Fishing Trip Salvaged

Anticipating a great day, I tried to launch The Anglers Mark Saturday morning early. I'd purchased six dozen lively local shrimp from the Bait House and had the boat backed down at the ramp by 7am. When I turned the key and heard the slow sluggish groan of the engine I knew that an early morning of fishing was not to be. After about an hour of trying to charge my starting battery with jumper cables up in the parking lot I decided to run to the Super Walmart in Yulee and get the battery checked out or replaced (it was less than a year old). The battery checked out good and the mechanic set up a quick charger on it. Being out that way, I changed my plans and ran to the Holley Pointe boat ramp and launched by 9am. The tide was high around 8:30am and I decided to try some new areas on the falling tide. Running up the Nassau River, past Pumkin Hill Creek, I came to what the map said is Broward Island. The river ran along side it similar to the way it does at Tiger Island - deep water with a shoreline of downed trees and stumps. Except this was a lot bigger island. Starting on the southside of the island, I drifted along the shore, tossing live shrimp under floats. The wind was out of the SE so the tree line broke the 10mph breeze and I had "lake-like" conditions. On about my third cast I was hooked up with a nice fish that ripped the PowerPro braided line off of my new Stradic 1000 reel. This fish hooked up so soon that I hadn't had time to get my net out of the locker so I reeled the 20" Redfish up to the gunwale of the boat, leaned over to lift it in, and....BAP...the fish gave one last lunge and broke the leader....and lazely swam off to the depths of the river - I watched him go! OUCH! I fished the entire bank of the island and ended up catching another five redfish, most undersized, but at least one a nice slot sized fish. These fish were real aggressive eaters with one of the Red's even coming out of the water like a Largemouth Bass. I checked some other area's out - Pumpkin Hill Creek and on up the Nassau to Lofton Creek, but came back to Broward Island in the afternoon to catch the incoming tide. Now that the river was low I could see all the tree's, stumps, and limbs on the bottom so I switched to a jig with live shrimp. I had just thought to myself that, "hey, the tide has gone slack", when I felt a heavy tug on my bait and the battle was on! This fish pulled strong- running back to the bank, down deep, up to the bow of the boat, back to the stern of the boat....and came off! I couldn't believe it! A few minutes later, another hookup...and another fish lost. And then another. These last two felt like nibbles until I raised the rod tip and I began to think that maybe I was in a mess of flounder, so the next "nibble" I got I actually let the line go slack, counted to ten, then raised the rod tip firmly and ...FISH ON! After a good battle I netted a beautifal, fat, 22" Trout. I ended up catching about seven more trout, losing a few, and having a great time. Once they were hooked they put up a ferocious fight and I really believe that first one that got away was probably bigger than the 22 incher. As the sun went down I was treated with a visit from America's national bird - a bald eagle that landed in a dead pine tree on the island. What a great day of fishing!

The Salty Feather - a real Fly Shop!

If you haven't had a chance to visit The Salty Feather in Jacksonville, then you're missing a real treat as an angler. Owner John Botko has years of experience fishing the NE Florida waters and stocks a complete line of fly fishing equipment and fly tying materials. In addition to fly fishing, The Salty Feather carries other inshore equipment, kayak's, clothing and anglers gifts. The store is located at 2683 St. Johns Bluff Road, suite 127, in Jacksonville, Florida. The phone number is 904-645-8998 or 888-847-2589. The Salty Feather is also sponsoring a number of classes for aspiring and even experienced anglers. Their Advanced Inshore Fishing School has classes January 9-10 and March 7-8. John offers a Beginning Fly Tying for NE Florida class that begins Tuesday January 13th. I took this class years ago and learned a whole bunch about tying flies that I can actually use here in the area. There's also a Fly Fishing 101 class on January 24th if you're interested in starting the sport or getting some extra pointers. The Salty Feather - a real fly fishing shop!

Fun Family Fishing

The Don and Kelly Tesiero family, with youngsters Trey and Marie, hosted their nephew, Donnie, who was visiting them for the New Year's Holiday. Donnie was down from Boston and couldn't have picked a better few days with gorgeous "Chamber of Commerce" type weather. I picked the group up at Atlantic Seafood and we cruised up to the Jolley River to "get away from it all". The tide had been going out for about two hours and the oyster beds were beginning to show. We got all the rods unlimbered and fished some of my favorite spots with live shrimp under corks and on jigs - but had no real solid bites. We'd been saving the "Trey Island" spot in our back pocket so we cranked up and off we went. It wasn't long after anchoring before Don had a nice redfish in the boat then Donnie hooked up with his - a nice redfish with 14 spots - what could have been a big money winner in the annual Redfish Spot tournament. The group caught fish all along the shoreline with Trey joining in with a redfish and Kelly battling in the biggest fish of the day, a "conservative" 26 inch Red. Don worked with 4 year old Marie and after numerous "almosts", they hooked up with a fat Black Drum and Marie helped her dad reel it in. Total for the day: 5-6 Redfish, (1) Trout, (1) Drum, (1) Sheepshead...and a whole bunch of "baitstealers".

Recipe of the month: Redfish with Olive Sauce

(2) Redfish fillets (2) Tbsp butter

(4) Green Onions, chopped

(2) Tbsp capers (1) Cup green olives, chopped

(4) Tbsp balsamic vinegar

(1 1/4) Cup fish stock

(1 1/4) Cup heavy cream

Juice of (1) lemon

Salt and Pepper

Melt butter in skillet, add green onions and cook over low heat for 4 minutes. Add the capers and olives and cook for another 3 minutes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and fish stock, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the cream, stirring, and reduce by half again. Season to taste with salt, pepper and stir in the lemon juice. Lower heat and keep warm.

Cook 2 cups rice (or pasta). Lightly broil or bake the Redfish. I seasoned mine with some sea salt and coarse pepper. Cook through, but don't over cook. Place a cup of cooked rice on your plate, lay a fillet of Redfish over it, then ladle the dish with the olive sauce. Garnish with slivers of carrots and bell pepper.

This recipe was adapted from one in Practical Cookery Fish & Seafood cookbook. IF you have a favorite seafood recipe, send it to me and I'll feature it in one of my upcoming "blogs".

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.