Red, White and Blue and a Slam

Boy what a beautiful day!  Daniel Garcelon and his son Josh fished with me today and we met at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 8am this morning to fish the very last of an incoming tide and then the outgoing tide.  We made our way to just south of Rayonier (Temptation Cove) and although we had a few bites on our live shrimp under floats, we had no takers.  We moved around to south of the pipeline and here Josh began to get hot with his "catching"!  He picked up a few hungry Seatrout and some nice WHITE-ing.  We made a run to Lanceford Creek to fish some dock pilings and caught a couple of REDfish and a few more Trout, with one keeper sized.  We moved on down to Millie's Spot, had few bites but no takers, then made a run to the Tiger Island Logs.  Fishing was really good here.  These two anglers stayed busy catching Seatrout  and once in a while reeled in a BLUE.  Josh had made a good cast and was slowly retrieving his jig when his rod bent and...FISH ON!  He played the fish perfectly and after a good battle his dad netted a very nice 17" Flounder, which put's Josh on the board and in first place in my Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament - Flounder category and also nailed down an Amelia Island Back Country Slam!  We couldn't of asked for a better day and even had visits from a Raccoon, an Otter, and a Florida Wildlife Commission officer who checked us out and gave us an A+ in preparedness! We eventually wrapped it up and headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Amelia Island Bachelor Party

Mau-En Lee had me set up 3 Amelia Island backwater boats to take he and his eight friends fishing today.   They are all visiting to help send off one of their friends who will be getting married soon.  We each had 3 in a boat an left the marina at 7:30 this morning.  I had Mau-En, Daniel, and "V" with me as we headed up into Lanceford Creek.  At our first spot I had the anglers tossing float rigs to a flooded grass patch but we had no takers.  We moved on to some dock pilings and this did the trick when V started it off by hooking up with a nice Redfish.  Then they all began to get hookups and we were able to stay at this spot for almost two hours.  Most were smaller but feisty and fun to catch while a few of them reached into the Slot and put up some really good battles.  Daniel added a nice18" Puppy Drum to the box.  We made a move around to the logs of Tiger Island where Mauen picked up another Red then all the anglers were catching Seatrout off of the bottom with jigs and shrimp.  This rounded out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam, but then Mau-En topped it off by reeling in a Flounder!  We also caught our first Bonnethead Shark of the year, a hungry 12" one!  It was a beautiful day, all sunshine, and a great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

First Fish Big Fish

Chris Haines was in town with his friend Linda and took in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark today.  We had postponed the trip from Wednesday when the wind was blowing to 25mph and boy am I glad we did!  We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock in downtown historic Fernandina Beach at 7:30am this morning and headed up to the Tiger inlet to fish a high but outgoing tide with live shrimp under floats.  We had no bites.  We moved to another grass line and had no bites. Ouch.  Our next stop was up in Jolley River with the oysters just beginning to peak.  Chris had tossed his float up near the grass and after it had been there for just a short while we both saw that the float began to move slowly along the grass.  Chris tightened his line and when the float went under, FISH ON!  He played the fish perfectly as the drag on his reel sang, letting the TFO Signature Series Rod do all the work.  After a nice battle Chris brought the fish to the net and we landed a nice Slot 25 1/2" Redfish!  This puts him in first place in the Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament, Redfish category.  We hit a couple of spots in Jolley with no more real bites then made a run to the logs of Tiger Island.  Linda was the first to hookup with a hungry, keeper sized Seatrout.  We dropped an anchor and fished the area as the sun warmed us up and both anglers put a number fo Trout in the boat.  Our next stop was the docks of Lanceford Creek and we weren't disappointed.  Both Chris and Linda caught feisty Redfish and more Seatrout and once had a "double" hookup with Redfish.  Chris also landed a very fat 18" Seatrout (2nd place in the Braggin Rights Tourney)  We fished a few more areas during the day and landed more Trout at each stop then called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Trout Mania

I fished today with Charlie Mclaine who is visiting Amelia Island again with his wife, down from the Atlanta area.  We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 8am and headed up to Lanceford Creek to fish the very first of an incoming tide.  I had thought we'd pick up some Redfish around the docks but they were having none of our live shrimp on a jig.  I noted that the water was real muddy, probably churned up by the south east wind.  We did pick up four nice Trout out deep on the bottom.  We fished a few minutes near Oyster Bay then headed around to the logs of Tiger where we picked up two feisty Redfish then got into a mess of hungry Seatrout.  We commented that it was like "fishing for bream in a pond" because we found that we could literally lower our jig to the bottom and wait for the bite!  Charlie guestimated that we caught well over 30 Trout as we enjoyed the sunshine while fishing Amelia Island!

Not Ice Fishing, But Close!

Denn Evans and Marilyn Curran were visiting their daughter in Jax Beach and planned to take in an Amelia Island Back Country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark this past weekend.  Denn and Marilyn were visiting from Minnesota and mentioned that their local anglers were beginning to bring in their ice huts off the lakes back home.  We didn't need an ice hut Saturday but the cool temperatures and 15+mph winds made us seek shelter from the westerly winds.  At our first stop we had some bites early on the last of an incoming tide and it wasn't long before we had a strong hookup.  Denn played the fish perfectly and patiently and we soon netted a 24.5" Slot Redfish that puts him in first place of my 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish category! (Scroll down right side of the Report for standings)  He continued to fish the spot with 1/4 oz jigs baited with live shrimp and picked up a few more feisty Redfish.  We had a couple of really nice fish take the bait and hook and keep going so they had to have had some size to them!  We made a move to a grass patch at the high tide and picked up another feisty Redfish, hit another spot with no luck, then came back to the shelter of an island to get out of the wind where we again confirmed it was a great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

CCA Florida Boil and Brew

Carol and I had a great time at the Coastal Conservation Association Boil at the Brewery and Auction this past Friday night which was held at Intuition Ale on King Street in Jacksonville.  In addition to getting to sample some of the brewery's fine beer we had our fill of Low Country Boil!

February Redfish at Amelia Island

Margaret Kiely and her son Will were visiting Amelia Island and her parents, local photographers Libby and Clyde Wilkes this past Presidents Day weekend.   I've had the pleasure of fishing with young Will a few times and it was great to see this fine angler again.  When I named my business The Anglers Mark, it was anglers like Will that I had in mind!  It's a little more difficult to see it in older anglers who've got mortgages, jobs, kids, and bills weighing on them, but my young anglers who have "the Mark",  step on the boat with nothing but fishing passion.  They're in to fishing and are going to cast from the minute they step on the boat until we pull back in to the marina.   I had received an eMail from the adults that they may need to cancel the fishing trip due to the extreme cold that was forecast.  The first thing I thought was, "I bet Will hasn't weighed in with his opinion yet!"  Sure enough, we decided to make a go of the fishing trip and planned to meet at 7:30am yesterday morning at the Atlantic Seafood down at the City marina.  As I was heading to my boat I noticed the temperature outside was a balmy 27 degrees!   We were bundled up as we pulled out of the marina but with only a short run to the docks of Lanceford Creek, we made it without our ears freezing off.  I dropped the Minnkota I-Pilot trolling motor, set the anchor feature and the anglers tossed out jigs and live shrimp on the last of an outgoing tide.  It didn't take long for Will to yell, "FISH ON!" and have a fight on his hands.  He played the fish perfectly and landed a nice slot Redfish!  With Libby taking pictures, Margaret got in on the action fishing deep with the jig and shrimp and pulled in a hungry Seatrout.  From then on it was fish after fish after fish.  Most were fiesty Redfish but they did add another Slot Red and a few more Seatrout with Will hooking up and landing a nice 19" Trout that puts him in first place of my Bragging Rights Tournament (scroll down right side of Report).  We eventually made a move to behind Tiger Island and picked up another keeper Seatrout and then Will hooked up with a wiley Sheepshead to round out his Amelia Island back country Slam!  With that, we called it day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Adventure Eco Tour Nets Blue Crabs

I had the pleasure of giving Robin Killeen and her friends an adventure eco tour boat ride yesterday out of Fernandina Beach harbor on Amelia Island.  We eased out of the marina and moved over to the marsh line and dropped a couple of baited crab traps.  Mixing in some history, we toured Old Town Fernandina,  the Pogey plant,  Fort Clinch, and Cumberland Island.  We did spot a small herd of wild horses on Cumberland before we trolled up into the interior of Cumberland's Beach Creek.  Before making a pass of Tiger Island I ran up into a back water creek to release some live shrimp and mud minnows that I had on board from a previous fishing trip.  Our last stop was back at the crab traps where each trap yielded a lively Blue Crab!  It was cold all afternoon but these visitors were prepared with warm jackets and blankets to spend a beautiful couple of hours out on Amelia Island waters!

February Amelia Island Redfish

I had the opportunity to fish with the Smith family the last two days - Jimmy, Pamela and their two kids Mekayla and Briley.  We fished from the Amelia Island south end Friday morning, hitting Bubblegum Reef where the anglers picked up a couple of Trout and then Broward Island where we picked up another Trout.  We then eased up into Christopher Creek and both Mekayla and Briley each caught a feisty Redfish.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warming to almost 70, but these anglers had to work for each and every fish that they caught.  However they kept good attitudes, enjoyed being out on the water, and made plans to fish again this morning.  This time, we met at the Atlantic Seafood dock, located at the Fernandina Harbor Marina here at Amelia Island.  We had a little more wind blowing today so we headed up Lanceford Creek to have the land mass block the wind and fished the dock pilings.  It wasn't long before the anglers were catching one Redfish after another!  We were catching them all on the bottom with live shrimp and mud minnows and although most were undersized, they did put three Slot Reds in the boat with the largest being a 20" Red caught by Mekayla that puts her in first place in my 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament!  (Scroll down right side to view Tournament standings) Both Briley and Mekayla caught a hungry Puppy Drum and when Pamela boated a Seatrout we called it an Amelia Island Back Country Slam!  We hit a couple of more spots then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

This and That Report

I fished this weekend by myself and tried a few things that I don't normally do, even getting in some whiting fishing.   The sun was out and made for a beautiful day on shore but the wind was howling out on the water so I tended to anchor up and fish a spot before moving on.  At my first spot in Bell River I didn't get anything but I did get to eat my Firehouse Sub sandwhich!  I went in behind Tiger Island and there were already two boats there getting shelter from the wind.  I moved down to the southern end and tossed a jig with live shrimp to the downed logs and picked up a  few Seatrout down on the bottom.  I noticed a family fishing in the center part of the island and they were using large Trout floats fished deep with live shrimp and seemed to be doing very well deep catching Trout.  I moved on up into the Jolley River and found a point out of the wind and picked up a couple of whiting out deep with a fish finder rig.  I also had 3 feisty little shark hookups.    Later, after I had cleaned and put away my boat my wife and I met friends out at Shuckers Oyster Bar for some fried grouper fingers.  They had fished earlier that morning at the first of an incoming tide and had just a few bites here and there but they did have a good hookup and after and extended battle brought to net a 26 3/4" Slot Redfish!  They were in the backwaters of the Nassau River.