I wrapped my week up fishing with Jon Beall and his visiting son Brian. We met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early and headed up the intercoastal then into the Nassau and made our way up to Spanish Drop where we turned into the incoming tide and began working the bank with float rigs.  Everywhere we went today we were waylaid by sharks! Eve...

I was fishing up north out of Old Town Bait and Tackle this morning. After meeting Aaron Self his son Isaac and his cousin Robert we headed out of Eagans Creek and made run up to the Jolley River and turned into the current to fish the bank with float rigs and live shrimp. We worked that bank pretty good back to the point where Aaron knock the s...

I was again down at Sawpit this morning but a little bit later which turned out to be a good thing and a not-so-good thing. I met Cheryl McBride with her two adult kids Rachel and Michael and we ran up the intercoastal dipped into Jackstaff and then into a creek and began tossing float rigs with live shrimp up near the grass and at run outs on a t...

Amelia Island I was back to work today fishing south out of Sawpit Creek with Scott and Carron Frost. After meeting them early we headed up the intercoastal thru the Back River and around to Pumpkin Hill and set  up fishing float rigs and live shrimp on the last of an incoming tide. Carron kicked it off pretty quick with a couple of Bluefish catc...

It appears that the City Commission will be moving forward with the Waterfront Park to be located at the City Marina. In addition to water guzzling grassy lawns and landscaping there will be a Pavillion (note: not to be called a Band Shell) and a children's play area. What any of that has to do with a Working Waterfront is beyond me.  The archite...

It looks like I wrapped my week up fishing this morning with the Sparrow crew - Will his kids Abigailand William and his mother Nancy -meeting them up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp. We had a bait will full of live shrimp and frisky mud minnows as we eased out of Eagans Creek and made a run down the river to fish an exposed shell bank...

I fished with the Palmore boys this morning Justin and his sons Will and Bentley meeting them down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early. We headed up the intercoastal then in to the Nassau and after a brief run pulled up at Spanish Drop and began fishing with jigs and live shrimp and mudminnows on a tide that still had about an hour and a half of...

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and took time to honor our fallen service men and women. It's amazing the sacrifice some made for us and their families too. We were back at it today fishing out of Goffinsville Park after I had met Steve Locke and his son Justin early. We made a short run down the Nassau River and pulled up at Spa...

I wrapped up my week yesterday fishing with Kenny King and his friends John Raker and John's mother Betty meeting them again out at Goffinsville Park boat ramp.  Note: You never know when you'll be surprised at the boat ramp - a guy had backed his truck (no trailer/boat) down the ramp got out and was fishing from the ramp. When I pulled up I thou...

I've probably mentioned it before....my dad when we would be passing thru a rural area that had cows  he said his grandfather(my great grandfather) would say the cows are laying down the fish aren't biting.  We don't have any cows here at Amelia Island but I've found that as I trailer my boat down to Sawpit Creek there are rabbits out on the gras...

We waited to go until the top of the tide today meeting at 9am out at Goffinsville Park.  John Raker and Kenny King met me at the dock and where we were the tide was still coming in. So we made a quick run over to Pumpkin Hill and drifted float rigs and live shrimp down a flooding marsh bank. We had not a single bite for that stretch but after w...

Back to fishing!  After being out of town for a week I was back fishing today with newlyweds Jeff and Elizabeth Parr. After meeting them early up at Old Town Bait and Tackle early we made our way out of Eagans Creek and over to the outside of Tyger to fish the first of an outgoing tide. It was High tide right when we started and boy was that wat...

I fished today after we had a slight temperature drop over the weekend one that caused the water temps to fall too. We didn't tear them up today but we had a little better action than we had last week in the backwaters.  When I pulled away from the boat ramp this afternoon my thoughts were to fish the oyster beds. I met Frank Wytiaz and his broth...

We must be in a faze right now not seeing Seatrout or Redfish or Flounder in the backwater. Water temps are hovering right around 80 degrees and even though we're getting some fish we just aren't seeing bragging rights fish unless you wanted to count the 13 Mangrove Snapper we caught today! I had met Chris Pyle and his fishing buddy Byron down at...

We had a three boat party today set up by Tom Klien fishing with friends after they caravaned in boats up from Central Florida. We all met at Old Town Bait and Tackle and divvied up anglers to the Captains - Jeremiah Joost-Miller George Smith and myself. I had Tom and his wife Gail and their friend Dave and we followed Jeremiah and George out of...

I finished my week and kicked off Shrimp Fest weekend by fishing with David Vice his son Nathaniel and friend Seth meeting them yesterday morning out at Goffinsville Park boat ramp.  We had an outgoing tide so we made a short run across the river to fish an edge south of Back River working the bank with float rigs and live shrimp. The first stre...

Redfish Bonnethead Shark Seatrout Flounder Mangrove Snapper Black Sea Bass and Silver Perch - not bad if we were in a species tournament!  But the ones that counted were a couple of Slot Redfish three keeper sized Seatrout and a Mangrove Snapper. I had met Eric Stevens and his friends Mike and Steven out at Goffinsville Park early this morning and...

Bluefish get a bad rap in that they are a bit fishy but if you know how to prepare them they can be delicious! Here's an age-old recipe for grilling Bluefish. The key is to prep the Bluefish!  Immediately after you catch them bleed them by cutting their gills and then put them on ice. When you get home filet them off the bone and skin and cut ou...

It's just plain crazy how our public officials seem to disregard the tax paying boating public. City of Fernandina commissioners are moving ahead with a Waterfront Park that will severely limit boaters using the marina ramp. In the Nassau County Dee Dee Bartels is dangerous to use when there is a west wind and hazardous to your boat anytime you la...

My theory this time of year is that the water temperature rises with the air temps and it falls with the air temps and the fish get confused.  And of course there's the theory about fishing during a full moon!  All week we've had beautiful weather a full-ish moon and cooler temperatures than last week and the fish bite had been somewhat down. Thu...

What a great day! After meeting Roger and Tina Pickett down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp early this morning we headed up the intracoastal with dolphins rolling off to our port. Our first stop was up at Poteat Point and first cast produced a fish - Tina was on the rod to knock the skunk off when she expertly battled a big Jack Crevalle to the net. B...

Boy what a beautiful morning we had after a weekend of rain and last nights downpour. I had met Jeff and Cindy Patrick up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp early and after easing out of Eagans Creek we made a short run up to the outside of Tyger Island turned into the current on a tide that had been coming in a few hours and started tossi...