Covering Costs at Old Town Bait and Tackle

 

If you didn't see the extensive and explanative Facebook post by Nic Bremer, owner of Amelia Island Bait and Tackle/Old Town Bait and Tackle, he has instituted a parking/launch fee at Old Town Bait and Tackle. There is a $5 daily park or launch fee, or you can pay a $50 fee for an annual permit. 

As Nic mentioned in his post, he and his family have put a large amount of funds toward improving the property - a complete remodel of the Tackle shop, with an improved and consistent inventory - and they are consistent in opening on time, and every day! Crazy huh?  Those also brought in a few loads of rock to try and level the parking area.

The Bremers have remodeled and made work the "outhouse"  restroom, and keep it clean and stocked with toilet paper. They got the water spigot working and provided a water hose for rinsing off your boat. They installed a fish cleaning table down at the dock and installed water, a hose, and nozzle for use by anglers. THIS PRIVATE BOAT RAMP IS THE ONLY RAMP THAT HAS A CLEANING TABLE IN OUR AREA.

When you get your tax bill this November and you're looking at how much you pay in tax's, note that The County has NO cleaning tables at their ramps(Dee Dee Bartels, Goffinsville, Holley Pointe). The City has not cleaning table at the Marina ramp. The State has no cleaning table down at Sawpit Creek. Heck, it's been "closed" for the last 5 months! 

This ramp and dock also has a true "NO WAKE" zone - you don't have to worry about your boat getting waked and dinged up. Try that at Dee Dee Bartles, Goffinsville or Sawpit Creek - you're boat hull will look like the Anglers Mark's- dings and dents and scratches. Why don't they enforce the No Wake at these ramps? My gut tells me it's not "politically" viable. Every one they write a ticket to is a voter. 

Old Town has installed some new signage to try and manage the parking. Up front at the door you'll see a sign "Old Town Customer Parking" - you can pull up there and park and go in and make a purchase with no parking fee. 

If your launching a boat, pull out and park over by the bridge incline/14th Street, but PULL IN DIAGONALLY!  There's a sign. If you're in a car with no trailer, park over by the boat yard fence. DO NOT PARK IN THE BOAT TRAILER PARKING. There are few spots up near Eagans Creek where you can park.  Make sure you pay for your parking or launch fee. The Old Town Bait and Tackle staff will give you a parking permit. 

I know everyone hates to see a new fee, or prices to go  up, but for what we get - the improved Bait and Tackle store, wash down hose, restroom, cleaning table, a real No Wake zone, and parking...then I'll gladly pay the fee (NOTE: I purchased the annual permit). When I meet customers there, they will need to pay the $5 parking fee. Thanks, see you out there fishing. 

Captain Lawrence Piper is a fishing guide and US Coast Guard licensed Charter boat operator in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida

Flatties and a Slam

 I wrapped my week up today fishing south after launching at Goffinsville and meeting John Raker and his fishing buddy Kenny early. We made a quick run over to Spanish Drop with plans to fish some exposed shell beds with jigs and live shrimp on a tide that still had an hour to hit bottom. Kenny "knocked the skunk off" with a nice Flounder catch and shortly after John added one that went in the box at 17".

We then made a short stop at Bubblegum Reef where we had another small Flounder to the boat, then we jumped over to some docks and fished the first of an incoming with the jigs. We were in the right place at the right time where Kenny made short work of bagging an Amelia Island Back Country Slam - he put a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum in the boat then he added a keeper sized Seatrout.  We picked up a couple of more smaller Drum and then added to the box a good handful of Mangrove Snapper.

After moving around the corner we switched to float rigs to fish
some rocks and here the duo dueled with more Mangrove Snapper and almost reached their limit. Those Mangroves aren't real big(todays biggest was 12"), but you can keep 5 apiece and get some nice little fillets off for a fish fry or fish taco!

Our final stop was back at Spanish Drop, now fishing that incoming tide with float rigs. Kenny was on the stern and caught a hard fighting Jack Crevalle and a Ladyfish then John, fishing the bow, saw is float go slowly under. He tightened up the line, lifted his rod and let the circle hook set and, Fish On!  John played it patiently to the boat and landed another, even bigger, Flounder. After one more Ladyfish fight we called it a day and headed to the dock, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Getting Away From It All Today

 

Fishing north again today, I flipped a coin this morning - fish the docks up Lanceford or stay away from civilization. Heads one and after I picked up Craig and Paula Rutledge and their friend Brent, we headed over to fish the backside of Tyger on the first of an incoming tide. The trio of anglers were tossing jigs and live shrimp, letting it fall in the deep water, and retrieving it slowly. They were getting good casts but all we got were "nibbles", here and there. 

The sun was up and we had clear skies and a nice little breeze as we came out of Tyger and rounded around to the Jolley River where we set up fishing the "bank". Craig "knocked the skunk off" when he boated a small flounder then he hooked up and gallantly battled what I believe was a shark, but eventually it tired of playing with us, broke off, and went on it's way. He then had a good bite on his jig, up near the oyster banks, and Fish ON!  Craig played it expertly and soon landed a nice 21" Slot Redfish. Paula, fishing from the stern, had seen a swirl up near the bank, made her cast just to the side, let it sit and when her line tightened she set the hook and, Fish On! She patiently brought it to the boat and landed a beautiful Seatrout. 

We ran further up the river and fished Snook Creek thoroughly, to no avail. Our next stop was back around
at Tyger, now fishing the outside with float rigs and here Craig and Brent tangled with the high flying "poor mans Tarpon" - Ladyfish. Paula added another Seatrout catch to the board, then we moved on, stopping at a flooding point up Bell River, briefly, then we moved on.

Our final stop was up Lanceford Creek, then into Soap where we fished a flooded shell/grass island with float rigs. Craig had a float drifting between the island and the marsh and as the float slipped under Craig tightened up his line, lifted the rod and let the circle hook set and had another good fish on. He played it perfectly - I thought it was a small Red, but when brought it to the surface and to the net we saw that it was another 21" Slot sized Redfish, which made for a good way to wrap up a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Olde Towne Bait and Tackle Opened Today!

The Olde Towne Bait and Tackle opened this morning! It's located up at the old Leaders and Sinkers building at the bridge over Eagans Creek. I stopped in today to check it out and saw that they have a "little bit of everything", especially last minute stuff that you might need, or things that you may have forgotten to bring with you. 

The store has had some serious remodeling done on the inside, new roof installed, and a fresh coat of paint all around. And it's air conditioned!  There are new bait tanks and plumbing installed out back with access to the creek to freshen the tanks. They also have a good supply of frozen bait.

More amenities include picnic tables outside to take the load off and a complementary fish cleaning table down at the dock. 

Opening hour is 6am so if you want to get out real early, plan your bait stop at the new Olde Towne Bait and Tackle up N. 14th Street at Eagans Creek.

(CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE)

Scraping Out a Win

 The forecast for this morning started off with a nice breeze of only 7mph but increasing to 12mph,temperatures in the mid 40's...and they were right! I met Michael and Jean Fry up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park for a planned half day of fishing. Unfortunately, live bait is hard to come by right now. I had seen Amelia Island Bait and Tackle's Facebook post "no live bait" last night, but luckily I had a few live shrimp and a few live mudminnows left over from last week. I did stop by AIBT and pick up a pound of frozen shrimp for back up. We left the dock and headed over to the outside of Tyger and fished with float rigs on the last of a high and incoming tide(this tactic right now is almost laughable - the water temperature was 53 this morning and the fish are just not going to be shallow-but I held out hope). We didn't get a bite. 

I ran thru Tyger, over to Bell, back down to Lanceford, up Lanceford and in to Soap Creek. We pulled up at a larger marsh runout and tossed float rigs, this time letting them drift with the current - it worked last week - but not today.  We then fished some docks along Lanceford with jigs and shrimp. The duo had a couple of nibbles and Michael snagged a "baitstealing" Perch. 

The wind had picked up as forecast (they got it right!) so we plowed thru the NE winds back to Eagans Creek, idled thru past Tiger Pointe Marina and the Olde Towne Bait Shop and picked out a bend in the creek to toss jigs and shrimp and AIBT Contender "Christmas Tree" grubs and finally, this did the trick. Both Michael and Jean had hookups. They played their respective fish and landed a pair of hungry Seatrout. Jean added one more Trout, the biggest of the day. We had given it a good "college try", fished till the end, and picked up a few fish so as we headed in, we counted it as another great day to be out on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Great News For Area Anglers!

We've all heard about the re-opening of the bait and tackle shop up at Eagans Creek so I reached out to Amelia Island Bait and Tackle owner Nik Bremer to get the "scoop" on plans for the new Olde Towne Bait and Tackle...

 

What's planned for the shop? Anything new  or different than when it was Leaders and Sinkers?

The concept will be the same, a bait shop.  But we intend on widening the selection of bait options.  The goal is to have the largest selection of live bait in NE Florida, including Shrimp, muds, fids, blue crab, pinfish and croaker.  Inside will consist of last minute items and things that you would need on the water, Terminal tackle, lead, emergency boating supplies, ice, snacks, beverages, few spooled combos, sunscreen, bug spray, sunglasses and a couple items of apparel to protect our guests from the sun.  

 

When do you plan to open?

The original goal was 3/1, but we have a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done.  So things are looking like 4/1 after we gut it and give it a new face lift including a new roof.  

What are expected hours?

We will have seasonal hours as of now.  But looking like 6am-5pm

 

Will folks still be able to use the boat ramp?

The boat ramp will remain open.  Many of people have asked about it being repaired and that is something that may come in the future.  We are putting our resources into getting the shop up to our standard and will work on other projects as we move forward.

 

Who will be running the shop?

Joe will be moving from Amelia Island Bait and Tackle up to the new location and will run the day to day operations up there.  

 

Will operating the new shop affect the existing shop?

Our current shop will remain exactly the same and will continue to focus on a wonderful tackle selection.

 

Other info

We will be building a fish cleaning station at the dock as an amenity for our paying customers.

 

 

Mangrove Snapper Fill The Bag

 

I fished with the Fitzgerald's again today, Gregg and Dannie, Guy and Ginnie, meeting them this morning down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. We ran up the Nassau and made a quick stop at Spanish Drop to toss float rigs and live shrimp to the marsh grass just as the tide started out. 

The anglers were getting excellent casts and drifts, although the west wind seemed to be blowing right down the pipe and both Dannie and Ginnie had hookups with high flying Ladyfish that they handily brought to the boat.

We fished a large outflow up at Seymore's and picked up a couple of Mangrove Snapper which got met to thinking...if they're here, maybe they're at the "Mangrove Hole". So that was where our next stop was and sure enough, we began to get some bites on shrimp under the float rigs.  They're sneaky as they can be but we managed to put a few in the boat over the 10" mark. 

Our next stop was down the way, along some rocks at Nassauville but here we were able to go to jig rods. Gregg got the hot hand and started pulling Mangrove's in one after the other. Then all four anglers got in on the action and caught fish until we had a good mess of Mangroves in the box.

We fished some docks later with jigs as the tide got lower then made the run thru Horsehead and around to the mouth of Jackstaff. Unfortunately the wind was really howling now, and right down the river, but we hung with it, trying to fish out the day. Guy was taking up the stern, fishing to the bank with jig and shrimp and BAM! Big Fish On!  His drag was ripping and he was fighting the fish over his shoulder but he kept the pressure on and subdued the fish and brought to the net a nice 21" 8-Spot Slot Redfish to wrap up another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida 

Expecting a Good Day

 

Boy (or Girl?), what a beautiful day we had this morning when the sun peeked up over the horizon like a newborn greeting the world when it first open's it's eye's!  I had met David and Meghan King down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp and we had slightly cool temperatures, sunny skies, only a slight breeze and great expectations of a good day out on the water here at Amelia Island. We headed west thru Middle River and over to Pumpkin Hill and set up along some flooding marsh grass to fish live shrimp under a float.  We had made a few passes when David's float disappeared and he had a hookup. David played it perfectly and landed a nice keeper sized Seatrout to "knock the skunk off".  We worked that bank and had some more bites but no takers so we moved around the corner, fished it a bit, picked up another Trout, then moved on.

Our next stop was around at Seymore's Pointe, fishing a corner of marsh. The two anglers were making excellent casts but we 

had no takers. After fishing between two docks, we moved on, and made the run down to Twin Creeks. The wind had picked up a bit and we weren't getting a good lay so we moved on down to Spanish Drop and worked the bank, this time switching to jigs and shrimp. Just as we were about to leave Meghan had a hookup. She worked it patiently to the boat and landed a fat Seatrout. 

Next, we fished along Nassauville, tossing jigs deep and here Meghan caught another Seatrout and the "ugliest" fish of the day - a Toadfish! We moved back to some docks at Seymore's and wrapped things up with a nice keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum that David put in the box.

We started the day with great expectations - we didn't "load the boat' but it was a beautiful day, we caught some fish so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Amelia Island Bait And Tackle Has New Home

 The next time you visit Amelia Island you just have to stop in and check out the new home of Amelia Island Bait and Tackle...and it won't be hard to find...it's just 4 doors down from the original location. Just walk down to the north end of the building and you'll find the spanking new store loaded with all the tackle, rods, reels, accessories and knowledge to help you catch more fish while visiting our island. And they've got a bunch of new angler shirts and hats to make you look good while you're fishing.  Need Ice? They've got it out front. Need bait? The new Bait Pod will be right out back, with some new fangled lights and air condition to keep the live bait kicking!  Pull your boat around back and come in the back door for all your tackle needs. Stop in and say hello to Nic and Lisa and Chris the next time you're in the area or need some bait and tackle. CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE.