Our next stop, after a 10 minute run was down at Sawpit Creek, fishing jigs on the first of an outgoing tide. We had just a nibble or two, lost a couple of jigs on the rocks, then Bob had a strong hookup and, Fish On! He played it perfectly, even with the wake thrown by a couple of passing yachts, and soon landed a nice 23" 10 spot slot sized Redfish.
Number of "repeat" customers: 72% (wow! up from 56%, a huge jump, thanks!)
That said, if you have a report, some fishing related news, a recipe, an old Amelia Island photograph, send them to me and I'll "credit" you. Thanks!
We then ran up the Nassau and stopped at a marsh drainage, the tide still going out. We did the drift floats first then switched to jigs an shrimp, but had no luck. Our next stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe and here Frank hooked up and landed another Seatrout. We then came around the corner and fished between a couple of docks where Brad reeled in a feisty Redfish and we picked up another Trout or two.
Our final stop was back at the Intercoastal, near Sawpit, and on Frank's first drift he had his float go under- he caught up the slack, lifted his rod and Fish On! Frank played it perfectly and brought to the net another Redfish - a good way to wrap up another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
Our next stop was over at the intercoastal, fishing a downed tree and here we had some action. Steve was the first to hookup and it was a nice Seatrout and it was almost to the the net and....it threw the hook! Ouch. But these two anglers were persistent and kept fishing and caught a few more Trout - Mike with a keeper. They also caught a handful of feisty Redfish and a couple of those had multiple spots.
We did then run up the Nassau and fished a dock thoroughly. Not much was happening except a Seatrout catch by Steve. After running around the corner, we fished some docks at Nassauville, then we fished Broward Island (and had a Bald Eagle fly over), then we made the run up to the mouth of Lofton Creek to pick up one more Seatrout.
The day had been cool and clear with only a bit of wind so as we made the long run back we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
Our next stop was up at Seymore's Pointe where we fished a likely dock with the jigs. Pattie reeled in another hungry Trout then we brought to the boat a nice keeper sized Flounder. We got up-current from the dock, dropped anchors off the bow and stern, and let the current and wind push us right up to the pilings where we could stay off the dock but fish the pilings. We did get a few "bumps" but no takers and no hookups.
The final stop was over at Nassauville, fishing some rocks and there things picked up. Glenn caught a small Seatrout, then had a strong hookup and after a good battle brought to the net a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. He followed that up with a keeper sized Seatrout then wrapped things up with a........Sheepshead! And a keeper too! Wouldn't you know that the last fish caught for the day was the target fish and as we headed back we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
The tide had gotten down a bit so we found some dock pilings to fish with jigs and this paid off. Carmen got on the board with a nice Redfish catch, then both anglers were catching fish - Redfish - most of them small but a couple of keeper size. Just when I would think that the bite had quit, they'd hookup! We had beautiful weather and the fish cooperated so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
We another dock along there, to no avail, then made a run over into the Jolley where we fished the MOA on the last of the ougoing tide, then we continued on around to behind Tyger Island and fished deep with the jigs. Again, no real bites.
Finally! We stopped by Houston's Meat Market on the way home and picked up a bushel of oysters - they were from Virginia - the York River. Coincidently, we had oysters at a party a couple of weeks before that and they had both Virginia oysters AND "local" oysters (they were actually from south Georgia). Those local oysters were clusters - 4-5-6 oysters in one lump, and were the best I've had in a while. BUT, you had to work for them. They're small and difficult to shuck. The Virginia oysters are singles and larger, easier to shuck, and you get more "bang for you buck", but not quite as tasty as the local oysters. This bushel that we picked up from Houston's we roasted and shucked and ate them with hot sauce, butter, butter and horseradish. Note that I've got a habit of roughly counting the oysters as I wash and load them on the grill and the bushel ended up having approximately 12 dozen oysters. We shucked and ate all but 3 dozen, then shucked the rest to make oyster stew.
This recipe comes from www.shewearsmanyhats.com
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 Large onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 6 cups whole milk or half and half
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 16 ounces fresh raw oysters, undrained
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Heat butter over medium heat in heavy bottom 3-quart saucepan. Add diced onion and saute until tinder, about 5 minutes. Grate in garlic(or mince), continue to saute for another 1-2 minues, being watchful to not burn garlic. Add red pepper, paprika, salt, black pepper, stir to toast about 1 minute.
2. Drain oysters and reserve liquid (oyster liqueur)(we didn't have any of this as ours came right off the grill. BUT, we opened a can of crab meat and dumped it in, crab and liquid to add some thickness)
3) Reduce heat to low, add milk, parsley and oyster liqueur.
4) Cook over low heat until mixture is hot and beginning to steam, and bubbles just start to appear around the edge. Do NOT allow to come to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste.
5) Add oysters and continue to cook over low heat until oysters begin to curl on edges.
We had a beautiful morning greet us when I met Bob Kossman down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp with plans to make a morning of fishing on his birth day! We eased around to the old bridge and set up fishing with slip floats and live shrimp, fishing 14' deep, on a tide that had been coming in for a couple of hours. Although we had one or two bites, we had no takers so we re-positioned to the other side of the bridge and stayed with the slip floats. This paid off with a few Bluefish catches - all almost the exact same size.
Then we made a run up the Nassau River to some docks and fished the pilings with jigs and live shrimp. There was almost zero current and I think that affected the bite (there was none). We eventually set up out deep (17') and pitched up to shallower water and this did the trick. We began to pick up Seatrout - a couple of them slammed the jig/shrimp pretty hard. Of the handful we caught, one of them was of keeper size.
Our next stop was down at Nassauville, fishing the jigs, and again we picked up a Trout or two. Continuing on, we made our way down to Broward Island and fished under the watchful eye of a Bald Eagle. Bob's first cast produced another hungry Seatrout. The next stop was up at Pumpkin Hill, drifting fixed floats. The first few drifts produced no bites but I had seen some "nervous" water up in a pocket and as a drifted back Bob made a perfect cast and in just a minute his float slowly went under. Bob was patient, let the fish have it, then lifted his rod and set the hook. He could tell this fish was a bit bigger than the Seatrout we had been catching and sure enough, he brought to the net a fine Redfish.
After hitting one more spot on the first of an outgoing tide we headed back to the ramp and counted it as another great birth day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
