Slow Early But Great Finish

I fished this morning with the McKinnon family, Murray and Beth Ann, along with James and Thomas. We had a high and still incoming tide as we left the Fernandina Harbor Marina so we picked some flooded oysters to fish with float rigs and live shrimp. I think our first 3 stops, 4 if you counted crossing from one side of a creek to the other, where we got no real bites. OUCH!  But these anglers were persistent and were making excellent casts and the
next stop brought some fish. We had switched to jigs and shrimp, even though it was still high tide, and James "knocked the skunk off" when he caught a nice hungry Seatrout. Shortly after that Beth Ann was fishing up near some logs and she had a strong hookup. The fish fought hard but Beth Ann was up to the task and landed a feisty Redfish. The anglers traded catches, catching  some Reds and now and then a Seatrout and even a Bluefish. Then Murray went back to where Beth Ann had caught her Red and, BOOM!  FISH ON! This big fish was having none of coming to the boat but luckily it headed deep and down river instead of into the tree limbs. Murray kept the pressure on and slowly worked the fish to the boat. When we saw it roll we knew it was a big Redfish. After a good battle Murray landed a nice 28.5" oversized Redfish, boy what a fish!  We continued to fish the area, picked up a few more fish, then ran up to Jolley River. They picked up another Trout and another Blue, then we made our last stop around at Bell River. Thomas had the hot hand early here, putting a feisty Redfish in the boat and a Flounder to help the group claim an Amelia Island Back Country Slam. Then James wrapped it all up when he found another handful of Seatrout. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Super Slam?

I fished this afternoon with Phillip Maginnes and is daughter Kate - running up Lanceford Creek to fish some dock pilings while the tide was still going out. We had very few bites until Kate had a strong hookup and landed a nice feisty Redfish. We made the run around to Tiger Island and this did the trick. Both Kate and Phillip had good hookups, catching a good handful of Redfish and Seatrout, then they put a keeper sized Sheepshead in the boat to get an Amelia Island Slam, then Kate hauled in a Sheepshead to make
it a "Grande Slam". We fished up and down the island, picking up a Redfish here and Seatrout there, then Kate had another hookup and....landed a nice Black "puppy" Drum. So I guess they had an Amelia Island Back Country Super Grande Slam!  Redfish, Seatrout, Flounder, Sheepshead and Black Drum. One of the Seatrout Kate caught was 17.5", putting her in 2nd place in the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament. (Scroll down right side of this report for standings) All fish were released this trip. It's always fun for me to see father's and daughters getting out on the water and this turned out to be a great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

The Fishing Got Better

I fished this morning with the Freeman family - Scott and Kathy along with their two youngest sons David and Will. We ran north to fish some flooded oysters outside Tiger Island where Scott quickly "knocked the skunk off" and landed a hard fighting Blue Fish. The David picked up another before we moved further around the island, and both Scott and Will caught some nice Seatrout. We ran up to Jolley River and fished the still flooded oysters with float rigs
but even though the conditions were right, we had no real bites. Our last stop was at Tiger Island and here things heated up. All four anglers got in on the action of catching feisty Redfish and Seatrout, with a couple of those being of keeper size. It was good to see things pick up and some nice fish caught, and we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island,Florida.

Father Daughter Fun Fishing

I had Kent Taylor and his daughter Abbey fishing with me today, and after meeting down at the City marina, we headed up to Eagans Creek to fish the first of an outgoing tide. Our first stop was at a clump of marsh grass and it wasn't long before Kent put a couple of hungry Seatrout in the boat.  We made our way around to some docks and switched to jigs and shrimp, fished slowly on the bottom. It took a few minutes but the two anglers began to catch fish, and catch fish and catch fish. They put some feisty Redfish in the boat and Kent had one that was in the Slot (all fish were released today),
then Abbey had a keeper sized Seatrout. Abbey seemed to have the hot hand for catching Blue Fish then she had a strange bite, hooked it up, played it patiently, and landed a nice keeper sized Flounder to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Seatrout and Flounder. But these two anglers were not done! We made the run to Tiger Island where Kent caught a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum to up there catch to a "Grande Slam". Both he and Abbey had a few more Seatrout, another couple of Black Drum, and then a whole slew of feisty Redfish. Although we had some overcast skies early,  the sun had come out, the clouds had moved on, and we ended up having a great day of catching fish here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Back Country Grande Slam

We had an outstandingly beautiful morning today, fishing out of the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. I had met Andy and Mary Ellen Morgan along with their son Drew and we ran up the Amelia River with the sun coming up and a nice enough breeze to keep the sand gnats at bay. We made our first stop at the mouth of Jackstaff and the anglers began tossing live shrimp under floats. We had fished for just a short stretch when Drew hooked up and landed a nice Seatrout. We continued to fish, had a couple of bites, then ran
around to Seymore's Pointe to fish some dock pilings. Here, both Mary Ellen and Drew had good bites, landing Redfish, Seatrout, and a keeper sized Black Drum to garner and Amelia Island Back Country Slam. But the trio wasn't finished. We ran down to Broward Island and fished the exposed logs. Both Drew and Andy had hookups, and even a "double", landing feisty Redfish. Drew had the hot rod and seemed to hone on on the subtle bite of Sheepshead, landing a couple to p the Slam to a "Grande Slam". We fished the area for a while, made a brief stop at Bubblegum Reef, then headed in, counting it as another great day  to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Reds and Trout and Flounder

The Kirday's were in town again, Paula and Aimee and their daughter Abbie and her friend Brooke. We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock early this morning and headed up to the Jolley River to fish the first of an outgoing tide. Fairly quickly did Aimee have a bite and although she missed the first one, she was ready the second time and caught a nice feisty Redfish, knocking the "skunk" off the boat! She then followed that up with a hungry Seatrout. We moved back to the mouth of Jolley fished a while, than moved around to Tiger Island. I think it was Paul's first cast and he had a good hookup. After patiently fighting the fish, he landed a nice keeper sized Seatrout. Then young Brooke had strong hookup and she too landed a feisty Redfish. Paul had the bow to himself and he made the most of it, landing another Redfish, a Seatrout, a Flounder and nice Bluefish. The baitstealers were ever present and every once in a while they'd snag one of them. All in all it was kind of a slow fish "catching" day, but still a great day to be out fishing Amelia Island waters!

Safe Harbor Boys Home Redfish Spot Tournament

I fished Friday with friends Tim Parker and his Brian Knicley and then again Saturday in the Safe Harbor Boys Home Redfish Spot Tournament and we had a great time of catching fish! Just not the right one! Friday, there were cloudy skies with storm clouds passing to the right and left us,and the wind picked up, but we never got hit by any serious rain. We caught Weakfish, Seatrout, Redfish, Black Drum and Sheepshead with one of the Redfish being in the Slot and with NO Spots!  On the day of the tournament we were ready. We had already purchased live shrimp and had them in the live well with fresh water and an aerator. We were up early and on time at the boat ramp in the dark and after launching made it to our first spot just at the sun came up. Almost immediately did Brian hookup with a fat Weakfish then he followed that up with a Seatrout. We fished the area thoroughly and landed Redfish after Redfish after Redfish but all were unersized and none had more than 4 spots. We made a move down to Broward Island and again found numerous small Redfish and then ended up fishing Seymore's Pointe where we had our choice of catching Redfish or Seatrout, but no Slot Reds that we could think about entering. It was two great day of fish catching with two friends and even though we didn't have fish to enter, we knew it was a great time to be out fishing Amelia Island waters!

Foggy Fishing

We had another foggy socked in day this morning, making it kinda difficult to navigate to "spots". I started up Lanceford Creek with Doug Massey and his two friends Marion and Bill but I was having to go so slow I figured I better go ahead and hit my 2nd choice and fish it until the fog lifted. We eased around to Tiger Island and began fishing on the very last of an outgoing tide. Just as I thought it was a little slow but when the tide changes the three anglers began to catch fish. Dough "knocked the skunk off" when he landed a nice feisty Redfish. Then they were all catching fish - feisty Reds, hungry Seatrout and then they picked up a couple of Sheepshead to claim an Amelia Island Back Country Slam. They then made it a "Grande Slam" when Bill landed a Black "puppy" Drum. We fished the area thoroughly and put two keeper sized Seatrout in the boat before we ran up to Jolley River to fish a flooding oyster bed. Doug had one good hookup with what surely was a Slot Redfish but it buried it's nose in the oysters and broke itself off after a good battle. We had a good day of "catching" so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Flordia!

Creatures of Amelia

I did a tour this afternoon, taking the Steve Buckley family on a "Creatures of Amelia" tour. We headed north and saw the historic sites of Old Town, the Pogey Plant and Fort Clinch, then crossed over to Cumberland Island where we saw a small herd of wild horses. As we cruised the shoreline Steve spotted a pod of Dolphin rolling out ahead of us. We cruised Beach Creek, saw some bird life, then crossed back into Florida and around behind Tiger Island. I had some live shrimp and mud minnows left over from the morning trip so we broke out a couple of rods and gave it a try. After a few casts we had a good hookup and Steve and his oldest son Christian reeled in a hungry Seatrout. We relocated a ways south and Grandad Frank had a strong bite, played the fish patiently, and landed another fat Seatrout. Our next stop was checking some crab traps. The first trap was empty but the 2nd had a crusty old Blue Crab. We made a stop to check a minnow trap and even though it had no minnows, Christian spotted small fiddler crab. Our last crab trap was empty, so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be learning about creatures of Amelia Island!

Big Sheepshead Grabs Bragging Rights

We had a great day of fishing this morning with some big fish caught and a whole lot of undersized ones. I had met Randall Gressett and his son James down at the Atlantic Seafood dock and we headed north to fish Tiger Island on the first of an incoming tide. The skies were overcast but there was very little wind as the two anglers began to pitch their jigs and shrimp up near the downed logs. It was a slow start but James finally got things going when he hooked up and landed a nice feisty Redfish. We fished up and down the bank and finally found a hot spot. For the next two hours it was
catching one fish after the other. Randall had a good battle with a 22" Slot Red, then he caught another. Both anglers were catching smaller feisty Reds then James put a 21" Slot Red in the boat. Randall had a really strong bite and as the line zipped across the water and the big fish dove deep we knew that this was going to be the biggest Red so far. NOT! Randall played the fish patiently as the fish continued to put up a fight and when it came to the surface we saw that it was a huge 22" Sheepshead! Boy what a fish. This
fish puts Randall squarely in the lead of the Anglers Mark 2015 Bragging Rights Tournament -Sheepshead category(scroll down right side of this report to see standings). And shortly after that James had a good hookup and again thought it was going to be a keeper Red, but it turned out to be a fat 18" Seatrout, garnering the duo an Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Sheepshead and Seatrout. There was one more very large Sheepshead landed, along with more feisty Reds and hungry Trout, then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters!