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!

First Dog Fishing

I fished again with Richard and Cheryl Freshour, leaving out of the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina. Richard and Cheryl brought along "B-Gee", their little dog and it made for a great trip. At first B-Gee was a little annoyed at the remote controlled trolling motor and would emit a low growl as it move around to stay in position but once he got used to that, all was cool. The tide was already high and coming in so we made our first stop at Tiger Island to fish the
logs before they covered up. Richard had a good hookup and as he got it to the boat I saw that it was a nice Seatrout but it threw the hook before we could net it. Shortly after that he had strong bite and a good battle. This fish tried to stay at the bottom but Richard kept the pressure on and soon landed a nice 16" keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum, which we photographed and released. The bite was somewhat slower than it was last week but these two anglers kept on and it paid off when Richard had a really hard bite - this fish hit it hard and immediately ran, and FISH ON!  Richard played it patiently and after a good battle landed a Slot sized 24" Redfish! Again, after pictures, we release the fish to be caught another day. We continued to fish the area then ran up into Jolley River, fished some flooded oysters with float rigs. We then ran back to Tiger, checked some flooded grass flats for tailing Redfish and saw none, then wrapped the day up fishing floats again. Although it was a slow day, we can say we batted 1000, landing two fish that were both keeper sized!

Foggy Day Fishing Fun

Last week we had the sand gnats and this week we've had the sand gnats AND foggy conditions and today it held true. I fished today with Larry Beudry and Tom Sintes along with their friends Richard and Austin and it was foggy enough to alter my fishing plan. But we made the best of it and caught a few fish. Our first stop was in Jackstaff with the anglers tossing live shrimp under float rigs during the last of an incoming tide. Larry "knocked the skunk off" when he hooked up and landed  a hungry Seatrout. We made our next stop
around at a dock at Seymore's Pointe and here young Austin landed a nice Weadfish (Sand Trout) which was kinda cool to see.The anglers had a few more bites but no takers and the fog had lifted so we made the run down to Broward Island. Fishing with a jig deep, Tom picked up another Seatrout rather quickly but the tide was really high which made for some difficult fishing and it seemed like we'd have no more fish. But Richard volunteered to toss a float rig up near the shore line and this did the trick. He caught another fat Seatrout and went back to the same spot and caught a feisty Redfish
to wrap things up. The fog had cleared and we had caught a few fish and it turned out to be a great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida!

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!