Friday, August 3, 2012
Cocahoe Minnows Bait of Choice Lately
Cocahoe minnows is what my Lousiana guests called our mud minnows today. We thought it would be funny if the next time I went in to the bait shop that I would ask for "Cocahoe Minnows" instead of the Muds. Anyway, that's what we were using this afternoon. I met Glen and Michelle Ernst along with their young adult children Phillip and Christina at the Atlantic Seafood boat ramp at 3pm today and we headed up to Lanceford Creek to fish the dock pilings during the last hour of the falling tide. The anglers were tossing the Cocahoe's up to the pilings and fishing them back slowly. Christina was the first to hookup up with a feisty Redfish and Glen brought in a hungry Seatrout. We made a run up to the Jolley River and fished the first of an incoming tide, but the wind was blowing briskly and made it real tough for the anglers and for myself. But they persevered and were able to pick up another couple of Redfish and they also caught some Croaker. We made our last stop behind Tiger Island and Phillip found a nice Flounder hole, pulling out a couple in just a few minutes. Christina had another Redfish or two, then with the sun heading down, we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water!
Quantity or Quality?
Cass Brewer and Ronnie Gaines were in town from the Atlanta area and scheduled an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark with me this morning. We met down at the Big Talbot Island Boat Ramp at 7am and headed up the Nassau River with a live well full of mud minnows with the tide having been coming in for about 3 hours. I ran straight to Broward Island and with the logs and stumps still showing, Cass and Ronnie began tossing their jig and minnow to the bank. It was a beautiful morning with hardly any breeze and it wasn't long before they began to hookup. Or at least Ronnie began to hookup. Fishing from the stern, he had hookup after hookup with feisty Redfish, fun to catch, but just undersized. He also had a hungry Seatrout. Just when we were beginning to wonder if he and Cass needed to switch places, BAM, FISH ON! Cass's rod bent and drag ripped out, but he played the big fish perfectly and after a good battle with a couple of rolls, he landed a nice oversized 28" Redfish! After pictures and measurement, we made sure the big fish swam off into the deep. Ronnie picked up a couple more of Reds but the logs were becoming a pain so we pulled up and ran to Christopher Creek. Cass went with a float rig and minnow while Ronnie stayed with the jig. I also picked up a rod with a jig and for a while, Ronnie and I were catching undersized Reds on almost every cast. Cass wasn't gettting much action on the float rig but then, after a cast when his float dissapeared almost immediately and gain, FISH ON! He played the fish to the boat expertly and we netted a nice 22" Slot Red! We hit a couple of more spots but the sun was up and the heat was on, so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Bragging Rights Blowout
Chuck Martin had set up a fishing trip this moring and included his longtime friend Ron and his father-in-law Paul. We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7am and headed up towards Tiger Island to fish some flooded oysters. The tide was still coming in so I had rigged up 3 rods with topwater lures. The guys began warming up and getting the rust off, tossing the topwaters to the grass line and a couple of times they had a few rolls at the lures, but no takers. I was just about to break out the float rigs and wasn't really paying attention when I saw that Paul had a fish on. A BIG fish on! His light tackle Shimano Stradic 1000 was ripping with the line going out, but Paul kept the rod up an pressure on. I pointed the boat out to deeper water and away from the oysters and Paul had a battle on his hands. He slowly worked the fish in but it made a couple of more runs. When we finally netted and measured the fish we found that we had a Braggin Rights Tournament busting fish at 30 1/2"! Wow what a fish! The anglers eventually did switch to the float rigs and mud minnows and picked up a good mess of Seatrout, a couple of Ladyfish and Needlefish. Chuck put a nice keeper sized Flounder in the box, rounding out the groups Amelia Island Back Country Slam. Before we left the area, I switched the guys to a jig rig and trolled along an area where I knew there weren't many oysters. They caught more Trout then Ron hooked up with something bigger and had a good battle with a nice Slot Redfish, having played it perfectly. We ran up to the Jolley River and here it was non stop fish catching! Seatrout after Seatrout after Seatrout - most undersized, but Chuck found a nice 19" keeper sized one and Ron added another. They mixed in a couple of more feisty Redfish. then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Wildlife and Fishing
Boy what a fishing trip today! I met TJ and Melissa Mahan at the Atlantic Seafood dock in downtown Fernandina Beach at 7am this morning and we headed up towards Tiger Island with a bait well full of mud minnows. The tide was still coming in so I had the anglers toss float rigs to the marsh grass and flooded oysters. First Cast - BAM - Fish On! It was a hungry Seatrout. Both TJ and Melissa continued to catch Seatrout, big Ladyfish, Blues and even a small Black Tip Shark for the next hour and half. Then TJ had a strong bite and good battle with a nice 18" Flounder and Melissa put a keeper sized Trout in the boat. While fishing, we were treated with a sighting of a very large buck deer up on the island. We eventually made a run up to the Jolley River where the anglers again got into some Seatrout and feisty Reds. We saw some Manatee and when they cleared out Melissa had two good hookups with big Reds but these fish had been around for a while. They made a run to the marsh grass and dug there snouts into the oysters, breaking off after an exciting battle. Melissa added one more keeper Flounder to the catch then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Rounding Out a Slam in Style



Saturday, July 28, 2012
Early Slam


Friday, July 27, 2012
One Slot Two Slot


Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Lead Off Home Run


Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Plenty of Fish
Ed and Colleen Suarez were visiting Amelia Island and took in a back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark this morning. The tide was dead low when we met at Atlantic Seafood so we headed up to the Jolley River to fish the exposed oyster banks. If you wanted some action then this was the place to be! Non stop bites and catching and releasing for about 2 hours. There wasn't a whole lot of size to the Redfish and Flounder that the anglers caught, but there was a bunch of catching. They mixed in two handfulls of Croaker, some hard fighting, hard jumping Ladyfish, a couple of Snapper, and a nice Bonnethead Shark. We continued to fish until we ran out of bait then stopped in and picked some more up. Our next stop behind Tiger Island didn't produce any real bites so we came around to the ocean side and again the anglers were catching fish. Ed rounded out his personal Amelia Island Back Country Slam when he picked up a Seatrout. After more Trout, Ladyfish, and Snapper, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Slam, Slot and Double
Mike and Heather Hingson were visiting Amelia Island with their two kids Emily and Joe and scheduled an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark this morning. We headed up to the Jolley River on the very first of an incoming tide and with a slight breeze to out backs. Using 1/4 jigs and live shrimp, the anglers began making presentations to the oyster lined banks and the bite began almost immediately and lasted for about 2 hours. Although the Croakers were thick, the anglers picked up some nice Seatrout and feisty Redfish, too. Then Mike had a strong hookup and his drag ripped out, FISH ON! He played the fish perfectly and after a good battle, he directed the fish into the waiting net. This 24" Slot Red was a nice fish! Shortly after that Mike and Joe had a double hookup and when they got their respective fish in, it turne out that Joe's Trout trumped Mike's Redfish! Joe went on to catch a couple of keeper sized Flounder (the family released all of their fish) to round out his personal Amelia Island Back Country Slam. For a while, Emily was on fire, hooking up Trout after Trout, enough to earn the label, Trout Queen! We fished outside of Tiger later and picked up a few more small Trout and Ladyfish, then called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!
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