Black Drum Makes The Day

The fog from this morning carried right in to the afternoon. I had met Eric Slavens at the Fernandina Harbor Marina and we chugged slowly through the fog up to Eagans Creek to fish an outgoing tide with an 8weight fly rod and intermediate line, hoping to find some Trout, but we had no takers. We then fished the logs at Tiger, again with the fly rod, and again no takers. We just couldn't get the fly down deep enough. But when Eric switched to a jig and shrimp it took no time to begin catching fish.  Eric noticed that his line started moving off and when he tightened up the rod bent over and the drag began to sing! It was a good battle and Eric was up to the challenge. He played the fish patiently and soon landed a nice hard fighting 20" Black Drum. We continued to fish the area and caught a good handful of feisty Redfish. The fog lifted somewhat at Tiger, but was still thick on the run back.

Trout on the Comeback

Talk about some fog! If last week we fished in soup, today would have been called stew!  Todd Pate, along with his two associates Kurt and Mike had met me at the Atlantic Seafood dock and when we got out of the marina we found we were socked in, so we chugged along to our first stop. Although the tide was already up and still coming in, we gambled and went with jigs on the bottom. This turned out to be right on the mark - the the anglers caught a good mess of  Seatrout down deep on the bottom and picked up a
handful of feisty Redish. Todd boated a nice 19" Trout that put him in first place in the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament(scroll down right side of this report to see standings). then Mike "called his shot" saying he was going after a big Redfish up near the bank and sure enough, BOOM! FISH ON! He played the big fish patiently and after a good battle, landed a nice 24" slot Red. The anglers caught a few more Trout then we checked out a flooded grass flat where we found the first tailing Redfish of the year. We took some shots at it with a weed less spoon but it eventually submerged and eases off to deeper water.
After a couple of more spots fishing float rigs, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Keeper Sized Fish and All Released

I fished again this afternoon, this time with Bruce MacLear, again out of the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. We ran back up the Nassau River and made our first stop at Bubblegum Reef. The tide was perfect but the wind was really blowing and made it difficult to present our jig and shrimp. So after a few minutes we moved over to Seymore's Pointe to get out of the wind and fish some dock pilings. We had only been fishing for a few minutes when Bruce began to get hookups and the bite stayed on for a good hour or so. Bruce expertly played keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum to the boat, landed a nice Slot Redfish, a couple of more Drum, a healthy 17" Weakfish, and a handful of Seatrout - all adding up to an Amelia Island Back Country Grande Slam! All fish were released to be caught another day. We then decided to brave the wind and headed down to Broward Island. Again, Bruce had numerous hookups of mostly feisty Redfish with a couple of Seatrout thrown in. The wind was blowing but Bruce was able to fish the downed logs with execellent casting and it made for another great day of fishing Amelia Island's back country waters.

Weakfish Catches

I fished this morning with Bill and Pat Collins, leaving out of the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early this morning to fish the first of an outgoing tide with live shrimp under floats. We made our first stop at the mouth of Jackstaff and fished the flooded marsh grass, easing along, casting to "fishy" spots. Pat got things going when she landed a hungry Seatrout. Although the conditions were right, we didn't have much more action. We made the run through the marsh and fished some dock pilings at Seymore's Point, and this did the
trick. Both Bill and Pat caught a handful of Seatrout and they put a couple of Weakfish in the boat, which was kinda neat. Our last stop was down at Broward Island. Although the wind had picked up a little bit, Bill was up to the challenge and landed a couple of feisty Redfish. It was a beautiful morning and another great day to be fishing Amelia Island, Florida.

The Sun Was Shining

I finally got to fish with Gary and Sherry Elder and brother-in-law Jim and his wife Karen. We had tried to fish last year and got rained out but today was absolutely beautiful! We met at the Fernandina Harbor Marina and made the run north up to Jolley River to fish the first of an outgoing tide with float rigs and live shrimp. We're still not seeing much action up there but Jim was able to "knock the skunk" off when he caught a nice feisty Redfish. I think we had one
more in the area before we made the run back to fish Tiger Island as the tide had dropped. It wasn't long before Gary had a strong hookup and, FISH ON! This was a big fish and was ripping drag, but Gary was patient and slowly worked the fish to the boat to be netted and measured at 24", a nice bulky Slot Redfish! He added another one about the same size shortly after that then called Karen to the bow and she too put a big Slot Red in the boat. We were catching smaller Reds at the stern, but it was Jim's turn to take the bow and sure enough, another Slot Red! We continued to fish up
and down the island, catching a couple of small Seatrout, then a couple of keeper sized  Sheepshead, and even a small Flounder to garner the anglers and Amelia Island Back Country Grande Slam of Redfish, Seatrout, Sheepshead and Flounder.  Finally, Jim capped the fishing trip off when he fought a big, oversized Red that measured 27 3/4" to the boat. We took some pictures and released it back to get even bigger! We hit a few more spots, had some really good hookups, landed another Trout, then called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

All About The Numbers

To Fish or Not To Fish? The weather forecast today said no rain until late morning but as I headed to the boat ramp before sunrise I had my windshield wipers on! I launched the boat, wiped it down, got it ready, and waited in a light drizzle. When Jonathan and Shireen Miller got there the rain had stopped but the sky was cloudy and more rain looked imminent. We went fishing anyway, and it was a good decision. After a run up Nassau River to the Horsehead area, we made a stop to fish some dock pilings. It took a few minutes but then we got a flurry of bites and fish. Our first fish was a hard fighting Black Drum, then we hauled in a 29 spot Redfish - a sure winner in the upcoming Safe Harbor Boys Home Redfish Spot Tournament! Then both Shireen and Jonathan each caught fat Weakfish, something I haven't seen in a while. These rounded out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Drum, Redfish, and Weakfish. After catching a couple of more small but feisty Reds, we made the run down to Broward Island and set up parallel to the bank on the last of the outgoing tide. In just a few minutes Shireen had a strong hookup and FISH ON! This was a big fish but Shireen was up to the challenge and patiently worked the fish in. It made a couple of deep runs then came to the net, turning out to be a 24" big, fat, hawg of a Redfish! From then on it was steady catching: small feisty Redfish, a Sheepshead here and there, then more Redfish.  You can always tell when a big Red hits and Jonathan knew it when he had a strong hookup. BIG FISH ON! This fish stayed down deep but Jonathan kept the pressure on and battled it to the boat - this one oversized at 30 1/4" which garnered Jonathan third place in the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament! (Scroll down right side of this report to veiw standings) .  As we were getting ready to take some pictures Jonathan noticed that a large lure was lodged in the Reds throat. We removed the lure, took some pictures and release the fish. It lunged away and splashed me good as if to say, THANKS! We continued to fish the area until we ran out of bait, catching Reds and Sheepshead and a small Speckled Seatrout. With five species of Back Water game fish caught: Redfish, Black Drum, Weakfish, Sheepshead, and Speckled Seatrout and well over 30 fish caught, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Fishing in Soup

I met Mark Von Weihe again, this time down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp, along with his sons Max, Ryan - and this time they brought along a "good luck" angler, the youngest son Owen. Like yesterday, we were socked in with fog, but we turned on the navigation lights and eased up the intercoastal and into Nassau River. The fog cleared enough to make a run to our first stop - Bubblegum Reef - and although this anglers were making
excellent casts, we had no real bites. We further up the river to fish some docks and this did the trick. Ryan got us started when he hooked up and battled a nice keeper sized Slot Redfish. Then his dad reeled in another Slot fish and Ryan followed it up with a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum.  The sand gnats  or "no-see-ums" had found us but this time we were ready! All five us donned face netting and this kept them off enough to fish comfortably. After picking up another fish or two, we made the run
down to Broward Island and the fishing was on fire. The group caught fish after fish after fish, enough so where I was huffing a little bit to keep up! Max had long since gotten in on the action and put his share of Redfish in the boat. Mark had a really  strong hookup and this time we knew we had a really big fish as the drag began to sing. He fought the big fish patiently, having a good time letting the fish run, then expertly worked it to the net. This big fish was oversized  so after pictures we released it to swim off for a another anglers to catch. Owen was catching fish on his on and when he pulled in a keeper sized Sheepshead the anglers were able to claim an Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Drum and Sheepshead. We almost had a "Grande Slam" when Ryan worked a hungry Seatrout to the boat. It was a great day of fishing with a ton of fish caught here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Battling The Elements

When you get absolutely no wind you'd think fishing would be perfect, right? That's what we had this morning down at Sawpit Creek, but the sand gnats almost carried us off! We eased away from the dock, did the safety orientation on the run, and made our way north to fish Bubblegum Reef on the first of an incoming tide. I had H. Chokshi and his wife May, along with their adult kids Jay and Monica tossing live shrimp and jigs and slowly bumping them back to the boat, but we had no bites, other than the gnats! We made a brief stop at Seymores Pointe, then tried to run down to Broward
Island. Again, the elements were making it a challenge: the fog was so dense I had to idle along at 5mph for 3/4 of the way. We finally came out of it and went full throttle to fish the island. It was Jay's first cast when BOOM! FISH ON! He played the fish patiently to the boat and landed a nice Redfish. We had a really good flurry of fish catching for about an hour with everyone catching Reds and Seatrout. Monica reeled in both a red and Trout, and her dad Chokshi did, too. Jay put a Slot Red in the boat and May wrapped the trip up with the final Redfish. Even though the elements were against us, memories were made fishing here at Amelia Island!

Sheepshead Slam

We had another beautiful day today here at Amelia Island. I was fishing with Danny and Jill Elliott and their young anglers Tucker and Cora. We had met down at the Fernandina Harbor Marina early this morning and made a run up to Tiger Island to fish the first of an incoming tide. We started right off getting bites and it was a scramble to see who got the first fish in, with the title falling to Danny he put a really nice 18" Seatrout in the boat. From then on it
was a flurry of catching fish - both Tucker and Jill caught nice feisty Redfish then Cora reeled one in too. Danny picked up his Red then Cora rounded out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam when she outsmarted a sneaky Sheepshead. We continued to fish the area thoroughly, catching a good quantity of Reds and a handful of Seatrout and a 3lb Sheepshead.  We then we made the run up to Jolly River to fish the now flooded marsh line with float rigs. Although we missed a couple of fish, Danny was on his toes and caught a Red up near the grass.
Tucker was tossing a fly off the stern and was making some excellent casts but we had not takers. After hitting another couple of spots, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Multi Spot Redfish

Boy what a beautiful morning we had today! Almost zero wind, mild temperatures, and sunny skies. I met Mark Von Weihe and his two sons Max and Ryan down at the Atlantic Seafood dock almost at sunrise (with the time change) and after a brief safety orientation, headed north to fish Tiger Island as the tide came in. I think it was Ryan's first cast and we had a big fish on! But it was not to be this time so we got all three anglers rigged and fishing. Max got things going when he put the first feisty Redfish in the boat, then all three
anglers were catching Reds. Ryan picked up a hungry Seatrout then Mark put a keeper sized one in the boat. Almost every trip we find "multi-spot" Reds and today was no exception when Ryan landed an eleven spotter. We continued to fish the area, caught a good mess of Reds and a handful of Trout, then moved around to fish the flooded oysters with float rigs. Young Max had the binoculars out and was finding and naming bird life along the shore. We fished a few spots, had one more strong hookup and break off, then called it
a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!