Day after Christmas fishing trip

Even though I was fat with turkey, green beans and sweet potato pie, the thought of a free day of fishing the day after Christmas had me chomp'in at the bit. I purchased some live shrimp from Rose at the Bait House and had The Anglers Mark launched at the north end boat ramp by 7:30am. A dense fog hung over the river and visibility was only about 30 feet. I chugged north up to Jolley River thinking that surely the fog would lift, but it hung in there all day. The tide was high at 8:30am so I tied on a white w/red head Zara Spook topwater and fished over the flooded oyster beds in hopes of some trout strikes -to no avail! I switched to a jig with live shrimp and eased up into a small creek and eventually hooked up - but lost- a fish. I rebaited my jig and tossed it to the same spot and picked up a nice, but undersized trout. Can you imagine fishing some of your better spots, then some new ones, and not getting any real bites? That's how the morning went. I finally cranked up with only about an hour left before the tide was completely out and ran back towards Amelia Island. With the tide being almost low and the fog still heavy, I inched the boat, staying just south of the markers leading in to Tiger Island. There was one boat with some anglers anchored on the north side of Tiger so I eased in on the south side and anchored up near shore. Tossing my jig and shrimp parallel with the shore, it wasn't long before I started getting bites and began to pick up trout - all undersized. Every once in a while I would feel a strong tug as I bumped the jig over some bottom structure and eventually -BOOM- I had a nice black drum on the line and in the boat. I lost a couple of fish up in the submerged tree limbs, then caught a keeper sized sheepshead. Then a small flounder. More trout. A small red. BOOM a big 26" red - with a broke off rig still hanging out of it's mouth. More smaller reds - one with one of my leaders and hook still in it's mouth! I fished until all my shrimp were gone and then headed home. I ended the day with (6) trout, (6) Redfish, (1) black drum, (1) sheepshead, (1) Flounder, (1) Croaker, (2) rays. What a great day of fishing!

Custom Christmas gifts!

I got a call for some last minute Christmas gifts - these 8oz flasks were for two brothers. Their initials are on the back. I've got a few more flasks that I've started working on and now that the holiday is about over, I'll be able to complete them.

Winter Discount offer!

I've discounted my fishing trips with $50 off through February. As an example, the posted price for a 1/2 day trip is normally $350 - but now through February a 1/2 day trip is $300. The ideal number of anglers is 1-3 for the boat.

My custom and personal boat trips, normally $125 for the first hour are now $100 for the first hour. Add $75 for each hour after that. This offer is also through February. I can take up to (6) passengers on the boat trips. Bundle up warm and I"ll bring along some hot Cider!

November wrap-up reports:

November turned out to be a great month of fishing! If you get to check out my reports below you'll see that the fish were biting for my guests. In addition to those, I've had a number of my my friends and neighbors report in with some great fish catches. My neighbor, David Nease, fished a few times this week, mostly on the south end of Amelia Island, and reported great catches of nice trout 18"-22"; he said most were caught in the intercoastal waterway. I know David is a great angler and I've noticed he likes to go deep for his keeper trout. Friends Charlie Jones and Leon Freeman reported a nice trout bite in the Jackstaff creek of Horsehead. They were using live shrimp under floats and trolling jigs. Another neighbor, Marty Johnson, fished the Christopher Creek area over the Thanksgiving weekend. He reported that he and his cousin quickly picked up some 14" trout at the new cut; they moved back into the creek and eventually got into a school of 17"-20" Redfish over near the bluffs. Although they had some live shrimp, they didn't need them as the red's were nailing Gulp's. My friend, Don Hughes took some guests down past Sawpit Creek and boated Trout and Red's - all on live shrimp. And finally, Bud Hill reported that he and his grandson got into a mess of Black Drum up to 4lbs. You gotta get out there! Get away from it all and.....let's go fishing!

The Marshall's come to town

I fished with Ken Marshall, his sons Ethan and Charlie, and their grandfather, Jack today. The temperature was milder and the wind hadn't picked up (yet) so we headed up to Jolley River to get away from the crowd. We ran all the way up to what I call "snook creek" - I caught a small snook there last year - and anchored with the stern in fishable range of a still covered oyster bed. It wasn't long before Charlie had hooked up with a nice Seatrout, and then Jack had one on, too. Ken was helping out with the young anglers and Charlie soon had another bite and he handed it off to Ethan to reel in. They caught about (5) trout there and then we worked the boat around the oyster bed and Ken got in on the action and boated another trout. We move on up the river to the "MOA" (Mother of All) spot - but the wind had kicked up and made it real difficult to cast. The wind was out of the Southwest so we cranked the engine and ran around to Bell River and fished the docks. With the ladies waiting back at the dock, and the guys fishing right up to time to be back, Charlie hooked up with....the boat. NOT. We all thought that his jig had gotten hung up on the stern but he was emphatic that he had a fish on, and he did. Charlie horsed the fish to the surface and it turned out to be a nice, keeper sized flounder! With the final fish in, we pulled up the trolling motor and buzzed back to the marina.

Recipe of the Month: Oyster Casserole

With "oyster season" in full bloom here on Amelia Island and in need of a dish to take to Thanksgiving dinner, I thought something with oysters would be appropriate. Most of the time we just roast them and shuck 'em but this is a fairly easy way to cook them too:

(1) Pint of oysters 3/4 Cup Whipping Cream

(3) Cups Saltine Cracker crumbs 1/4 Cup oyster liquor

3/4 Cup melted butter 1/4 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 Teaspoon Salt Dash Pepper

1 Teaspoon Tobasco sauce

Drain the oysters, saving the liquor. Combine the cracker crumbs, melted butter, salt and pepper. Spread 1/3 of crumbs in a greased 8"x11" baking dish. Cover with 1/2 of the oysters, then spread another 1/3 of the crumbs over the oysters. Layer this with the last 1/2 of oysters. Mix the oyster liquor, whipping cream, Worcestershire sauce and tobasco and pour over oysters until they are covered. Top with the last of the cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Pumpkin Hill and Jackstaff

I fished with Jim Hamilton, his son Drew, and their friend P.C. today, and a beautiful one it was to be out on the water. It was somewhat crisp when we left Jim's dock at 9am this morning and the boat ride made it even a cooler. But there wasn't much wind so as the day went on it got real nice. We ran over to Pumkin Hill Creek on a tip brom Knute Douglas at the bait shop and fished the marsh grass (the tide was high at 8:30 and just beginning to recede). We had no bites so we ventured up a small creek where Jim picked up a nice, but undersized trout. Drew had picked up the "jig and shrimp" combo fairly quickly and it wasn't long before something was ripping drag off his reel. He worked his way to the back of the boat...and the fish kept going...and going...and got off! Yep, that's fishing! We left the Pumpkin Hill area and ran to the wreck off of Seymor's Pointe - no bites - then ran through Jackstaff to it's mouth on the Intercoastal - no bites. We fished a couple stretches of oyster beds back up Jackstaff and then found a nice drop in one of the bends that yielded a nice bite from trout. The guys boated another 6-7 trout, and a Ray, which are always fun to catch. This was a beautiful day out on the water - what a great way to start the Thanksgiving weekend. Speaking of that - I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving with your families and friends!

Tesiero family braves the wind.

Kelly Tesiero treated her husband, Don and their kids Trey and Marie to a day out on the water for Don's birthday. The sun was out, but the wind was blowing - even more than yesterday. We stopped at Rayonier to see if the trout bite was still on, but it wasn't to be. Don did pick up a nice Black Drum. We untied and cruised over to Lanceford to the "not-so-secret" secret spot (after a tip from local long-time fisherman Greg Nissen) but I think we got there a little late on the incoming tide. No fish. The wind was really blowing but it didn't faze the Tesiero's one bit. We ran up Bell River and cut through in behind Tiger Island which blocked the wind and made the fishing real pleasant. After dropping anchor Don was hooked up with a nice trout after only a few casts. It wasn't long before everyone got in on the action with Trey leading the way. They reeled in trout, Black Drum, trout and even a nice, but undersized, Red Drum. Kelly and Marie caught their share, too. Total for the day: About (8) trout, (6) Black Drum, (1) Red Drum - and a couple of bait stealers. Most were caught on a jig with live shrimp. What a great day of fishing!

Cold, blustery and lot's of fish!

I fished with Leon Freeman this past Saturday. Air tempature was a cold 33 degree's and felt even colder with a strong 10mph wind. We tried a few spots with our live shrimp under the floats in Lanceford Creek but only hooked up with a couple of trout. The wind was really blowing so we pulled up the trolling motor and headed towards Rayonier pipeline thinking we could find some shelter. As we passed Rayonier, Leon suggested that we try the pilings at the warehouse so we eased in and tied up. BOOM! Fish on! Trout after trout after trout. It was the last of the outgoing tide and within two hours we had boated and released 25-30 trout; we kept a few for dinner. As the bite slowed we began to pickup some nice Black Drum up to 17" and ended up with four. All were caught on a jig with live shrimp. What a day! We were out of the water by 12:30 and in time to watch a football game!

Trout Tourney results

Steele Dahl and I fished in the local Trout Tournament this past weekend. We got an early start, checking out around 6:15am and then heading to our first stop. When Steele picked up a nice keeper fairly early after throwing our first baits I thought we were well on our way to a good showing. Unfortunately, it was not to be. We fished our rear-ends off, going to all of my usually productive spots but only found small, undersized trout. Steele did hook up with a nice Blue that gave him a ferocious battle, but again, smallish trout didn't help our prospects. We hit a number of my normal spots, one after the other, and even tried a few new ones, but we just didn't have the "bite". The good news is Steele got a real dose of learning to operate the boat and trolling motor. He even gently docked us when we returned to the boat ramp. Oh well, "wait till next year"!