Fish Catch'n Train Rolled In

I had the pleasure to fish with CSX train engineers Mark Warwin, Eric Bailey, and Michael Harvey this past Saturday morning.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock, eased out of the no-wake zone and headed up river to Tiger Island.  We made our first stop within 15 minutes of leaving the dock and after anchoring near some oysters and marsh grass, we soon had a "double" hookup with Redfish!  The guys were tossing live shrimp under floats with the tide having started out about an hour earlier.  They picked up a few more Reds and a keeper sized Flounder.  We move on around the island and with me dropping the trolling motor and the anglers all began to catch fish.  I looped around to our starting point and lowered the anchor again.  Eric had the "hot" spot at the front of the boat, making pin-point casts to an oyster outcrop and caught Redfish after Redfish, with Mark and Michael picking up the slack further along the shoreline.  We eventually pulled up and ran to Jolley River, again trolling the shoreline, but this time the guys had switched to a jig/shrimp or jig/Gulp, tossing their bait to the now exposed oysters.  They were all catching fish, but Mark seemed to have it down, catching plenty of Redfish and Trout - yep, they got a "slam"- on Chartreuse Gulp Swimming Mullets and Lime Tiger 3" Shrimp.  We made two passes of the same bank with the fishing hot, then headed up river to pick up a few more.  As the tide began to hit bottom we headed back around to Lanceford Creek, anchoring at a dock system.  This time Michael had the hot spot and pulled in a few more Redfish.  We ended the day with plenty of fish catch'n, actually too many to keep track of, and headed in , counting it as another great day to be out on the water.

Art Stuff Ready for Riverside Arts Market

All of these 8oz flasks are fresh out from under the stamping tools!  In addition to most of them being new designs, I used some "gold flake" on the Salmon Flies and the Compass Rose.  Each flask is $95 and comes with a SS funnel - just in case you decide to use it!  I'll be at the Riverside Arts Market under the Fuller Warren Bridge, booth 602, on Saturday September 11th.

Backcountry Grouper Fish'n

We couldn't have picked a more perfect day to get out and do some fishing; only a slight breeze, very few clouds, and an early start.  Art Benton was visiting Amelia Island with his wife after coming down from Atlanta for the long Labor Day weekend and staying at the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge.  Art and I left the City boat ramp at 7am sharp, idled through the no-wake zone, then headed up the Amelia River.  We anchored at a few patches of marsh grass around Tiger Island with the tide just starting out and Art cast a fly rod, trying a smorgasbord of fly's - chartreuse Clousers, Shrimp Fly's, and a Fiddler imitation but we didn't have any takers. We ran up to the Jolley River, fished one more spot with the fly rod, then we switched to spinning gear to get down on bottom with a jig and Gulp mullet.  We almost immediately began to get bites and then Art started the action off by hooking up and bringing to the net....a small Grouper!   Although I've seen them before in the backcountry, it's been a while since we had one on the boat.  Catching the Grouper was like turning the "fish catching switch" on because Art had non-stop catching for the next hour or two.  We eased along the oyster banks with Art pitching the jig and Gulps with the chartreuse Swimming Mullet being his favorite.  He hooked up with Redfish after Redfish, almost all of them up near the now exposed oyster beds.  Later, we moved around to the "Mother of All" spots with the tide being about perfect, and Art caught more Redfish, then he had a hookup and a fight and  expertly fought a 18" Flounder to the net. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water!

Lost Count (of fish caught) by 8:20am!

Luckily the hurricanes passed us by and headed north so we had beautiful weather for fishing this morning. Tim Parker and his son Wes met me at the south end boat ramp at 7am and we headed up the Nassau River for some backcountry fishing. The tide had been going out for a few hours so the oyster beds were already beginning to show as we dropped the trolling motor and eased along the banks. Tim and Wes started off pitching Rootbeer w/chartreuse tailed DOA plastics on a 1/8oz jig while I was tossing a 1/4oz jig/shrimp combo. It wasn't long before we were all reeling in fish and had numerous "double" hookups of Redfish. Shortly after 8am we realized that we had lost track of how many fish we'd caught and the bite continued for another couple of hours! Tim boated a fat keeper sized Trout while Wes brought in Redfish after Redfish. Then the anglers added a larger Flounder and then another keeper sized Flounder. Wes hooked up with something bigger and fought the fish expertly around the stern of the boat only to have the fish find a way to break itself off! Ouch!  We eventually moved around to the mouth of Jackstaff and the catching continued with more Reds, Trout, Stingray, Croaker, and Bluefish. Our last stop was at Broward Island and although the tide was perfect in my book (dead low, just starting in), the bite and had slowed. Wes persevered and did bring in a Ladyfish and added one more Redfish. With tons of "catching", we called it another great day to be out on the water!

Bigger Trout Showing Up

Robert and Elizabeth Torregrossa were visiting Amelia Island from the Maryland area and took in a backcountry fishing trip along with their friend, Norman. We left the Atlantic Seafood dock 7am sharp, with cloudy skies and already gusty winds. The weather report called for a partly cloudy day with wind 15-20mph and gusts up to 25, and I think the weatherman nailed it! We hit the Lanceford Creek docks with the tide just starting back in, pitching our jig/shrimp combo up to the pilings. Although the "bite" seems to have slowed from weeks past, Robert did have something nail his bait half way back to the boat and he had a good fight on his hands. He played the fish expertly with the Shimano 1000FI reel spooled with Power Pro braided line and soon brought a nice 18" Trout to the net! Elizabeth and Norman both had good hookups with the fish fighting to stay on bottom, and they boated some pesky Stingrays. We moved to another dock where Elizabeth found the hot spot, catching 3-4 small Redfish and then Norman joined in, adding a couple of more small Redfish to the fish count. The wind was really blowing now so we headed to the shelter of Tiger Island;
I dropped the trolling motor and we made a pass with the anglers getting some bites, but no hookups. I anchored up near shore and it wasn't long before Robert caught a Flounder, completing their "inshore slam", and Elizabeth pulled in a Croaker. We fished "Manatee Creek" briefly, to be treated to a brief sighting of one Manatee, then move around to the front of Tiger Island and anchored. All the anglers joined in on some action, battling a few more small Redfish, a few small Trout, a couple of Snapper, then Elizabeth topped it off by hooking up to and landing a nice 19" Trout! We had used up all of our live shrimp so we called it a day, another great (although windy) one to be out on the water!

Showing at Riverside Arts Market

I've scheduled Saturday September 11th as my first date to show my leatherwork at Riverside Arts Market. If you're looking for something to do, please plan to visit the market and stop by and say hello. The market is located on the north side of the river under the Fuller Warren Bridge

Chelsea Marine Expands Product Line

I was in Chelsea Marine the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see that they have expanded their product line. According to Manager Jack Coker, they've struck a deal with West Marine to stock the store with Port Supply products. If you need some boating supplies, stop in and see what they have to offer!

Tailing Reds Coming Soon to a Flats Near You!

September 8th-12th have a "Tailing Reds tide" in the morning. That's Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, and Sunday. I'm "booked" on Saturday, but so far have the other dates open. We'd want to be sitting on the flat at least two hours before the high tide. Wednesday's is expected at around 9:16am, then it's about an hour later each day. I provide a comfortable ride to the flat, put the bow up into the marsh grass, then wade to the tailing Redfish. We can fish with fly rods or spinning gear. Let me know if you're interested and we'll set it up!

Money Clips Ready

I just finished up a few money clips that I had put aside. This clips have magnets that hold your bills in place and there's a small pocket on each side - one for a credit card and one for your ID. These are great to use when you don't want to take your entire wallet. See more at my Artwork Page!

Slam Fishing

Mark Martin was visiting Amelia Island from St. Louis with his family and took in backcountry fishing trip this morning. We left the south end dock at 7am with the tide just starting out from a high. We ran up the Nassau River, stopping at oyster outcrops and tossing frisky live shrimp "hangling" under a Cajun Thunder float rig. We had a few bites at our first stop, but on the second and third stops Mark began to pick up feisty Redfish.
We lost a couple of nice fish then boated a few more Reds. At our last stop in Nassau Mark boated a couple of "poor mans Tarpon" - Ladyfish and another Redfish. We pulled up and ran through Jackstaff to its mouth then began a troll back along the oyster lined bank. Mark switched to the jig/shrimp combo and right off the bat hooked up with a fighter which he fought expertly to the boat and the waiting net - a nice Jack Crevalle. Mark was nailing his casts to the bank and caught a couple of Seatrout, another Red or two and a Catfish. With the sun getting hot, we decided to make a run for Broward Island, even though the tide was still ripping out, but we were rewarded with Mark catching another Redfish, then completing the "inshore slam", by catching a Flounder. With that, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!