Amelia Island Fishing Articles

In the last few years, I've developed an interest in using sand fleas (mole crabs) for bait, for several reason. One reason, they're free - you can catch your own vs. buying them at the bait store. I like catching my own bait; on days when the fishing isn't so good, I keep myself entertained catching bait. Another reason is that they'll work to catch a variety of fish, and finally, I've become interested in them because they are finally starting to show up again on Amelia Island's over replenished beach. Because of all the sand pumping and dumping that goes on here every couple years, sand fleas are difficult to find; there aren't millions of them like there are on other beaches in Florida. If you want fleas for bait here, you've got to do a little work to find them.

I've been fishing for a lot of years in the surf, but last fall I purchased my first sand flea rake. Up until I made that purchase, if I wanted sand fleas I just got them the old fashioned way, by digging in the sand with my hands. Although the rake works much better than the hand digging method, it soon became obvious that the guy who invented the sand flea rake wasn't from Amelia Island.

The beaches here change consistency, depending on the wave action, weather, and time of year. Sometimes the beach here is a 3 or 4 inch layer of fine sand covering a very hard layer of cocina (crushed shells), sometimes it's just fine deep sand with the same consistency as wet concrete, but it's never soft, grainy sand which is the type of sand where a flea rake works best. Digging here with the sand flea rake requires a substantial amount of effort, and it's virtually impossible to dig through hard pan with it. On several sand flea collecting expeditions, I found that I was cutting more fleas in half with the rake than I was catching because the rake just wouldn't go deep enough in the hard pan to get them. It became obvious I needed a more efficient method of collecting fleas, so I invented the Amelia Island Sand Flea Bucket.

Find an old five gallon plastic bucket (which should be easy to do in the garage of most fishermen), get a large, relatively sharp drill bit, and spend half an hour drilling holes. I left an "X" in the bottom of the bucket when I drilled the bottom holes to make the bottom a bit more sturdy, and also left a few solid patches in the sides of the bucket free from holes. I used a half inch drill, which is about the right size to get rid of 99% of the shells and small fleas, but still keep the big juicy ones contained.

The bucket shown in the picture was the prototype bucket I made. I intend to add a three or four more rows of holes on the side of the bucket to make the flea sorting method quicker.

Once you have the bucket constructed, the only other thing you'll need is a shovel. If I'm going to beach specifically to try and find sand fleas, I take along the full sized garden variety shovel shown in the picture. If I'm going fishing, and have other junk to carry down to the beach, I just take the small camping shovel, about two and half feet long, that I normally carry in the Jeep in case I get stuck on the beach.

Using the Amelia Island Sand Flea Bucket is pretty simple. Walk down to the beach where the waves are washing up onto the sand, and look for sand fleas. You'll see a bunch of "V"'s in the sand, pointing towards the beach, which are visible for a few few seconds after the water washes back over them, then they disappear. But then again, some days the beach can be loaded with fleas but you can't see any of them; they're down deep, and this is where the bucket works great.

If you find an area where you can see the fleas, just shovel two or three shovels full of sand into the bucket. If you can't see any visible evidence of fleas, just pick a spot, dig a shovel full of wet sand and toss it up on the dry sand; if the fleas are there, you'll see them running when the sand hits the beach. If you see one or two, then shovel two or three scoops of sand from the same area into the bucket.

When you have the bucket loaded with sand, carry it out into a foot or so of water, and aggitate it (back and forth, using the bucket handle) just like your washing machine washes clothes. In a few seconds, with the help of a couple waves, you'll have all the sand washed out of the bucket and all that will be left are a few small shells and a batch of sand fleas.

Article By Amelia-Island-Fishing.Com Staff