Jack in the Back (water)

 

Boy what a beautiful day today - it was in he high 60's when I launched at sunup and when it did come up there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Almost zero breeze did bring out the No-Seeums but we had spray for that! I met John Fredericks and his fishing buddy Dan Forsch down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp and we made a quick run up the intracoastal and into the Nassau to make our first stop at Spanish Drop with a tide that was about an hour shy of being low. The two anglers went with jigs and live shrimp and pitched the bank as we eased into the slacking current. We had a handful of nibbles, and actually two good bites that ripped some drag and bent a rod, but they didn't take until John hooked up and landed a keeper sized Sheepshead to knock the skunk off. 

We bumped down the bank, fishing drainages and had bites but no takers, so we moved on. Our next
stop was up the Nassau where we fished between two docks and here the action picked up. Dan got hot fishing off the stern and hooked and landed a handful of Seatrout, caught deep, with one of them being of keeper size. Then he had s strong hookup and this fish was fighting erratically and Dan stayed with it. He worked it in and landed a keeper sized Spanish Mackerel.  We've caught a few Spanish Mackerel over the years, but not many, in the back water. 

Our next stop was around at Seymore's Pointe where we pitched to some dock pilings - the trio fought and landed three Black "puppy" Drum, just undersized. Dan had one strong bite that wrapped around a piling and broke off, boy what a fish! We then motored down to Broward Island and fished a drainage waiting for the tide to turn down there and got some good action catching Seatrout deep again, and one of those was of keeper size.  We worked down the bank as the tide changed and both John and Dan put a Slot Red in the boat after expertly battling them to the net. We had slowly put a nice box of fish together so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

We Runned and Gunned

 I had the Barton crew again today, this time meeting Brad, and his friends Blake, and Blake down at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp. I had checked the weather and it was going to be a nice sunny day, but the wind was going to pick up later in the trip. Sure enough, it did.  Our first stop was way down at the jetties off of the south end of Amelia Island. We started on the outside, pitching jigs then worked our way around to the inside. Although it was not "rough" there were some serious rollers. All three anglers and myself tried our best to steady ourselves while pitching to the rocks and we did get some fish. I think it was Brad and Blake the younger who put into the boat some Bluefish, then we got a handful of Seatrout, one of which was of keeper size. 

We left the rollers, skirted Bird Island (or what used to be Bird Island) and pulled up into the mouth of Simpsons Creek, switching to float rigs and live shrimp, fishing the last of an incoming tide. We had a nibble or two then Brad had a strong hookup. We could tell it was bigger than a Trout, thought it was a Redfish, but it turned out to be a nice sized Spanish Mackerel.

Our next stop was up at the mouth of the Nassau River, again drifting float rigs and live shrimp, and now on an outgoing tide. We got a handful of Seatrout along that stretch. We continued on up into Jackstaff, fished a large outflow, then worked the creek bank, then headed on around to the Nassau River, stopping at Twin Creeks where we had such a good bite yesterday. Not so today. Although we did get a Trout or two, and a slimey Catfish, it was no where near the action the day before. 

Our final stop was down at Broward Island, fishing under a Bald Eagle, tossing jigs. The tide was still high here - we had a couple of nibbles, but no takers, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.