Amelia Island Fishing Blog

We arrived at the pier expecting a lot of chilly wind like yesterday but were surprised to find things dead calm. Water really nice (3 hours before high tide), and not a mullet in sight. Dad caught a bunch of small blues, all about the same size, 11.5 inches. I missed a bunch of hits, and judging from the condition of the bait they were probably trout - I didn't catch a fish all afternoon. Bob caught and released another 30" red (caught on dead mullet). We remembered the camera today (forgot it yesterday) so we got a picture of this one. 30" Red Drum A few small reds (14") were also caught and released. Not a great day for fishing, but really nice weather compared to yesterday. I'm starting to wonder if the mullet run is over. Bob's 30" red was caught on cut mullet, about an hour before high tide. Dad also caught his biggest Japanese Flounder of the year today. Whoopie.

Such a nice day today that we decided to stop at Walmart and buy some gloves on the way to the water. Very windy, cold day.

Red day. Dad caught two small reds, one about 13", one 17". Bob, a friend fishing next to us caught and released a 30" red (caught on dead mullet). Another fisherman we don't know got one that was 27". Seemed like everybody on the pier was catching small reds, one to two hours before high tide. Probably the rough water was helping. It was so windy that the pier cart literally would roll to the end of the pier by itself, wind powered, and pulling it back into the wind felt like it had four flat tires. The only other fish we got today was a salt water catfish. We were glad we had the gloves.

On the way out to the pier (at high tide) we bumped into a friend who was coming back in, and he had nice cooler full of Sheepshead he had caught on the previous low tide. Today turned out to be a not so good day at the pier. The fish and the weather both decided not to cooperate. We caught several small sharks, but the crabs were grabbing the bait and we had to get out the umbrella and hide from the rain several times. When the lightning started on the Georgia side of the inlet, we decided it was time to quit. We made it to the parking lot just in time to get totally soaking wet.

Shark day. We caught nothing but sharks, we didn't see anybody catch anything but sharks, and we didn't hear about anybody catching anything but sharks. My Dad has a good time catching anything, so sharks better than nothing - the bigest one he caught was about two feet long, a sharp nose.

Mullet were hiding again, but on the way back to the car, we found them near the beach and snagged a few more bags for the freezer. The mullet run this year seems really skimpy compared to previous years, so I'm glad we're getting some bait for the winter, when they'll be gone. Hurricane Wilma is coming and that'll probabaly stir things up and may run the mullet out of town until next year.

First time we've seen the mullet within casting range in two weeks. Got a gallon zip lock bag full for the freezer, and we had live bait today for the first time in quite a while. Caught one trout, 17", on live mullet about an hour before low tide. We tossed him in the cooler, been a while since my wife has had fresh trout. Several small sharks, and several small blues. Mostly small blues chopping up the live bait today, but it was a really nice day to be out on the pier. Tomorrow the high tide is after sunrise, so we'll see if we can get up early to fish that. 17" Trout

On the way home, we decided to take a spin by one of our favorite fishing spots, a beach access on North Fletcher. The beach near the north end of the island drops off a lot faster than the middle or south end beaches, and it's always been a productive spot to surf fish.

Needless to say I was a very unhappy camper when we were greeted by a bunch of NO PARKING signs in the small lot next to the access. More and more access for fishing around Amelia Island is disappearing, why I don't know. Richy Rich Kid and his buddies at city hall probably don't like Jeeps with rod holders on the front bumpers or pickup trucks with coolers and rods in the back. When you get to be 89 years old, like my Dad, it's a bit hard to walk a mile carrying your gear when you want to fish. So I guess I'll add another item to my list of things to do when I hit the lottery; buy the house across the street from Dad's favorite surf fishing spot so he can still fish there.

Maybe they took the access away for the same reason they took away fishing from the 14th street bridge; because they gave us the "fishing pier" at the new Dee Dee Bartles Nature Center and Boat Ramp. I think I'd rather fish at the beach (where I catch fish) then at the boat ramp (where I'm really in the way of boats and jet skis). But what do I know....