Tyger Beauty

t's always a treat to get to fish the outside of Tyger Island as the sun comes up - the sun shining on the
marsh grass and trees with birds roosting is so beautiful! That was our first stop after I picked up Kenny King and his friends John and Betty Raker.  After leaving the newly revamped Oyster Bay Marina, we headed down Lanceford, up the Bell and thru Tyger around to the outside and set up on a corner to toss float rigs- we had live mud minnows, shrimp and finger mullet as bait. 

The trio caught a hanful of fish there - Jacks and Pinfish, and feisty Redfish and Trout. We crossed over the river and fished the mouth of Manatee Creek, again with the float rigs and again we caught a handful fish. Betty was at the stern, her usual spot, and every once in a while she'd yell, "fish", and reel one in. John had made an excellent cast up tot he grass and let his bait drift right along the shore  - his float slowly went under, he tightened up and, Fish On!  John worked it slowly to the net to land a nice 18" keeper Flounder. Shortly after that, in almost the same spot, Kenny was getting a good drift and BAM! Bigger fish on!  He played it perfectly, rag ripping, and after a good battle landed a nice 19" Slot Redfish.

We then headed up to the Jolley, but stopped to work the river side of Tyger. They caught a Trout or two, a Jack or Two, and a Flounder. We continued on up and into the Jolley, stopping at Snook Creek where Kenny battled a 3' Bonnethead Shark to the boat for photograph and release. Back at Jolley "bank" we worked it good. Betty held up the stern, bringing in a couple of feisty Reds and a small Flounder while Kenny and John fished forwared. They added Reds and then Kenny brought the final keeper in to the  boat, another nice 16" Flounder. We had had a beautiful day, had gotten to fish some beautiful area, caught some fish, so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Finally Got Some Trout

 We had a beautiful day this  morning when I met Chuck Lindholm and his brother-in-law Paul up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp. We had a slight breeze as we headed down the river, up the Bell and hit our first spot at a flooded oyster bed on the last of an incoming tide.  Finally, we caught some Trout! It's been about 4 days since we had our last Trout but today we knocked that skunk off. Both Chuck and Paul had good hookups and landed Seatrout.

After running thru Tyger Basin and over to the outside of Tyger, we set up as the tide started out where Chuck picked up a Trout off the stern. We moved over to the other side of the creek, fished it a bit, but had no luck.

Our next stop was around at my neighbor Bill's spot and it paid off with another Trout catch. Next, on to Soap Creek, fishing the outflow then moving up to the "honey hole" where Paul put a high flying Ladyfish in the boat, then Chuck added a keeper sized Seatrout and then a keeper sized Flounder (all fish caught today

were released). 

I had thought about fishing up Lanceford but it was crazy crowded so we made the long run up the Bell where we switched to jigs and live shrimp. Both anglers snagged some Mangrove Snapper and Paul put a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum in the boat. The trout were back which helped make it another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Walleye Chop

 I was fishing today with Lee Riter, hailing from Wisconsin, and I met him up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park for a half day of fishing on an outgoing tide.  We made our first stop on the outside of Tyger Island, pitching jigs and mud minnows to a marsh runout but had no luck. We moved around to Jolley Bank, fished the oysters that were just getting exposed with float rigs and again, no bites. We move up to Snook Creek, switched back to jigs and here Lee "knocked the skunk off" with a nice Seatrout Catch. We fished a bit around the corner and moved on. 

Our next stop was over in Bell River, tossing jigs and minnows up current and letting them bounce with the current, to no avail We moved up to some docks and switched to some left over shrimp I had from yesterday and this did the trick. We began to get bites and then Lee had a good hookup, fought it patiently to the boat, and landed a feisty Sheepshead. We caught a handful of those (mine tended to be the smaller ones - you gotta be good!) then we made a long run back to Fernandina.

Our last stop was back at Tyger, fishing shrimp and jigs on the bottom on the first of an incoming tide. We had a strong hookup, and Fish On! Lee was playing it perfectly - the drag was ripping but Lee was keeping the pressure on, had him for a minute or two, then....gone. The hook came out. OUCH. But we weren't stymied. The wind had picked up and created a "Walleye Chop" and we caught some nice fish. Lee put a nice Black "puppy" Drum in the boat (big enough to begin to lose it's stripes), a big Weakfish, and a big Seatrout, which wrapped up an Amelia Island Grand Slam of Seatrout, Sheepshead, Black Drum and Weakfish and as we headed out, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

The Origins of the name Tyger Island

 I was giving  a boat tour the other day and as we passed thru the inlet between the Tiger's my guest, Bill McKenna asked "why was it named Tiger Island?"

Local lore has it that the island has the highest concentration of Rattlesnakes in North America. I'm not sure who took the survey or even if that's an accurate statement but a couple of years ago I had a customer yell, "there's a big fish back there!"  as I  entered Tiger Basin.  I thought he had seen a Porpoise or a Tarpon roll but he said, "NO, it's swimming on the water!"  I turned around and went back and sure enough, there as a huge Rattlesnake swimming from  Little Tiger to Big Tiger. We snapped a couple of pictures as it slithered up onto the mud bank.

My wife found an old map published in November of 1769 that labels the island as Tyger Island(before that Spanish Maps called it Tigre Island)  So at least that far back the island has been called Tigre/Tyger/Tiger Island. I have heard a rumor that someone probably saw some sort of cat - a big Bobcat or maybe a Florida Panther and called it Tiger Island, but my guest Bill sent me some interesting information he found on Wikepedia.

Evidently the Tyger is an imaginary beast used as a charge in heraldy. From Wikepedia, "It is supposed to have its home in Hyrcania in Persia and its swiftness is supposed to have given its name to "tygris", the Persian word for "arrow", and to the swift River Tigris. If pursued by a tyger, it was supposed to be possible to get away from it by leaving a mirror, which would perplex the tyger. As a result, tygers are sometimes depicted looking in a mirror" .  Maybe some aristocrat with Tyger in their coat of arms named it "Tyger"?  Maybe some drunken sailor saw a mythical beast?

Digging deeper I see that the famous English poet William Blake wrote "The Tyger" in 1794, just a few short years after this map was published. Did William Blake ever visit Amelia Island? And as his ship passed between Tyger and Amelia, he was struck with inspiration? Probably not. But he didn't much care for how the English Monarchy was treating America and  maybe he had gotten a glimpse of the map and maybe he was thinking of Rattlesnakes....

I've fished along Tyger Island (I'm gonna spell it like that from now on) and have never seen a cat of any kind. Of mammals, I've seen a huge Buck Deer, a wild Hog, Raccoon, and Salt Marsh Mink And in the water, Porpoise and Manatee. They're all mammals but I don't think any could be confused with a Tiger. Or a Tyger.  UNLESS, there happened to be an extremely drunk sailor who made the sighting. 

While my grandkids were visiting last August we beached on the East side of Tyger, just across from Old Towne and while the kids were beachcombing for shell I walked up onto a little knoll of woods to "explore". I was quite surprised to see an old brick "cistern"  sunk into the ground. I have heard that the island was used as a quarantine area where those with Yellow Fever were sent to recuperate (or die).  But I also see in Amelia Island Museum's archives the mention of a family that lived there and raised oranges. That's another story for historians to sort out. 

There are plenty of old families that still live here at Amelia Island that surely have more information on Tyger Island - hopefully they will chime in and I will add those to this account. You can email me at lwpiper@comcast.net