Big Variety and a Slot Red

The beautiful mornings just keep on rolling in here at Amelia Island.  Today was another one with clear skies and no wind as the sun came up down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp.  I met the Mathews family, Tristan and Dee Dee along with their young adult kids Tristan and Teresa. We headed up the Amelia River to fish the mouth of Jackstaff with the oysters barely showing on an outgoing tide.  With only a cast or two under his belt,  young Tristan hooked up and fought in a very nice 18" Seatrout to get the "skunk off the boat" early!  His dad hooked up a little later with another keeper sized Trout.  The anglers all began to get bites and landed a number of hungry Snapper then Teresa hauled in a
multi-spot Redfish.  Tristan landed a Flounder to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam and Teresa tangled with a high jumping Ladyfish.  After a few more catches of Snapper we headed around to the Nassau River to fish an old oyster bank.  Almost immediately Tristan hooked up with something very big and had a good battle before it decided to have none of getting caught!   He continued to fish the deeper water and caught a good handful of Snapper.  Dee Dee had a strong bite and landed hard fighting Jack Crevalle.  All the anglers hooked up with Snapper then Tristan the younger had a good hookup and his drag began to rip, FISH ON!  He played the fish expertly and patiently and after  good battle that took him deep  a couple of times, he landed a nice 22" Slot Redfish! We fished the area for just a while longer then made a run to Broward Island where the anglers added a few more Snapper, a nice Stingray and one more Redfish to the fish count.  All fish caught today were released to be caught another day.  With that, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Redfish and Snapper Boys

We had another beautiful this morning as the sun came up - very little breeze and Florida sunshine!  I met Coley O'brien and his two sons Brennan and Aiden down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at 7am and cruised up the intercoastal waterway to the mouth of Jackstaff to fish the last couple of hours of an out going tide.  These two young boys had never fished salt water and werer chomping at the bit to get to fishing! They picked up the spin casting in less than 15 minutes and began to work the exposed oysters along the bank.  Both Brennan and Aiden had hookups with Brennan catching a couple of hungry Snapper and  Aiden reeling in a few feisty Redfish.  Coley added a nice Seatrout to the mix.  We moved around to the Nassau River and had a good flurry of bites, catching another feisty Redfish and more Snapper.  We had a stronger hookup and Coley played a larger Redfish to the boat.  The last fish for this spot was a very large 19 1/2" Seatrout that Aiden caught.  Further north the anglers added a Snapper then we made a run to Broward Island and added another Snapper to the catch.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Amelia Island Boat Tour

David and Sarah Post were visiting Amelia Island this week and brought along their 2 year old daughter Maddie for an Amelia Island boat tour.  We headed out of the Fernandina Beach City marina and headed north to see the sites of historic Old Town and Fort Clinch.  We crossed over to Cumberland Island and were pleased to see a nice herd of wild horses browsing the dunes on the south end of the island.  Heading north, we eased into Beach Creek and as we cruised the shoreline slowly Sarah spotted a small alligator laying low in the water and keeping an eye on us!  We also saw porpoises up in the creek and a black crested woodpecker.  Our next stop was Tiger Island where we again spotted porpoises and we found a large old tree full of roosting Rosette Spoonbills.  With that, we cruised the back alley of Tiger Creek to head back to the marina, wrapping up another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Amelia Island Back Country Slam

The Alfrey's were back in town this week - Randy and  his sons Adam and Jason - and took in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark today.  The normal weather pattern prevailed, beautiful mornings with little wind, few clouds and calm waters.  We left the Atlantic Seafood dock at 7am, headed north and made our first stop behind Tiger Island to fish the logs on the last of an outgoing tide.  The bite started slow but picked up steam as the anglers began to land fish.  Both Adam and Jason landed feisty Redfish while Randy added a hungry Seatrout.  They picked up some Snapper and Croaker then
Jason picked up a nice Flounder to round out the trios Amelia Island Back Country Slam.  We had a couple of more feisty Redfish and a Blue then headed up to fish an oyster lined bank in the Jolley River.  The beautiful weather held as the sun came up and the anglers added a few more Redfish, had a hookup with a Ladyfish, and hauled in a couple of more Croaker. We hit a couple of more spots then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Snapper Bite Precedes Slot Red

We had about the prettiest morning on the water that I've seen in a while - absolutely no wind, just a few
clouds, and bait fish moving along the bank.  I had met Greg and Erica Hoag at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp at 7am and we headed up the Amelia River to fish the mouth of Jackstaff on the very last of an outgoing tide.  There was bait everywhere in the still waters as we eased along the oyster beds, tossing jigs and mud minnows to the waters edge.  Erica had a good hookup with a hard fighting Jack Crevalle and we also added a small Snapper to the mix.  Greg had a nice Seatrout and we also picked up a small Redfish.  We moved around to the Nassau River and fished a long oyster bank as the tide started back in.  The anglers started getting good bites of keeper sized Snapper, caught a nasty Toad fish and slimy Catfish, then Erica had a strong hookup and, FISH ON!  She played the big fish patiently and after a good battle we landed a nice 21 1/2" Slot Redfish!  We continued to fish the area for a while, getting some good bites, then headed up to Broward Island to fish the downed logs as the tide started in there.  It was perfect conditions at Broward but the sun was up and the fish had quit biting, so we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Pinpoint Cast Garners Redfish

We got a very early start this morning, meeting at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp at Big Talbot Island park at 6am.  I had purchased 6 dozen mud minnows yesterday afternoon in preperation to fish today with Mike Morrill, his son Michael, and his father-in-law John.  We headed up the Nassau River with navigation and stern lights on and made it to our first spot as the sun was coming up.  The tide was perfect having just begun to come in and the anglers began to toss their jigs and minnows and fish
them slowly along the oyster laden bottom.  They had bite after bite from "bait stealers" but no real takers until John hooked up with a big fish, patiently played it, and landed a nice Catfish. Darn it, I thought it was a Red!  Mike did land one of the baitstealers, a Snapper, before we pulled up and headed to Broward Island to fish the incoming tide there.  The wind was blowing out of the south west and the current was still running out but the logs were nicely exposed.  We saw some baitfish scatter up near one of those logs and young Micahel made a pinpoint cast to the spot and very quickly hooked up, FISH ON!  He played the fish patiently as it got back in the current behind the boat and soon landed a nice 21 1/2" Slot Red!  Shortly after, his dad Mike fished a creek mouth and after losing a few minnows to a fish  he hooked up and caught it!  The keeper sized Flounder coughed up two of the minnows when we got it in the boat!  We fished the logs for a while then headed over to the mouth of Jackstaff and cruised the marsh grass.  John had a good battle with a nice Jack Crevalle and Mike landed a couple, too.  With that, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Big Ray Starts The Day

The Maguire family had daughters and son-in-laws and grandkids in visiting their north Jacksonville home so they set up an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark this morning.  I met Chuck Maguire, his son in law Cale, Cale's son Quintin and his nephew Ian at the Atlantic Seafood boat ramp at 7am and we headed up river to fish some dock pilings on an incoming tide.  The anglers had just gotten their jigs and mud minnows out when Ian had a strong hookup and his rod bent over double, FISH ON!  This big fish was running so hard I had to take the trolling motor off of anchor and begin to chase it down. 

Ian fought the fish for a good while then his uncle took over and continued the battle.  At first I thought it was a shark but it rolled up to the surface a couple of times so then I thought it had to be a huge Redfish.  But it was taking long, long runs so I even questioned that.  Finally, after a 30 minute battle, Cale was able to bring the big beast to the surface and we landed a huge Sting Ray!  Boy what a fish fight!  We returned to fish the spot, had a few bites, but headed on around to outside of Tiger Island.  Here Ian hooked up with a nice Ladyfish, Chuck had a Bluefish then Quintin landed a keeper sized Seatrout.  We had a good flurry of bites and landed a couple of more Trout.  We made our way around to the Tiger logs where we had some good bites.  Cale had a strong hookup and good battle with a nice Redfish that measured just an 1/8" under the legal size and also had a Seatrout that measured just under sized.  As we were preparing to go, Chuck had a good bite and he took landed another nice Redfish.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

High Tide Redfish

Jack Viertel has been visiting Amelia Island as a "working vacation" and took in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip on The Anglers Mark.  He has been staying at the historic and beautiful Fairbanks House which is located just blocks from the Atlantic Seafood boat ramp.  We made our way out of the marina at 7am and headed up to fish outside of Tiger Island with the tide high and coming in.  Our first stop was at "Manatee Creek" where I dropped the trolling motor and Jack began to toss a topwater lure to the marsh grass edge.  There was absolutely no movement of bait fish or feeding fish so after working a bank we moved on around to fish the Tiger logs.  The tide was really up by now but we had a few spots where we could toss a jig and mud minnow and after a brief time we had a hookup and, FISH ON!  Jack played the fish patiently as it made strong runs from bow to stern then dove deep under the boat. But Jack kept the pressure on and eventually we were able to land a nice 21" Slot Redfish!  We continued to work the bank and although we had a number of bites we had no takers.  Our next stop was up to Jolley River and here we had a good flurry of bites and caught a handful of hungry Seatrout on float rigs.  Further up into the river we picked up another Trout and a couple of nice Snapper.  Our last stop was some docks in Bell River where we picked up one more Trout to round out another great day of fishing at Amelia Island.

Slot Red Bonanza

Local resident Trey Dennard treated his young adult kids to a morning of back country fishing on TheAnglers Mark today.  Trey and his son IV and daughter Addison met me down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp at Big Talbot Island Park at 8am which was right at the top of the tide.  We headed up the Nassau River and fished a couple of Marsh run outs, or as a friend of mine, Tim Parker, owner of Tempatation Baits calls them marsh "dumps".  The water was still way up in the marsh and we had no takers on our lively mud minnows under floats.   We ran around to the mouth of Jackstaff and fished an oyster lined bank where Trey picked up a Snapper then IV had a strong hookup, FISH ON!  He played the fish perfectly and patiently, working the big fish in slowly and letting it run when it wanted to.   We saw the big oversized Redfish a couple of times but today he was not to be caught because sure enough, the hook pulled and, FISH OFF!  Ouch!  We fished the bank a couple of times with Trey picking up a couple of hungry Seatrout then we crossed over and fished a sandbar where we picked up a hard fighting Jack Crevalle.  As we eased along another shore line Trey had tossed his jig and minnow to the edge of some marsh grass, got hung, and when the hook came off, FISH ON!  He too fought this fish patiently and after a good battle we netted a nice 24" Slot Redfish with 7 spots!  We moved back around to Nassau River and found a likely spot and began to fish the jigs deep.  We had at least two hookups with big Redfish and after extended battles lost them to be caught another day.  But these anglers were not to be deterred.  IV had a good battle with a large Catfish then both Trey and Addison boated Slot Redfish.  Trey added a keeper sized Trout then he had another big hookup and big battle.  Trey worked the fish patiently as it ran from bow to stern and back again and after a long fight landed a big 26 3/4" "tournament" Redish!    And with the last mud minnow that had been dead on another rig for an hour or so, Trey hooked up to another Slot Red to wrap up the day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

Grouper in the Back Country

Just another beautiful morning fishing the back waters of Amelia Island!  I had met David Howard and his son Graham at the Atlantic Seafood dock down at the City of Fernandina Beach marina this morning at 7am and we'd made our first stop at the outside of Tiger Island.  We had only been fishing a few minutes on the glassy waters when we were treated to a Manatee popping it's head up just in front of the bow!  We also had a number of Dolphin sightings throughout the trip.  We had just a few bites but no takers and had a crowd of boats nearby so we headed up to Jolley River to enjoy our solitude.  Fishing a small marsh run out, Graham was able to haul in a feisty Redfish.  We moved around to "Snook Creek" and after fishing for just a little while, we had a strong hookup.  Graham again fought the fish and this one gave a pretty good battle, diving deep under the boat before being subdued, and as we netted the fish, Graham nailed the identity, calling "Grouper!"  And it sure was!  I've had guests catch some of these small Grouper but this was the biggest so far and I think I was more excited than Graham and David!  We continued to fish the creek and caught a keeper sized Snapper before moving down to Jolley Bank and trolling the exposed oyster beds.  The anglers picked up a couple of Trout, a Croaker, another feisty Redfish before we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island
waters!