We Knocked It Out of the Park

 

I fished again today with Bob Blalock but this time we elected to do an afternoon trip and meet up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp. The tide had been going out for a couple of hours as we made our way to our first spot in  homes of bettering our "catch" from yesterday. And boy did we!  We pulled up to a small drainage and began tossing live shrimp on a jig and Bob got things started with a small Flounder catch. Then he hooked up with a small Redfish, then another, then another, then another, then another... and it was "Game On"!  Then we had a good bite that ripped some drag - a bigger fish. Bob fought it patiently and after a good battle, landed a nice 25" Slot sized Redfish.

We caught fish for almost 2 hours!  Bob put a couple of smaller Slot fish in the boat (all fish but one flounder were released today), then he had another BIG bite. This fish was big and took Bob deep and stayed deep. There was some structure behind us  and it was close quarters with no room for maneuvering but Bob kept the pressure on, worked the fish up to the surface, and we saw it was a huge Black Drum! But the fish went deep again, ripping drag as it went so Bob had to patiently work back to the surface and we eventually landed a nice 25" Black 'puppy" Drum - caught on a size 1000 Florida Fishing Products reel - and the crowd went wild!

A while later Bob battled and landed another big Slot Redfish, this one measuring in at 26" - I think big enough to set the bar in the all new 2023 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament-Redfish Category.

The bite finally slowed so we ran back towards Fernandina, fished some dock pilings, and caught 7-8 more feisty Redfish. We finished the day over at Tyger Island, working the bank with the jigs, and picked up a few more Redfish, a couple of small Black Drum, a small Seatrout and....one keeper sized Flounder. We headed back to the dock with the sun setting and we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Great February Day of Fishing

Clear skies, little wind and a beautiful sunrise greeted us out at Goffinsville Park when I met Bob Blalock for a half day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. We made a short run around to some docks at Seymore's Pointe and fished it thoroughly on a mid tide, coming in, and actual had some bit of action, catching a good handful of hungry Seatrout, then a keeper sized Flounder.   We came back around to some docks at Nassauville and fished them. Here, Bob hooked up and landed a hungry Flounder and a feisty Redfish.

The tide was up with just a bit before it hit high so we crossed over and went down to Pumpkin Hill and fished float rigs over some flooded oysters, but only had a nibble. We then made our way up into Christopher Creek and fished the bend with jigs and live shrimp, but had no bites.

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. 

We fished further down the intercoastal, drifting floats, and picked up a handful of Bluefish to wrap up another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida 

Demographics Compiled for 2022

 I always liked "statistics" and even though these are just basic averages, it's interesting to see the trends. Each year I track where my customers are coming from, approximately how old they are, what they do for a living, etc, and compile them in January to see where we're at. Here are the  results:

Number of "repeat" customers:    72%  (wow! up from 56%, a huge jump, thanks!)

Average age:       61 year old      (up just a bit. Obviously,  - the "repeats"  are a year older!)
Oldest (that booked):    79 years old (the oldest guy that ever actually booked the trip was 85!)

Youngest (that booked):  29 years old  

          Where are they from?
Local (driving distance):  39%  
Florida (includes local):  45%
Atlanta area:   17%
Geogia(includes Atlanta):  26%
South East (includes Florida and Georgia) :  79%
West:   5%
NE/Canada:  13%

         Who was fishing?
Married:  92%
Have kids:  93%
Arranged by Men:  90%
Ethnic:  0%     (this befuddles the heck out of me, the most I've ever had was 3%)

Family Group:  8 %
Sole Angler:  13%
Couples/Husband and Wife:  17%
Father/Child:  26%
Friends/Adult Siblings: 31%
Mother/child:  2%                      (come on mom's, dadgummit!)

Did they tip?  88%  (Thank you!)(I plan a blog post on this sometime soon, but how to word it?)

When did they come?

Apr,June,July,Aug:     40%              (These used to have a wider range, but not so much now)

May,Sept,Oct,Nov:       33%

Jan,Feb,Mar,Dec:          27%

April-November:          73%      (actually December and January are the only  real "dead" times now)

We Made The Top 60!

 There's a site out there that compiles and tracks the most active Blogs - it's called FeedSpot - and one of
the categories is Florida related fishing blogs.  You can CLICK HERE to go to that compilation. They've got this Amelia Island Fishing Report ranked at #13 (the last time I checked) which is great news for any potential advertiser. If you scroll down the right side of this report you'll see that it's had over 1.5 MILLION visitors!  Thank  you all for falling the Blog and helping with the content.  

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! 

Right Off The Bat

 I wrapped my week up fishing with Frank Wytiaz and his long time buddy and fellow Vietnam veteran Brad, meeting them down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early this morning. We eased around the corner and set up fishing Sawpit Creek bridge with slip floats and live shrimp on the very last hour of an outgoing tide. It was a our first "drop" of the slip float and it had drifted only about 5' away from the boat when it disappeared! But Brad was ready and "on point" - he slapped his bail shut and started cranking and hooked up and landed a nice hungry Seatrout - now that's the way to start a day of fishing! Both anglers got their lines out and both caught fish - another couple of Seatrout and a couple of Bluefish. 

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. 

We fished Broward Island on the incoming tide but the wind had started kicking out of the NE and it made for some "not so fun" fishing so we moved back to the shelter of Nassauville and drifted the floats (to no avail).

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. 

New Spots

I was meeting Steve Locke and  his brother Mike down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp and rather than making my usual run up the Nassau we decided to fish the area a bit before we left. We first eased around and fished the Sawpit Creek bridge with slip floats. We had an extremely low tide and I had expected it to be starting back in but it was stubborn and was still going out as we fished. But we did pick up a couple of  hungry Seatrout and a couple of feisty Bluefish.

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.  

The Final Fish

 When I talked to Glenn Langford last evening he indicated he'd like to target Sheepshead on our trip this morning. So when I met him and his wife Patti down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp we had a "plan".  Our first stop was around at Sawpit where I (eventually) was able to latch on to one  of the pilings and the two anglers began to drop a jig and shrimp (no fiddlers available) to their base. I don't think we had much of a bite but while they were jigging I tossed a slip float out into the current and picked up a hungry Seatrout, a Blue fish, and a bait stealer.  We then made our way over to the mouth of Sawpit and fished some rocks, inching our way along them and dropping our bait to their base.  Glenn had pointed out a likely spot and sure enough, both he and  Pattie picked up a feisty Redfish each. Patti did have one big fish on but it bulled under the boat and then found something to swim under and, fish off!

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. 

Re-Connecting Fishing Buddies

 

Yesterday I fished with Carmen Santamaria who had his old time fishing buddy Tony with him when we met up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp. There was just a slight breeze and clear skies as we headed over to the outside of Tyger Island on the very first of an outgoing tide. I had live shrimp in the well for these two anglers to bait up their float rigs and soon they were fishing a grass line as that current started out. We got some bites right off but no takers until Tony hooked up with a Seatrout to "knock the skunk off".  Then we saw a "ripple" up in a pocket of grass and Tony made a perfect cast up past it, let it drift and BAM! Fish On! Tony played it perfectly and a after a good battle brought to the net a nice Slot Redfish (all fish caught today were released).

We crossed the way after that and fished another grass line briefly, then made our way over to Lanceford
Creek where we fished a grassy island, then a bulkhead, to no avail.. Our next stop was back around at Soap Creek and again, no fish. 

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. 

Cool and Clear For Trout and Redfish

 We fished out of Dee Dee Bartels Park today when I met Mark Averbuch and his son Cutler and grandson Harvey early this morning. It was still in the 30's but there were clear skies and the river was alike a lake. The tide still had a couple of hours of going to out to hit bottom so we made a long run up the Bell River to fish a deep bank with jigs and live shrimp. It didn't take long before Mark "knocked the skunk off" when he hooked up and landed a keeper sized Seatrout - and he was out deep. Then Cutler was fishing the outside of a dock and he too had a hard bite and a hookup - he landed another nice Seatrout. But it was Harvey who had the Redfish catch - after making a good cast to the pilings he felt the "bump", set the hook and Fish On! As you can see in the video, the fish was no match for Harvey who expertly brought it to the net. 

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.

Our final stop was over at Eagans Creek where we set up current from a dock and here the action turned on. All three anglers caught Redfish - about 7-10 in all. We had a couple of breakoffs but these anglers went right back in there and picked up another one. The sun was up, the temperature was now up into the 50's and as we headed back we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Recipe of the Month: Oyster Stew

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.