Big Sheepshead Claims Bragging Rights

For the second time in two days the top spot in the Bragging Rights has been claimed! I started out fishing with Bob and Anne Owensby who brought along Anne's brother David and his wife Emily for an Amelia Island light tackle fishing trip today. We met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and ran up the Amelia River to fish the flooded oyster beds of Jackstaff. Emily claimed the first fish, a hard fighting Jack Crevalle, then she put another in the boat too. Then David felt a fish bumping his bait
softly - he waited patiently, and then set the hook on a nice keeper sized Flounder (but all fish caught today were released). Bob got on the board when he boated a Stingray that wanted to hug the bottom. After that, we had no real bites for about 40 minutes! The wind had picked up a bit so we ran around to some docks at Seymore's Pointe and it made for some real nice conditions. The anglers weren't getting any real bites, though, until Emily had a strong hookup, and, FISH ON! She played the fish calmly and even though it wanted to run under the boat, she pulled it out and after a good battle, landed 
a huge 22.5" Sheepshead to capture first place in the Anglers Mark 2015 Bragging Rights Tournament - Sheepshead Category (scroll down the right side of this report to see standings). Boy what a fish! We fished the docks for a while and Bob picked up a couple of Redfish and then Emily had one, too. They already had an "Amelia Island Back Country Slam" of Flounder, Sheepshead, and Redfish, but when we moved over to Bubblegum Reef, David made it a "Grande Slam" when he put a couple of keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. Bob landed  a couple of more Sheepshead, one that was a very nice keeper size, then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Birthday Trip Nets Big Trout

Tim Ayers set up an Amelia Island back water fishing trip for his son Andrew's birthday and Andrew brought along his buddy's Aiden and Drake to help celebrate. We met down at the South End boat ramp and after a  brief safety orientation, headed up the Amelia River to duck into Jackstaff to fish the last of an outgoing tide. Our first "demo" cast produced a bite and Drake was on the rod, reeling in a keeper sized Flounder! And not shortly after that both Andrew and Aiden followed it up with two hungry Seatrout. We had another Flounder along that stretch then ran thru the creek

to fish some docks at Seymore's Pointe. Although the conditions were right I believe the tide was just coming to a standstill so we had no real bites. We moved over to Bubblegum Reef, fished for a while, then the anglers had a good flurry of fish catching. Tim hooked up with a hungry Jack Crevalle, then they picked up a Trout, and then another Jack, but this one was bigger. At the same time a Sail Cat was hauled in. The wind was picking up out of the south and making things difficult so we ran down to Broward Island and this did the trick. Drake reeled in a feisty Redfish, then we had

another Red then Aiden had a strong hookup, and FISH ON! We knew this fish was big when it came to the surface and thrashed around, but Aiden kept the pressure on and we soon landed a 22.5" Seatrout, big enough to put Aiden in the lead of the 2015 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament-Seatrout Category! Scroll down the right side of this report for standings. We continued to fish the area for a while longer, then called it day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

Beautiful but Windy Day

I fished today with Charles Lynn and his buddy Julianne, visiting from the Columbus, Georgia area, and we met down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp. The wind was already kicking a little bit but we had sunny skies and a baitwell full of live shrimp, so we headed up the Nassau River to make our first stop at Bubblegum Reef.  We probably shouldn't have shook our fists at the wind when the two anglers both put nice fat Seatrout in the boat in just a few minutes! We move over to some docks, fished the pilings, had a
strong hookup, but had no fish, and the wind was now kicking our butts. We moved around to the east side of a land mass and it was like night and day  being out of the wind! Although the conditions were great, we only landed a mud fish. We fished the barge at Nassauville, had no luck, then ran down to Broward Island. Charles picked up a Sheepshead and then had another strong bite, but it broke the line at the leader, and that was the last of our chances there. Again, the wind was buffeting us to the shoreline, so we ran back to the lee side of a land mass, fished briefly, then headed in, counting it as beautiful day to be out on the water, albeit a very windy one!

Bunch of Fish

After being down for two days due to thunderstorms I was chomping at the bit to get back on the water today. I met Russ and Adrienne Futrell down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and we headed up the Nassau River, making our first stop at some docks to fish the first of an incoming tide. The two anglers were on the bow of the boat, tossing jigs and live shrimp to the pilings and it only took a few casts before both of them had a hookup at the same time! We had  double to "knock the skunk off"!  Russ landed a nice feisty Redfish and Adrienne put a keeper sized Black "puppy"
Drum in the boat. We continued to fish and the two caught a handful of keeper sized Mangrove Snapper- the first of the year, then Adrienne had strong bite and the fight was on! She played the fish patiently and went from the bow to the stern. The big fish dove under the boat but Adrienne kept the pressure on and pulled it back out. After a long fight, she landed a nice 23" Slot Redfish! Russ landed a Flounder to tally the duo an Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Black Drum, Redfish, and Flounder, then Adrienne upped it to a "Grande" Slam when she put a keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. We made run down to Broward Island where they caught another Slot Redfish and a Sheepshead. Our next stop was in Christopher Creek where they picked up a keeper sized Flounder and then we made one final stop in Jackstaff where they found a Seatrout and a couple of hard fighting Jack Crevalle. It was a beautiful day of fish catching to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Fighting Off Jack Crevalle

I had the pleasure of fishing with Wes and Mary Beth Metheney again, along with Steve Collins, Mary Beth's brother. We met at the Atlantic Seafood dock yesterday afternoon but elected to run south to the Horsehead area and the mouth of Jackstaff. Although we had what I thought was a good tide - the last of an outgoing, we had no real bites on our jig and shrimp combo. We crossed over, fished a sandbar point then headed around to fish Bubblegum Reef on the very first of the incoming tide. We got into some real action here!
Mary Beth had a strong hookup and battled what turned out to be a hard fighting Jack Crevalle. Then she landed another, and maybe another. The two male anglers were feeling left out until Wes got in on the action and caught a big Jack of his own. Then we landed a small Seatrout and had another strong hookup. Steve was on the rod and fought the big fish patiently and when it came to the surface we were glad to see a big 24" Black "puppy" Drum. We picked up another Jack or two then moved to some dock pilings where once again we found some big Jack Crevalle's. I know we had two on at one time, twice - "doubles" - which made for some excitement.  We gestimated that we had about 12 Jacks and after Wes picked up a Flounder, we ran around to Broward Island where the trio landed a few feisty Redfish, a Sheepshead, and another Trout. On the way to Broward we passed two Bald Eagles who had posted themselves on perches in the marsh. The sun was heading down,  they breeze was just right and we headed in, passing pod after pod of dolphin so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Flordia!

A Tale of Perseverance

Although we've had some cloudy skies with rain predicted every day, I was able to get fishing with Michael Collins Friday morning, leaving the Atlantic Seafood dock early and heading up to the Jolley River to fish the very first of an outgoing tide after a heavy flood. The water was still up in the grass as we set up at the mouth of marsh runout and began to toss float rigs with live shrimp. We had a few nibbles but no real bites until the tide really started running out. But we hit a few spots and Michael's perseverance paid off. We were still fishing the float rigs and got into a flurry of fish catching. First Michael put a nice feisty Redfish in the boat, then another. We picked up a Sea Trout and then a Slot Red. We fished that area for a while then moved around to fish the logs of Tiger Island where we picked up another fish or two, Even though it was overcast, it made for some quality fishing and even though we had to work for our fish, we had a great day out on the water here at Amelia Island!

Birthday Trip Nets Slot Red and Big Trout

I fished George and Cindi Breslin this morning, running up the Nassau River, thru Jackstaff and to its mouth on the other side. We set up off the flooded marsh grass on a high and outgoing tide and began tossing live shrimp under floats. We had a bite on the first cast and shortly after the two anglers began catching Seatrout at the marsh run outs. Most we undersized but they did one keeper in that area. We crossed the creek to fish a point and her George had a
strong hookup, battled it for a good while, then poof, it was gone - the hook pulled! It might have been his next cast and he had another strong hookup. This fish fought so hard and pulled so deep we both were thinking big Red, but when George wore it out we found that that it was a big Jack Crevalle! Their Back! We ran back thru Jackstaff and around to Twin Creeks. Cindi was on the bow of the boat, still tossing a float rig, and picked up a couple or three of feisty Redfish, then a  Flounder to round out her personal Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Seatrout, Redfish and Flounder. We then fished a dock with jigs and in short order Cindi had a hookup. We knew it was a big fish the way it fought against the drag but Cindi fought it patiently and after a good battle, landed a nice big Slot 25" Redfish! She followed that up with a big 18" Seatrout then we moved to the other side of the dock where George put another 18" Trout in the boat. Our final stop was down at Broward Island where we 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!

First Redfish for Young Angler

The thunderstorms were forecast to come in later this afternoon so we went with the scheduled trip to fish with Rob Becker and his son Isaac this morning. I met them down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and we headed up the Amelia River and into Jackstaff to fish the first of an outgoing tide with float rigs and live shrimp. I believe Rob knocked the skunk off early when he boated a hungry Seatrout, then another, but Isaac followed it up with a hard fighting fish, which he landed - a nice feisty Redfish- his first. We continued to fish the stretch of marsh grass and both anglers were catching
Seatrout regularly. We switched to jigs and shrimp, fished a sandbar, and found that we could catch Seatrout at will.  Eventually, we made the run through Horsehead, found a dock to fish, which we did for a while, with no real bites. It wasn't until we got ready to leave when Isaac made a nice cast up near a piling and it had no sooner hit the bottom and BOOM! FISH ON! Isaac played the big fish patiently and after a good battle landed a nice Slot Redfish! We moved on to fish Bubblegum Reef, found a Seatrout, then made the run down to Broward Island where the two anglers picked up a handful of more Trout. We'd caught a bunch of fish early, had a big fish landed, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!

Fish On First Cast and Last Cast

I met Mark Humphreys and his two sons Milo and Liam down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp this morning and we headed up the Amelia River to fish the mouth of Jackstaff on the very last few minutes of the outgoing tide. It was Milo's first cast when he hooked up with a hungry Seatrout then Liam landed a small Sea Bass. Shortly after that Liam had made an excellent cast to the exposed oysters and as he worked it back his rod bent and he
yelled, "I got a fish!".  He reeled the fish in and landed a nice Flounder. We fished the area to a large creek mouth then ran around to fish Bubblegum Creek on the first of an incoming tide. Milo was casting to the oyster bank and he too had a strong hookup. This fish fought hard but Milo was up to it and landed a big keeper sized Seatrout. Shortly after that Liam reeled in a nice Sheepshead then he and his father boated a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. We moved on to some docks at Seymore's Pointe where they caught another Trout, a Bluefish and Milo got our first feisty Redfish, to garner the trio and Amelia Island Back Country "Super Grande
Slam" of Seatrout, Flounder, Sheepshead, Black Drum and Red Drum! We then made a run down to Broward Island, fooled around with some "baitstealers" then got back into some fish. We had a really strong hookup that threw the hook then Mark landed another keeper sized Sheepshead. Then BOOM! BIG FISH ON! Mark worked the fish patiently as it ran deep towards the downed limbs but he pulled it back out, keeping the pressure on. The fish went from Starboard to Port and then started back to the stern. Mark worked him up and we netted a nice 25" Slot sized Redfish! Boy what a fish. With that catch, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Redneck Fish

I had a great trip this morning, fishing with Traci Guinn and her teenage kids Bri and Logan who had brought along their friends Spence and Cam. We met down at the Atlantic Seafood dock and headed straight up to the Jolley River to fish the first of an incoming tide. The oysters were completely exposed and the anglers were tossing live shrimp on a jig. We fished a good stretch of oysters, picking up a couple of baitstealers and fighting off a handful of others, and were almost to the end of our run when BOOM! FISH ON! Bri had her fishing rod bend over and the line
was ripping out but she kept the pressure on and fought the fish patiently. The big fish stayed up  by the oysters for a while, rolling a couple of times then, BOOM! Another fish on! Logan had one on, too! We had a double! Logan went to the front of the boat and Bri's big fish took her to the stern and then went deep. We netted Logan's feisty Redfish and after a good battle, landed Bri's 22" Slot Redfish. Now that will wake you up! We fished the area briefly then ran back to Tiger Island. Spence picked up a feisty Redfish and during the same battle, Logan caught a nice Sheepshead which he dubbed a "Redneck Fish" due to it's buck teeth! He picked up another bigger Sheepshead later and added Flounder to garner his own Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Sheepshead and Flounder. We fished the outside of Tiger with float rigs and here Logan caught a Seatrout to make it a "Grande Slam", then we ran over to Bell River where Bri put one more Trout in the boat. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island, Florida.