Amelia Island Fishing Blog

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....

No fishing today, we made a bait run to the south point to cast for mullet. Got a few, but they were hard to get. Not on the top, and very spooky. One or two per cast, lot of work for a few handfuls, but at least we have bait for tomorrow after we use up our nine store bought frozen mullet. My friend Mike snagged a brand new cast net in the inlet and lost it so the trip did produce bait but wasn't very cost effective.

Still no mullet around to catch at the pier. They're here, but we can't catch them, they're too far out and down low. We fished thru the afternoon low tide and got nothing - good day for feeding crabs. Any bait put out was eaten by crabs in five minutes. Today we did something we haven't done in years - we bought frozen mullet at the local tackle store on the way home so we'd have bait for tomorrow. Four bucks for nine frozen mullet. Whatta deal....

Very strong NE wind today, so the water is really rough and stirred up. We caught our first big red of the fall season. 40", estimated 35 pounds; caught on cut mullet, about an hour afer low tide. Mullet are around, but they are virtually impossible to catch. 40" Red Drum