Amelia Island Fishing Blog

I can't say that I can remember the last time this happened at the pier. Hopefully it won't happen anytime again soon. Skunked. Nil. Nada. Not even a bite!

I fished from an hour before high tide until a couple hours after. Same place I fished yesterday, same baits, but no fish. Only one other fisherman on the pier today and he reported one small bluefish. I don't know what ran off the trout; choppy muddy water maybe. I took along an old surf rod and reel so I could give fishing on the far side of the rocks a try; that didn't work either, fish wise, but I only lost one bottom rig and I got a few more ideas on rigging for over the rocks, which I'll try next time.

Sure would be nice if the Florida State Park guys hit the lottery, we could use a "T" on the end of the pier so we could fish on the other side of the jetty the easy way.

Back to almost-summer weather again. High tide this AM was around 10, so I started out late to give things a chance to warm up. The pier wasn't too crowded for a Sunday, but a few people were fishing. The crowd this Sunday was into fishing on the other side of the rocks, and it seemed to be working well today.

The south jetty runs parallel to the pier, and it's only a short distance away. Sometimes the other side of the rocks seems to hold more bait and fish than the pier side does. So the strategy is simple; cast across the jetty, wait for a bite, crank like crazy and hope you can teach the fish to water ski back over to your side of the rocks. I saw a dozen nice trout and a few big whiting that were caught using that method today.

I had some live bait to try today, shrimp and minnows, but neither seemed to interest the fish as much as they did the bait store where I bought them. Oh well. But the good news was that the dead bait from the freezer did make them hungry.

I caught three Whiting and three trout. The trout were 14 1/2 inches, 15 1/2 inches, and 20 3/4 inches. The big one was probably the biggest trout I've caught this year. Whiting all hit dead shrimp, and the trout all hit cut mullet. All were caught about 3 hours after high tide, with the water running out at a pretty good clip.

After the chilly weather we've had for the last few days, it was a pleasure to be outside on the pier again. Today's Fish

Nippy morning, but high tide was at 7 am so I started early today. Yesterday afternoon, 81 degrees; this morning, 48 degrees. Whoppie. First thing I did was lose a trout about 20 inches long; I forgot to unroll the net and put it where I could get it, so when I tried the old haul-it-up by hand method, the fish made it about a foot out of the water and fell off the hook. Oh well, next time I'll remember to unroll the net rope and put it within arms reach. Fishing by yourself requires a different check list because when nobody else is around, you can't yell for help.

Blue crabs were bad today, eating the bait pretty quickly after it hit the water. Caught one nice 15" Whiting just at high tide on fresh shrimp, and nothing for another hour until the Bluefish showed up. Blues only lasted about 30 minutes, but I caught 10, couple of doubles, and they all were the same size; 11.999 inches long. I think the little blues have figured out they are safe in Florida. In the middle of the Bluefish bite, a nice Sheepshead decided grab a piece of shrimp I had on another pole. He was about 16 inches long.

The wind started to die down about 11 am and things started to warm up, so when I left around 1 pm (low tide) I was two jackets, one hat, and one pair of gloves lighter than when I arrived this morning. Everything quit biting about an hour before low tide, and on the way back in I tried fishing near the beach for fifteen minutes but nothing there but crabs.

It was a really nice morning for surf fishing, and I got to the beach about 8 am, a couple hours after high tide. Nobody on the beach but me, and I could only see one person fishing on the Ft. Clinch pier. Almost like having two miles of your very own private beach.

The fish didn't start cooperating until almost noon - low tide - but I enjoyed the wait on a quiet beach. I caught four nice whiting, all about 12 inches long, one small blue, and one bonnet head shark, which was about two feet long. All caught about an hour before low tide. The whiting were not near the beach, they were out about as far as I could cast.

The weather turned from a really nice morning to a really nice afternoon for ducks, so when it started drizzling and I could see lightning off in the distance, I packed up and headed for home. The whiting decided to join me for dinner....

This part of the beach at Ft. Clinch is a really nice spot to fish. It's never crowded, the fish are there occasionally, and it's not a long walk from the parking lot. The boardwalk also has a shower and some water faucets so you can clean up your rods and gear on the way back to the car which leaves the sand at the beach and saves the hassle when you get home.

Low tide was about an hour before sunset today, and I've been wanting to try out a new reel I got last week, so I decided to do a bit of late Sunday afternoon surf fishing. I also decided to try a spot on the beach I've never fishing, about a half a mile north of the Amelia By The Sea pier.

Not much excitement, I caught two small blues and one whiting in the hour I fished. The Okuma EB-80 reel feels nice, but I spooled it with 20 lb test line so it doesn't cast as far as some of my other favorite surf reels. I'll reserve judgment until I get to crank something large in with it. Fishing wasn't great today, but it was a nice afternoon to be on the beach and watch the sun go down. Judging from the number of fisherman on the Amelia By The Sea pier (none), I guess the fishing wasn't great there today either.