No Shrimp No Problem

The bait shop was without live shrimp this morning so I picked up a few mud minnows and knew that I had plenty of artificial Temptation Bait's on board.  I met Wade Turner and his son Ethan at the south end boat ramp (Big Talbot Island Park)  this morning and we headed up the Nassau River to fish the incoming tide at Broward Island. We started on the south end with Ethan tossing a minnow on a jig and Wade tossing an artificial.  Ethan had the hot rod early, picking up an aggressive Trout to get the skunk off the boat.  Later, his rod bent and drag sang as his line ripped out.  He fought the fish for a good while, saw it roll a time or two, but it broke off out in deeper water. OUCH!  Wade was getting hits, but no takers on the artificials so we pulled and ran to Bubblegum Reef, but had no real bites there.  Later, we fished the flooded marsh grass of Jackstaff Creek with Temptation Bait grubs on jig heads and here Wade got in on the action, boating a couple of nice, fat Trout.  Ethan had a good battle with Stingray to wrap the trip up and we headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!

I Hate to Admit It, but....

...there was a banana on the boat!  I had made my usual stop early this morning at the Gate station to get my half-and-half cappuccino and decaf and I thought I might want a banana for a snack before I launched.   After loading the boat and making a run to get ice, I was running early so I went ahead and picked up a sausage biscuit for breakfast....and threw the banana in the cooler for later.  OUCH.  As most mariners know, banana's on the boat are bad luck.  Later, I met Brooklyn and Brent Edwards, along with their two sons Ryan and Sam at the Atlantic Seafood dock and we headed out of the marina on The Anglers Mark.
There was already a good breeze blowing out of the east, but we made our first stop outside of Tiger Island and fished with float rigs and live shrimp, but picked up no fish.  We eased around behind Tiger and sure enough, the land mass blocked the wind and we had some easy fishing, but again no bites.  After a short break I headed south down the river past Rayonier to fish Temptation Cove and here Brooklyn got the skunk off the boat by landing a nice, keeper sized Flounder, but that was the only bite.  Two more stops in Lanceford Creek produced only nibblers and no real bites.  Luckily, young Sam had a great time working the bait buckets and keeping all of us with live shrimp.  The anglers were making great casts, but there was a banana on the boat! Tomorrow, there will be NO banana on the boat, and I'm changing hats for good measure!

Late Evening Fish'n

Afternoon fishing trips on The Anglers Mark are a great way to spend time in the backwaters of Amelia Island.  That's IF the afternoon storms will hold off and let you get some fishing in!  Yesterday's trip with Barry and Cindy Shelor who were visiting Amelia Island from Virginia, turned out to get nicer and nicer as the day went on.  The temperatures tend to cool off, and the fishing tends to heat up.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock at 3pm and headed over to Tiger Island to fish the downed logs.  Cindy had a good hookup and long battle with a fish but just as she was about to get it to the surface, it threw the hook, OUCH!  Barry hooked up and played a nice Puppy Drum a little later.  We moved on to the Jolley River to fish the flooding oyster banks and the anglers had nibblers right off the bat, with both Barry and Cindy honing their hookup skills on small Croaker.  When Cindy switched to a float rig she picked up a couple of  Trout, with one of them over the size limit.  We fished outside of Tiger island, then moved on to the south of Rayonier where the bite seemed to improve with the falling sun.  With Cindy offering sage advice,  Barry was able to find larger, hard fighting Puppy Drum and I joined in with a couple of fat Seatrout.  Barry then had some very strong hookups, both cutting themselves off on the oysters, then, on the third hookup, he battled in a nice Bonnethead Shark.  With the sun heading towards the horizon, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

The Bite Picks Up

Maybe it's because we've got a front moving in or maybe it's because the high tides are receding, but it seemed like yesterday produced a better fish bite.  My guests were John Nelson and his grandson, Dylan, visiting Amelia Island from the Columbus, Ga area, and Alaska, respectively.  The tide had only been going out for about two hours so we made a  two stops outside Tiger Island to fish the still flooded oysters, but found no takers on the live shrimp under floats.  Around behind Tiger the mud banks were beginning to show around the logs so we positioned the boat to cast up between the logs with a jig and shrimp and before long the anglers were getting bites.  John got the "skunk off the boat" by pulling in a hard fighting Puppy Drum, then he landed a keeper sized Flounder.  Dylan reeled in a feisty Redfish and John caught another Drum and Flounder, and also had a small Sea Bass to the boat.  We made a run to Lanceford Creek to fish the dock pilings on the last of the outgoing tide.  I was tossing a jig just to have another line in the water and had a very strong hookup.  I kept the pressure on, walking down from the bow to Dylan, but I could feel the line rubbing the piling. It broke off. Ouch!  Boy that was going to be a nice fish!  I've been fishing for years, but it's still disappointing to lose a nice fish.  However, it's a good reminder to know how it feels when it happens to my guests.  That's fishin, though.   The good news is, shortly after, we had another strong hookup.  Dylan played the fish perfectly and we netted a nice Slot Redfish!  After trying another dock, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!

Flounder Catch Tops Trip

Jeremy Sykes lined an Amelia Island back water fishing trip with his girlfriend Nichole and her son Brooks on The Anglers Mark for this morning.  We headed out of the Fernandina marina and ran up to Lanceford Creek to fish the dock pilings with live shrimp on jigs and floats.  The anglers warmed up and were getting nibbles here and there, then Nichole had a strong hookup and a good battle and eventually expertly landed a nice 17" Flounder.  Jeremy worked patiently and hooked up a feisty Redfish.  We made run up to Jolley River and fished the oyster beds on the last of an outgoing tide.  We hadn't been fishing long when Brooks' rod bent over and the drag began to sing!  He played the big fish around the boat, from stern to bow and back to stern, and made a couple of trips again, around the boat.  He got the hang of  lifting the fish, keeping pressure on it, then reeling down to get another lift and soon brought to net a nice 3'+ Bonnethead Shark.  Shortly later,  Nichole added another Flounder to the cooler and Jeremy pulled in a few more feisty Redfish.  We hit another bank and after Jeremy had hooked up a little baitstealer, he smartly left it on the hook and within a cast or two had caught a very nice 19" Seatrout!  Our last stop was behind Tiger Island and we took advantage of the shade by putting the bow up on a mud bank.  Brooks landed another Bonnethead and Nichole finished off an Amelia Island Grand Slam by bringing in a Puppy Drum  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be on Amelia Island waters!

Rain Rain Go Away

Although we had drought conditions in early spring, the last few weeks we have seen enough rain to cause flooding at times.  Every afternoon has brought thunderstorms and loads of water.  Plan your fishing trip for the morning!  That's what Mark and Shelley Davis did, visiting Amelia Island from Alabama.  We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock this morning and headed out of the marina under clear skies with a light breeze.  The tide still had an hour or two to hit bottom, so our first stop was the logs and stumps of Tiger Island.  The anglers warmed up, tossing jigs and shrimp to the bank, bumping it back to the deeper water. Although they had numerous nibbles, there were no takers.  We made a stop at the exposed oyster beds outside Tiger and they immediately began to get bites.  Mark had a strong bite and his rod bent over, the drag singing on his reel.  He played the fish expertly with his light tackle Shimano Stradic 1000, 10lb braid, and after a long battle, we netted a 3'+ shark for pictures and release.  We made a move to the Jolley River and again the anglers had some good bites, but no real takers.   We decided to hit the docks of Lanceford Creek and the move paid off.  Shelley was able to reel in a hard fighting puppy drum, and then her persistence paid off when a nice Slot Redfish took her jig and shrimp.  Shelley worked the fish in carefully and we boated the 21" Slot Red.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be on Amelia Island's waters!

Fathers Day Fishing

Sheena Abrams treated her father Steve to an early Fathers day fishing trip this morning.  The family is visiting Amelia Island from Greenville, SC.  Steve brought along his two son-in-laws, Luke and Chris, meeting me at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7am this morning.  We've been having a ton of rain the last few days but we had a break this morning with clear skies and just a slight breeze.  We headed up to Lanceford Creek to fish the docks on an outgoing tide, tossing jigs and shrimp up to the pilings.  The anglers had a few nibbles and Steve was able to "get the skunk off the boat", hooking up with a hungry Seatrout.   Luke added a feisty Redfish to the catch .  We made a run around to the Jolley River and up to "Snook Creek", fishing the oyster beds on the last of an outgoing tide.  Again the guys were getting bites then Chris had a strong hookup and his drag sang as the line played out.  He played the fish perfectly and after a lengthy battle he brought a 3' Bonnethead Shark to the boat.  Before I could get the net under the fish, he made one last lunge for freedom - and snapped the leader.  No picture of this shark!  We continued to fish the oyster beds of Jolley where Luke hooked up with another hungry Seatrout, then Chris added one that was keeper sized.  Chris had a another couple of battles with the Bonnetheads, but they were having none of coming in to the boat for pictures!  Our lasts stop was at the downed logs of Tiger Island, but the sun was up and getting hot and we had no significant bites, so we headed in, counting it as another great day of fishing!

Not Once But Twice

It was a Granddad, Dad and son's fishing trip on The Anglers Mark Saturday when Dan Zuckschwerdt, his dad Ed, and Dan's two sons Leonard and Nathan made the short trip from St. Mary's, Georgia to Amelia Island.  We met at 7am at the Atlantic Seafood dock down at the City of Fernandina Beach marina and made our way up towards Tiger Island to fish the very last of an incoming tide.  At our first stop the anglers pitched float rigs with live shrimp to flooded oyster beds, but the fish were having none of it. We did have a manatee sighting as the graceful animal cruised by.  At our second stop the anglers were all fishing with intent and as the tide changed and started out, they began to get bites.  Grandad Ed got the "skunk" off the boat, hooking up with a hungry Seatrout, then Nathan caught one, too.  Then Ed had another bite and I could tell that this was a bigger fish because the rod was bent and he was having to work the fish in.  After a good battle Ed boated a nice 18 1/2" Flounder, putting him in 2nd place in The Anglers Mark 2012 Bragging Rights Tournament, Flounder category.  We moved on up to Jolley River and held at a marsh runout.  I was thinking we'd have some good Trout action here but when Nathan's rod bent and the drag began to rip I thought we either had a large Redfish or a Bonnethead shark.  After a couple of runs we figured out it was a shark.  But what surprised me was that 11 year old Nathan continued to battle the shark, lifting his rod and reeling down to work the big fish in.  He fought the big fish through 4, 5, 6 and more runs and finally brought it to the net for pictures and release.  Dan got in on the action and caught an even bigger Shark, then Nathan had another hookup, this time on even lighter tackle, and fought this big Shark in all by himself, again!  We were "sharked out" so we made move and now with the oysters exposed, the anglers were tossing jigs and shrimp.  Dan added a nice 21" Slot Redfish to the live well and later Nathan picked up a 17" Trout to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam, and with that, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!

Fishing Before Beryl Hits

I was able to get out and fish the Amelia Island back country waters Saturday before tropical storm Beryl came through the area.   The early morning breeze was nice to have as I eased along the exposed oyster banks during the very first of an incoming tide.  I tried a 7w and 8w fly rod from the stern of my boat, using the Minn Kota I-pilot 101's auto-pilot feature to ease along the bank as I blind cast to the base of the oysters.  Although my casts were spot on, I felt like the weighted fly just wasn't staying in the strike zone very long, so I switched to spinning tackle and after about the second cast with a Temptation Bait grub, I picked up a hard hitting, keeper sized Seatrout.  I found that the Trout were hungry and went on to catch 5-6 of them with one more in the keeper size.  My friends Don and Sue Hughes were out also while fishing the finger jetties at Fort Clinch with live shrimp on the bottom, caught a great mess of Flounder and added a large 19" Sheepshead.  The fish are biting and the storm has passed, so plan to Get Away From it All and....Let's Go Fishing!

Redfish'n Anniversary

Teresa and Tom Gaslin made the short trip to Amelia Island, over from Orange Park, to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary.  Teresa had set the trip up as a surprise for Tom and luckily we had a "perfect 10" in the weather category.  They were staying at the Hampton Inn and Suites and within walking distance to the marina so we met at the Atlantic Seafood boat ramp at 7:30am and headed out to our first spot.  I had decided to fish the docks of Lanceford Creek on the very last of an outgoing tide.  The couple knocked the rust off of their casting fairly quickly and we were soon working the pilings with jig and Gulp Shrimp's.  Although they had a little nibble now and then, there wasn't much biting.  Then, as I was leaning down to take care of something, I saw Tom cast to an exposed oyster bank and the minute it hit the water I heard the sweet sound of drag being ripped out!  FISH ON!  Tom played the fish perfectly and after a good battle, he worked in to the net a nice, Slot sized Redfish!  WHOOEE!  Skunk off the boat!  We worked the area for a short while then headed up to Jolley River to fish an oyster bed bank on the first of an incoming tide.  Tom picked up a couple of small Trout, Teresa fought a Lady Fish to the boat,  then we had another strong hookup and Teresa battled in another Slot Red.  Later, Teresa made a good cast to the oyster bank and as she bumped it back, her drag zinged and FISH ON!  She again played it perfectly and landed another Slot red.  Before we left the area, Teresa had also treated us to a long battle with a 3'+ Bonnethead Shark.  We hit a couple more areas, but the sun was up and the bite had slowed, so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be on the water!