Big and Bigger

I fished this afternoon with Jeff Kantor, his wife Melinda, and their daughters Chelsey and Shoshana, leaving the docks around 1pm to fish the outgoing tide. We hit a marsh runout a short distance from the marina but had no real bites then we made the run around to Tiger to join a couple of other boats fishing the deep waters. Although the tide was looking good the anglers had to work at it to get a fish. Finally, Jeff knocked the "skunk" off the boat when he
landed a nice hungry Seatrout. But it must have been a scout because we found no more! We continued to work the available bank and after a while the bite turned on. Jeff found a feisty Redfish, then another, then another. The Melinda and Chelsey got in on the action and reeled in a couple themselves. Jeff had a stronger hookup and after a good battle, put a nice 23 1/2" big Slot Red in the boat. After some good action and the tide dropping fast, we made the run around to Eagans Creek to fish some dock pilings. This turned out to be a good move as Melinda hooked up and battled an even bigger 24 1/2" Slot Red. Although water tempertures hovered around 49 all day, the fishing was good which made for another great day here at Amelia Island!

Big Reds Out Deep

I fished this morning with Randall Lockhart and his girlfriend Chelsie, beginning early this morning with some pretty cold temperatures, but warming nicely as the day went on. We made our first stop at Tiger Island with as the tide had been coming in for a few hours and....BOOM, FISH ON...the first three casts! Randall was doing the catching at first but Chelsie stepped up to the challenge and began to put feisty Redfish in the boat, too. Randall was fishing his jig and shrimp slowly back to the boat and found a
big Slot Redfish out deep a couple of times. The couple ended up
with about a dozen feisty Reds and three Slot Reds to 24 1/2" before we moved on to fish the flooded oyster beds. The sun was up by now, the temperature was getting milder and we had very little wind. Even though we the fish were scarce around the marsh grass, it was still a great day to be fishing out on Amelia Island waters!

Ice on the Windshield

We fished yesterday morning, Tom Gaslin, his wife Teresa and I, meeting down at the City marina at 8am. Earlier I had to stop my truck in the dark and scrape the ice off the windshield to continue the drive to the boat, but I knew it was going to be a sunny day with no real wind predicted and even though my truck thermometer was showing 29, I new it would be a great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island! Tom and Teresa were bundled up as recommended and we headed up to Egans Creek to do some dock piling fishing. The water temperature was just above 50, about 4 degrees cooler than a few days ago, and I think the fish were feeling it! Teresa had the hot rod and reeled in a hungry Seatrout and then a feisty Redfish. We made the run around to Tiger Island and fished the downed logs and almost immediately began to catch fish. More feisty Reds and Seatrout. We found that the Trout were out deep and would take a jig/shrimp but you had to fish it so slow, barely taking up the slack on your reel. The Trout bite was subtle, only a slight bump, and then a heaviness on the line. It was a cold but sunny day which made it a great time to be fishing here at Amelia Island!

Cold Morning Heats Up with Big Fish

We knew it was going to be sunny and cold this morning and that there were 11mph winds forecast but that just made things a little more interesting. I met Tim and Jontelle Forbes down at the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7:30 this morning and with all three of us bundled up in layers, we headed out to fish the first of an incoming tide. Our first stop was at Tiger Island and it wasn't unusual for a fish to bite our jig and shrimp combo on the demo cast, which is what happened this morning! After that first fish the two anglers got busy and in no time were landing small, feisty and fun to catch Redfish measuring up to 17 3/4", just under the Slot size. We worked the entire island, finding Reds in most spots and then both Tim and Jontelle began to catch hungry Seatrout down deep. Every once in a while we were able to get into some sunshine and warm ourselves up. Jontelle spotted a huge Otter coming down to the shoreline to enter the water then she pointed out a majestic Bald Eagle that had landed in one of the oak trees to keep an eye on our catch. After we fished the area thoroughly, we made the run around to Eagans Creek and fished some dock pilings and boy was this the right move! I think it was Tim's first cast and BOOM! Big Fish On! He applied the pressure to keep the fish out of the pilings then played the fish patiently as it ran deep a number of times. But the fish was no match for Tim and after a good battle we netted a big "Tournament Redfish" that measured right at 26", just in the Slot. Tim went back to the same spot and again landed another big Slot Red and then he landed another! Finally there was a break for Jontelle to get her bait to the spot and she too had a strong hookup - and even stronger! Her fish fought hard and big but Jontelle worked it out of the structure, keeping the pressure on using her light tackle, and after long battle landed an Oversized 30 1/2" Redfish, putting her squarely in the lead of the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament (scroll down right side of this report to see standings). We continued to fish and I believe Tim and Jontelle had about 7 Slot Reds, the Oversized one, and we lost a couple of big ones to the pilings. We fished float rigs later over flooded oyster beds but had no real bites but as we headed in we knew we'd just had another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Beautiful January Day of Fishing

I fished this afternoon with Di Dier DeBruyn and his wife Dominque and his daughter Fran. Unlike yesterday, we had very little wind and it had warmed up nicely for our 1pm launch. We made our first stop a short distance up Bell River and the anglers tossed some float rigs with live shrimp on an outgoing tide with some oysters just beginning to show, but we had no takers. Our next stop was further up Bell River, this time fishing some dock pilings and after a good amount of fishing, Fran finely"knocked the skunk
off" and put a nice Seatrout in the boat. We continued to fish the area and may have picked up one or two fish, but they just weren't biting. We then made the long run around to Tiger Island and as usual this time of year, this did the trick. Almost immediately the fish began to bite. Di Dier put the first Redfish in the boat then all three anglers were catching fish. There was a nice flurry of fish catching, then things slowed down, but everyone in a while they'd get a hookup. Dominique was fishing deep and caught a nice keeper sized Seatrout and all three anglers caught Trout. We worked the bank thoroughly, picked up a few more fish, then called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Sunny Windy and Cold

Jim Nelms set up a couple of boats to fish with some of his associates while on business here at Amelia Island so we met today at the City marina with a plan to fish the back waters of Amelia Island. We had sunny skies but the wind was blowing 10-12mph with gusts over 15 and it was in the 50's which made for a tough day to be fishing. But it was sunny and these anglers were up for the challenge so I headed out with Kevin, Ryan and James on my
boat. We made a short run over to Lanceford Creek, fished some flooded oysters to no avail then fished some structure. Although we had a couple of good bites and "fish on" briefly, they threw the hook to be caught another day. We then made a fairly long run (right into the wind) around to Tiger Island to fish the downed logs at the middle of the outgoing tide. It didn't take long for Kevin to find some fish and he put one, two, three feisty Redfish in the boat right off the bat. Ryan jumped in and after a couple of casts, he too
hooked up, played the fish perfectly and landed another feisty Red. We moved up and down the bank and on the south end James got on the board when he found some small, but hungry Seatrout. He got the hang of fishing the jig and shrimp slowly on the bottom and caught five of the Trout. We moved back to the original spot, landed a couple of more feisty Reds, then James had a stronger hookup, FISH ON! He immediately pulled the fish away from the downed logs then patiently played it. We didn't think it was going to be real big but when it began to "pull drag", diving deep a couple of times. After a good battle, James landed a Slot sized 24.5" Redfish! We fished on then James had another strong hookup. This fish turned out to be even bigger! It made even stronger runs, tried to stay down deep, but James kept the pressure on and eventually landed an oversized 28" Redfish! Boy what a fish! We continued to fish the same spot and Kevin got in on the "Slot sized fish" catching when he put a nice 18.5" Red in the boat. What started out as a slow day turned out to be a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island!

Must Be a Front

I fished a trip this afternoon with Mort Demott and his son Dan, leaving the City marina around 1:00pm to fish the Amelia Island backwaters on the very first of an incoming tide. I really like this tide and was expecting a better bite but as I mentioned to Mort, there must have been a changing weather pattern. But these two anglers were up to the challenge and persevered to put some fish in the boat. We fished behind Tiger for about an hour and found two small but feisty Redfish. We then made the long run around to Bell River to fish some dock pilings and here things picked up somewhat. I think Dan's first cast with a 1/4oz jig and grub netted him a nice Seatrout. Shortly after that Mort put one in the boat, too. At one time they had a double hookup. They continued to fish the area with artificial grubs and live shrimp and found a handful of Trout to add to their catch. We ran back towards the marina, made one stop at some still exposed oyster beds, then eased up into Eagans Creek to fish the marsh line. Although the bite was somewhat slow, it was still great to get out on Amelia Island waters and do some fishing!

Steady Catching

                                                  I fished again this afternoon, this time with Zach Feldkamp, who brought along his two friends Mark and John to fish the back waters of Amelia Island. The wind was still kicking out of the north east so we headed straight to Tiger Island and camped out there for a couple of hours. It took a little while but soon the anglers were catching fish. Mark started it off when he hooked up with a feisty Redfish. He added a couple of more then Zach put a Seatrout in the boat. John got the hang of it and put another Trout in the boat. The trio had to work at it but every once in a while they'd pick up a fish, fishing jigs and live shrimp slowly on the bottom. Then Mark had a strong hookup, FISH ON! This one wanted to pull some drag so we knew it was bigger. Mark played the fish patiently and after a good battle landed a nice Slot sized 24" Redfish! After picking up a few more Trout, we made a run around to Jolley River, fished some flooded oyster beds with float rigs, then continued on to the Bell
River to fish some docks. Here, Mark picked up another Redfish and Trout while John and Zach landed more Trout. The sun was going down and it was getting somewhat cool, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Grand Slam in January

This morning was pretty cool and we had winds up to 12mph but this Florida weather was nothing to deter a couple from Vermont! I met Nathan and Christine Tuttle down at the City boat ramp early this morning and we ran up Lanceford Creek to fish some flooded marsh grass with float rigs and live shrimp, but the fish hadn't woken up yet! We fished some dock pilings at Oyster Bay, again with no real bites, then made a run around to fish Tiger Island as the tide dropped. This did the trip and soon Nathan had boated a nice
Redfish to get things rolling. He later added a Slot sized Red and picked up a Seatrout, too. Christine got in on the action and put a feisty Redfish in the boat then both anglers were catching fish. Nathan picked up a keeper sized Sheepshead and a little later landed an even larger one. We caught a handful of small Trout then surprisingly found a handsized Flounder to round out an Amelia Island Back Country "Grand Slam" of Redfish, Seatrout, Sheepshead and Flounder. The sun had come up and the wind was blocked so we had another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island!

Big Reds For Bragging Rights

I fished this afternoon with Ryan Smith and his 4 year old son Owen. Although we'd had a cool morning, the sun was overhead and heating things up nicely. We made the short run to Tiger Island to fish an incoming tide with jigs and shrimp. The two anglers had only made a cast or two when Owen yelled that he had a fish, and he did! He worked the fish in and "knocked the skunk off" with the first fish of the day! Both Ryan and Owen caught feisty Redfish at
that first location then Ryan put a keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. We worked up and down the bank and then we found some Big fish! Owen had a strong bite and yelled FISH ON and  boy was it a fish! He and his dad fought the fish from stern to bow and back to stern and then the fish went deep, but the duo kept the pressure on. After a good battle  they landed a nice oversized 28" Redfish! We kept fishing, picked up some smaller feisty Redfish then the father/son team caught two Slot Redfish. Things slowed a bit, then BOOM! Another big fish on! Another monumental battle! But Ryan and Owen were up to the task, patiently playing the fish and eventually landed another oversized fish, this one measuring in at 29.5" and securing them top spot in the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament! (Scroll down right side of this report for standings). We enjoyed the beautiful day and wrapped it up when the two anglers landed a nice keeper sized Sheepshead. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!