinsville Park this morning. We had a tide that still had a few hours of going out so we made our first stop just down the river at some docks to fish a small creek with jigs and live shrimp and minnows.  There wasn't much action there but William did haul in a Flounder to "knock the skunk off". We then motored over to Back River and fished a stretch of shell beds and picked up a couple of small Trout there.

Back down the Nassau we came, down to the Spanish Drop area to fish a large drainage and here things picked up a bit. Dara was on the stern fishing the back side of the drain (like the guy yesterday) and she put two keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. The trio added another couple of Flounder to the catch (released) and then William and Brian teamed up to get some Trout.  Our next stop was way up the Nassau fishing a small Creek where William and Brian both put a feisty Redfish each in the boat. 

We came back to Broward Island as the tide began to come to a standstill - Brian stayed hot, catching another couple of Reds, one of which was keepable. We worked down the island and pulled up to a stump where William went in with an excellent cast and BAM! Fish on, and this one pulling some drag. He worked it in patiently and soon landed a nice Slot Redfish. After the team put one more keeper Trout in the boat we headed back to the ramp with a bag of fish, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida

 

Steady Catching

 

I fished with William and Dara Blalock this morning, meeting them up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp early. As we eased out of Eagans Creek we were greeted with some clear skies and just a slight breeze to make for a perfect day to get out on the water here at Amelia Island.  We had a "plan" and that was to make a long run up the intercoastal, over to the Jolly River and up the river to the MOA in time to fish the exposed oysters on a tide that had been coming in for about an hour. Normally I just fish the MOA on the last of an outgoing tide but the last time William and Dara were here we fished it on a "first of incoming" and it paid off with some fish catches. And it paid off today, too!

This duo were making perfect casts to the shell and started off catching some small but feisty Redfish, then Dara hauled in a small Flounder. They picked up a Seatrout then William caught a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum to make it an Amelia Island Back Country Grande Slam. William also had a big fish bite right at the boat, but down deep. He worked it up and landed a huge Catfish!  But later,  to put some icing on the cake, William had a strong bite and after he set the hook and the drag began to rip, we were left speculating "Catfish? Jack? Shark?  No, it was a nice Slot Redfish! William worked it to the boat and landed a 22" Slot fish. 

We moved around to fish the outer edges of Snook Creek and boy was there a bunch of bait moving! I was feeling optimistic about that stretch but even though it looked real good, I think all we got was a small Redfish that Dara reeled in. 

Back down the river, fishing a point with float rigs, things heated up. They caught a couple of small Reds along the right grass line, then they began to catch Seatrout. William hauled in a Trout that was a bit over 18" and Dara hauled in one that was right at 18". Dara also picked up a couple of Flounder just over a submerged shell bed. They had a good handful of smaller Trout too, but one which was of keeper size.

Our final stop was on the outside of Tyger, fishing a flooding bank with jigs and minnows. We found out that the cast had to be right up next to the grass, if not in the grass, and as you worked it out, BAM! Flounder Bite!  They had 5-6 Flounder caught along that stretch with a couple of them being of keeper size. The breeze had kept the heat off most of the morning and we marveled at the green marsh grass and shore birds feeding and as we headed back we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Captain Lawrence Piper is a fishing guide in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida and is a 

 US Coast Guard licensed charter boat operator