Big Lucky

Scott Omelia was visiting relatives on Amelia Island so he treated his 7 year old son Palmer to a morning of backcountry fishing on The Anglers Mark.  We had some severe thunderstorms last night and there was lingering wind and overcast skies as we headed up the Nassau River with a tide high and still coming in.  We made our first stop at a small creek and tossed out some live shrimp under floats.  It wasn't long before Palmer's float disappeared and his drag began to rip out!  FISH ON!  He held on tight and then his dad pitched in and they fought the fish around the boat a couple of times before we landed a nice 3' Bonnethead Shark for pictures and release.  Shortly after Palmer dubbed the rod he was using "Big Lucky"!  We hit another spot with know real bites then headed over to Broward Island to fish the flooded logs and limbs.  Although we were still using the float rigs, we also tossed out a jig and shrimp combo and it that turned out to be the trick because Palmer soon had a hookup and pulled in his first feisty Redfish.  He went back to the same spot and a little later had a hard bite and another fight on his hands.  I was retreiving the net when I heard him yell, "it's a Big Redfish" and then we saw it roll up behind the boat. He cranked the fish in and we netted a nice 19", 3lb Redfish for pictures and release.  We tried a couple of more spots then headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!

Florida House Inn Brings Back Homestyle Lunch

I had the pleasure of eating lunch at the Florida House Inn today and it was there "grand re-offering" of the home style lunch!  The wonderful Florida House Inn staff brought out homemade meatloaf and fried chicken, along with biscuits and jam, succotash, stewed squash, collard greens, mashed potatoes and gravy, iced tea and topped it off with a blueberry cobbler and ice cream! WOW!  It was a great meal and even nicer was that I got to meet some great people that I'd have never had met if I hadn't sat down at their table.  Innkeepers Emily and Karen Saltmarsh and their staff were gracious hosts, it was a warm atmosphere, and the food was delicious!  Lunch will be served 7 days a week from 11:30am to 3pm.

Trout, Blues, Ladyfish, Redfish

Jon Han and his wife Marilyn, along with their kids David and Grace, were in town visiting Amelia Island, all the way from Pittsburgh, PA and took in a backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock early and headed up Lanceford Creek to fish some docks on the last of an outgoing tide.  Although we had a few nibbles, no fish actually wanted our live shrimp on jigs and under floats!  So we pulled up anchor and ran up to the Jolley River to fish the very last of the tide.  When we began to troll the oyster lined banks, the family began to pick up fish.  Grace had the hot rod at first and she caught some ferocious Blues and jumping Ladyfish.  Marilyn joined in and picked up a nice Seatrout.  Fishing in the back of the boat, Jon had multiple hookups with Ladyfish.  We moved spots as the tide started in and had great oyster bank to fish and very little wind.   David's rod turned hot and he began to catch fish, putting a nice Blue in the boat and hooking up with Ladyfish.  Then we had a strong bite and David worked a feisty Redfish in to the boat with Grace handling the net.  Later, David was working his jig back to the boat and POW!, FISH ON!  This fish had some size and he played it perfectly to Grace's waiting net - a fat 18" Trout!  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water!

Smokey day on Amelia Island waters

Greg Metcalfe and his wife Diane along with friends John and Erin, all from Calgary, Canada were visiting Amelia Island and scheduled a backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock promptly at 7am and headed up to the Jolley River to catch the tide as it just started in.  I lowered the trolling motor and began to ease along the exposed oyster banks as the anglers tossed their jig/shrimp combo to the shallows.  It wasn't long before Erin had hooked up with a jumping Ladyfish and John hauled in a snapping Bluefish.  All the anglers had bites, but we didn't get a whole lot of hook ups.  We headed on up the river to the MOA and fished, again getting bites here and there until John hooked up with a juvenile Redfish and brought it to the boat.  About this time heavy smoke rolled in from the fires at the Okefenokee Swamp and I began to wonder if we would even be able to navigate!  Be we fished on and our next stop was outside the Tiger Islands and this turned out to be the ticket.  Diane caught an nice Seatrout, Gary and John caught Blues, then BIG FISH ON!  Erin's drag began to scream and she held on tight as the line ripped out.  She fought the fish for a number of minutes before it got tired of playing and spooled the reel until the leader snapped!  Shortly after Diane had a good hookup and FISH ON!  Another drag ripping run and Diane had a fight on her hands.  She also had a good battle until the fish crossed an oyster bed and cut itself off!  OUCH!  Gary saved the day when he had a strong hookup, a good battle, and then boated a nice 2' Bonnethead Shark.  With that, we called it a day, another great day to be on the water!

Pandemonium!

Barbara and Mike Van Beyrer and their kids Bailey and Cooper were visiting Amelia Island from Charleston, S.C. and took in a backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark.   We left the City of Fernandina Beach marina on a rising tide at 7am this morning and headed up the river to the Tiger Islands.  Our first stop found the tide almost covering the oysters so the anglers tossed out live shrimp under Cajun Thunder floats.  It wasn't long before it was pandemonium with hookups happening right and left.  Cooper had the hot rod at first, catching a nice Seatrout and then a Bluefish.  Then Bailey yelled, "I got one" and her drag began to scream, line running out, and out, and out...and POP, fish gone!   But it wasn't long before she had another on and again, the drag screamed as the line ran out.  This time she cranked it in and then Barbara joined the fight and the two of them went 'round and 'round the boat with the rest of us moving bait buckets, nets, seats and rods.  Barbara fought the fish like a pro and after a 15 minute battle we netted a 3'+ Bonnethead Shark for pictures and tossed him back in.  Mike had a number of hookups and then brought to the boat a feisty "poor man's Tarpon" - the Ladyfish.  The anglers had a number of hookups, cut-offs, saw a manna ray, and caught more Blues.  Then Mike had a strong hookup, again the drag screamed, and he had a fight on his hands.  He played the fish perfectly and we boated another Bonnethead.  Cooper wrapped up the catching when he had a good bite and this time it didn't run like a shark, but made it's stand in one location.  He worked the fish in and his dad netted a great 19" slot sized Redfish!  We hit a few more spots, had some nibbles here and there, then called it a day, another great one to be on the water!

Double Trouble

Tom and Jean Priola, along with their grandaughters Jackie and Taylor,  were visiting Amelia Island from New Jersey and took in an Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark.  We left the Sawpit Creek boat ramp at 7am and headed up the Nassau River, making our first stop at Bubblegum Reef.  We got our float rigs with live shrimp out and the anglers were soon getting bites, having their floats dissapear on occasion.  Jean was reeling hers in and had it almost to the boat when her float took off and the line began to rip out! While she was fighting that large fish another float went under and we had a "double" fish fight going on!  The smaller fish turned out to be a Ladyfish and Jean's turned out to be a nice 2'+ Bonnethead Shark.  We eventually headed on up to Broward Island, tied off to a limb and fished in the shade of the island.  The girls caught a couple of nice SeaTrout, Tom had something to the boat and Jean hooked up again with something big!  She fought the fish (I'm pretty sure it was a Redfish - it rolled up a couple of times) but as she got it close to the boat it broke itself off on some logs- the Big One that got away!  The sun was up so we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water!

Must have been the Lucky Shirt

Greg Melasky and his wife were visiting Amelia Island from Texas and Greg decided to take in a backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark yesterday.  I had a baitwell of live shrimp and mud minnows so we made our first stop at the docks of Long Pointe and eased along the docks with Greg pitching his minnow up to the pilings.  We did have one good bite but what probably was a flounder turned it lose.  We then headed up Nassau River and a made a couple of stops along the exposed oyster beds as the tide turned and began to come in.  The weather was great but the wind made it almost impossible to work the bank the way we wanted and we had no real bites.  Greg had mentioned that he had on his lucky shirt and with a couple of hours of fishing under our belts and no fish, I was beginning to wonder! We made a run to Broward Island's south end, turned the bow into the wind and current and began to work the long strewn bank and ....FISH ON!  Greg had a strong hookup and then he fought the fish expertly, even though it was doggedly trying to throw the hook.  We eventually netted a nice 22" slot Redfish.  Not long after that Greg had another strong hookup, this one out deeper and shaking it's head.  Greg, an accomplished angler, again played the fish beautifully and we netted a 20"+ Seatrout.   NOTE that I almost titled this report "Keeper Streak" because Greg went on to catch three more nice Seatrout in the 18"-20" range before dropping down to some undersized fish.  We ended the day tossing topwater lures over the now flooded oyster beds and Greg saw more action by hooking up to a large Ladyfish and having his lure rolled on by something of size, then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!

Big Shark Makes the Day

The Calhoun family, Melissa and Wally, along with their two sons, Wade and Alex, took in an Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark today.  We made our first stop along the shores of Tiger Island and Wally was the first to pick up a Trout, then Melissa hauled in the ferocious predator, a Bluefish.  We made another stop around the corner where the whole family caught Trout.  We made a run up to Jolley River to fish an large creek runout and Wally added to the species list by catching a Flounder and a Ladyfish.  Fishing a jig/shrimp combo on the bottom, Wally hooked up with a large fish that made the drag on his reel scream and he played the fish perfectly.  He got what turned out to be a Shark to the boat a couple of times and just when we thought the fish had tired, it broke off with a snap!  Wow, what a disappointment!  But the anglers were not to be deterred and persevered, soon hooking up with another  large fish.  This time Wally fought the fish around the boat and after period of time, wore the fish out which we promptly netted and tossed to the deck for pictures and examination!  This topped of the day, another great one to be out on the water!

Big Trout Bottom Fish

Gordon Duff of Tifton, Georgia treated his grandson Ethan to a backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark yesterday.  We made our first stop outside of Tiger Island, fishing the grass line just as the tide had started out.  It wasn't long before the anglers were hooking up to Seatrout, albeit just undersized.  We made a quick stop behind the island with no real bites then headed up to Jolley River to fish a large creek runout.  Ethan was manning a rod with heavy jig tipped with shrimp in hopes that we'd pick up a shark.  The rod tip jerked and Ethan grabbed the rod only to have it make a deep bend and the drag began to scream as the fish made a run. He fought the fish perfectly while I prepared the net and made my plan to toss the shark onto the deck of the boat when Ethan yelled, "TROUT"!  He finished the battle and we netted a very nice 22" 3.5lb Seatrout.  Later we had a huge Ray come out of the water as all three of us were looking out to the river and what an awesome site it was! We finished the day fishing 1/4oz jigs and shrimp along the oyster beds and picked up two feisty Redfish, then called it another great day to be on the water!

Father and Son Fishing Trip

Rick and Josh Weinberg took in an Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip this Memorial Day weekend on The Anglers Mark.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7am and headed up the river, making our first stop at a flooded oyster bed outside Tiger Island.  We didn't have any takers of our live shrimp under float, so we made our way around to the mouth of Tiger and fished some more oyster beds, picking up a few Seatrout.  We were treated to a Manatee cruising by as we fished.  Fishing behind Tiger island produced a feisty Redfish, still using shrimp under a float, then we headed up to the Jolley River where the guys caught another couple of Redfish.  On further up the river, Josh had a strong hookup and he soon had a good fight on his hands.  He fought the fish perfectly and we boated a nice Shark for pictures and release. It was a beautiful day to start off the Memorial Day weekend, another great one to be out on the water!