Finally - A Flounder

Yesterday, I finally caught one of those elusive Flounder and it was a really nice 19-inch one.  The picture doesn't really show it well as it had been in the sand and most of the really brown color was covered by the sand when I turned it over -- after getting it unhooked.  Its head was as big as my hand and I had to dig out my longest set of forceps to avoid the sharp incisors it displayed -- could have stuck a tennis ball into its mouth.  I did get nicked by one of those teeth later in the RV when I was cutting its head and tail off while getting it ready for the grille (accompanied by a small Whiting and a little Blue caught on Tuesday).

I also caught half a dozen Blues and another small Whiting (as I was cleaning the Flounder and four of the Blues that I kept).  Those four Blues are now in the freezer with the first sea Trout and the Jack Crevalle.  I let the Whiting go and two of the smaller Blues -- good thing I did too as the Fish and Wildlife guy dropped by to check my cooler.  Apparently, it was a banner day according to the FWS guy as he said there were 35 or 40 people along the beach -- I was the farthest one out there and one of the first few to arrive so I didn't see that many people on my way out to the point.  I decided to fish there because I had seen a 5 or 6 foot Tarpon jump out of the water there on a previous day but, all spots were taken that day.  Proved to be a good decision.

The Flounder tasted soo good and I ate only one-fourth of it -- shared some of it with Tiger and Molly and just had to share some more with the two women across the road from me (Erelene and Robin are a couple).

Oh!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bad Luck, Equipment Failures Cont'd

Well, it continued again today as I fished near the pipeline from the beach along the Amelia river.  I fished from two hours before high tide until almost two hours after (a little past 3:15 p.m.).  I took some more of the frozen mullet left from last week -- broke off half of the last pack of the little bait fish.  It's getting harder to net more of them too -- not just me either.

Shortly after high tide something had been hitting at my deep line (the surf casting rod) so, I had positioned myself to the right of the large pole -- just forward of this brown Pelican that had joined me in the hunt for some good keepers.  Then, something hit big on my smaller rod farther away from me and the pole was nearly pulled over with its support tube.  By the time I got the rod in my hands with the  hope of reeling in a super nice fish, the line went slack and everything was gone -- hook, bait fish, mono leader and the 1/2 ounce slip sinker that I had put above the mono leader.  Another big one lost.

A little later, as the tide began to recede, another fish hit on the small pole again and this time, I hooked him and brought in a nice, 17-inch spotted Sea Trout -- finally broke the bad luck and equipment failure syndrome that had been plaguing me the last few times I fished.  Soon after, I hooked another fish and this one was a Blue -- the two fish made perfect replacements for the two I cooked on the grille last night.

Cooler nights ahead but, maybe the fishing will be even better on Friday or Saturday.

More Frustration -- No Fish

After taking Sunday off from fishing, I returned to the banks of the Amelia river yesterday about an hour before high tide and found that I had to hug the dune line and vegetation there but, still had to drive through the top reaches of the waves lapping onto the shore -- even questioned whether I should attempt it just for some chance of catching some Flounder or other fish.  The day before, I had cleaned out the Jeep and vacuumed the mats to get rid of the first week's deposits of sand from the beach.  I even put 150 yards of new 50 lb "Power-Pro" line on my large surf casting rod and transferred its line to the smaller reel on my shorter rod -- had noticed both reels were getting low on line as the spools were getting exposed at times when the line was let out substantially.  Another $14 invested in tackle and such to keep up the search for the elusive Flounder -- and bigger fish.

I didn't see many if any of the little mullet swimming along the shoreline (after parking high on the dry sand of the beach) and my few casts with the net didn't produce any of the little bait fish -- luckily I had remembered to bring along a little baggie from the freezer with about a dozen of the ones caught during the week.  They had died while in my big orange bucket so, I thought it best to take them back and freeze them just in case.  I also had stopped at Walmart and bought some of those artificial shrimp made by Berkeley -- "Gulp" they're called.  Expensive little guys.

I put the frozen mullet in my little bait bucket with some salty water from the river to add some flavor and to help thaw them out while I made a few futile casts with my net.  I had stopped just shy of a family fishing near the pipeline running onto the beach -- a place where one of my fellow campground neighbors had said they had been catching lots of Flounder.  Since I had no luck catching any of the live mullet with my casting net, I cut up a couple of the thawed mullet and put two pieces on the hooks of the large surf casting rod (with some left over pieces of those "Fish Bites" I had found in my tackle box the other day).  Then, I put one of those fake shrimp on the jig head of my smaller rig and tried casting it shallow and fanned the waters to either side of my large rig -- with no bites.

After nearly two hours, the tide began to turn and I had to periodically move my pole supports down the beach as the waters receded.  The current began to drag my bait and sinker on the large rod so, I decided to leave the shallower offering of fake shrimp in its support and started working the bigger rod by throwing it on the upstream side and letting it drift with the current past the smaller rod.  The family to my left had departed a little earlier so, I let the drifting rig move to the left into the area they had vacated.  After numerous casts with the surf casting rod (during which time I had missed on some smaller bites and had to rebait the hooks more than a few times), I felt another tug and let out some line and let it drift slightly short of the pipeline before I felt another tug and set the hook into something that doubled over my large pole.  It felt like a really big fish and I felt it thrashing underwater as I started to reel it in but, like the previous day of fishing, another equipment failure -- all I brought in was a broken hook on the end of the steel leader.

I replaced the hook but, in the meantime, another angler arrived to take up the spot vacated by the family and I had to shorten the drift on my deep throws into the channel.  Still no bites on that fake shrimp either so, I decided to gather up my things and head farther along the beach to where the ocean surf was rolling straight into the beach -- beyond the river current too.  I only used the surf casting rod there to reach the breakers rolling in and then, I only had those small hits and the little pieces of mullet were quickly taken -- as a rainstorm came rolling down the beach.  End to another day of fishing and the big one got away -- Again!

Today will be another day of rest and cleaning of the wounds -- keeping the cats entertained.

A Bad Day of Fishing

Better than the best day of Working -- Right?  Well, yesterday was supposed to be good as far as the forecast said -- like the day before.  But, Friday, I only caught one keeper Spotted Sea Trout (and cooked him that evening with a few hot dogs and a couple burgers).  That day, I had fished from about 1:00 p.m. until a little past 5:00 p.m. and only caught that one -- though the blues were constantly taking all but the heads of my mullet.

Yesterday, I had put on a red jig head at the bottom of my heaviest mono leader and had a 1/2 ounce slip sinker above the swivel of the leader on my smaller pole -- there were two other drops on the mono leader so, I added hooks to each and threw the three mullet in the waters just beyond the sand bar.  I kept throwing my surf rod with its black steel leaders deeper into the channel and current and then, played leap frog with the two rigs.  I even arrived around noon to fish more of the outgoing tide to see if there might be some better fishing at that time.  Low tide was supposed to be around 4:30 p.m. and I figured to fish until the tide was completely out (and did).

I stopped once on my way out along the beach to try casting for some of the small mullet but, half a dozen casts didn't produce a single mullet.  When I drove out to the point where the river meets the ocean (Nassau Sound), I could see the lowering tide exposing some holes in the sand bar there and hoped they would yield some of the little bait fish.  It took way too many casts to finally get something to use for bait and they were mostly bigger mullet in the 5 inch range.

As the afternoon wore on, the only thing that seemed to be hitting my larger than desired bait were most likely Blues (as they left only the heads on the hooks -- the tail and bodies cleanly bitten off).  As 4:30 approached, I had only caught one small Blue on the piece of bait hooked onto the jig head.  A little earlier, something (probably a Blue) had taken the top piece of bait, including the hook and cleanly bit through the mono drop of the leader.

Around 3:00 p.m., another angler had arrived just to my right and came over to ask what he might expect to catch and I told him what I had caught the few other days.  He said he was from Jacksonville and had driven some 45 minutes to get here and he had shrimp for bait.  He started catching some Whiting shortly after we talked and the nasty looking rain cloud approached from the west.

As the rain approached, I had put away my casting net and bucket just before putting away my small pole and its support.  I was down to the two fish on the larger pole and I took the one from the small rig and cut it in half to use on the bigger surf rod -- if something should bite and steal the bait.  I even dug out my unused "Fish Bites" from my tackle box and cut it into 3 pieces -- a few Whiting might not have been so bad, I thought.  Well, something did decide to bite and I saw one little hit and got the big rod in my hands just as there were three more quick, hard bites -- and then, nothing.  Whatever it was, it had taken everything including the three ounce sinker and the two mullet with the hooks and it had bitten right through the 50 lb braided line -- above the steel leader.

The rain arrived and I decided it was time to leave -- left my two pieces of cut mullet on the beach and gave that one Blue to the guy from Jacksonville.  By the time I reached the access point to the beach, the rain had passed and others fished on -- not me.  It was a frustrating day of fishing and it probably could have turned out much better than it did.

Oops - No camera again

I did remember to take all the ice from my freezer, a couple bottles of tap water (to rinse my feet and hands), the new tube of sunscreen (should have used more on my now sunburned toes), my nail clippers (to cut the excess line from my knots) and some Gatorade but, had forgotten to put the camera near those other things the night before (while I had been thinking to do so).  Therefore, I don't have a picture of this beautiful twenty-nine inch Redfish that I caught and released out on the same point I caught those other Redfish last year.

I didn't fish at all on Tuesday since it was cloudy all day and light rain fell off and on all day long too.  Yesterday had plenty of sunshine (as my toes will attest) and the winds were light out of the north or northeast so I headed out just before midday to fish the outgoing tide at the point I had such good luck last year.  Still none of those monster Flounder but, I did catch another 17-inch spotted Sea Trout as the first fish of the day -- just about when I began to think the day wouldn't produce a single bite (after two hours of fishing).  It was a treat just to be out there and I even netted three large mullet -- one about 14 inches and two others a little smaller -- released them, of course.

After catching the Sea Trout and a small Blue (on the small pole again), I did get a bite (I thought) on the bigger rod and grabbed the pole to feel for another bite -- and moved the pole support out of the rising tide to drier sand.  As I wriggled the support back and forth into the sand and just got it deep enough to insert the rod, I noticed a bigger bite on the small rod again and grabbed onto a really nice tugging fish just before it pulled the rod and support over into the water.  Memories of last year's fights with Redfish flashed through my mind as the fish splashed around near the surface but, I had thoughts of it being just a bigger shark than the one I caught on Monday -- couldn't see clearly that it was a Red Drum until I got it into shallower water (where I saw the telltale spot on the tail).  I had loosened the drag setting and thought it best to play him out a little because each time he got near the sand bar he would go on a little tear toward deeper water.

As I got the fish nearer to the beach too, he got the other line crossed and it ended up in the water with its support tube as I stepped across and got the lines untangled (thankfully).  Finally got him beached after a few runs left and a couple onto the sand bar -- pulled out the tape measure after giving out a good little yell of joy.  The fisherman next to me came over to see what I had caught -- and what had made me yell.

Fishing forecast is supposed to be best for this Friday and Saturday -- we'll see.  Just put the camera next to my wallet and car keys so, hopefully there will be a picture or two next time (even if it's only pictures of the beach).

Fish in the freezer

Restocking the freezer has just begun after a few hours of fishing along the sandy beaches of the Amelia river yesterday.  Had to relearn the art of throwing that casting net and catching some of those little mullet to use for bait -- first few attempts brought in nothing (though the net looked nice and circular when it hit the water).  Did finally get enough of the little fish to throw in the bucket (though some of them did their usual jumping right back out and onto the sand -- until I threw the net over the bucket and got a couple on my hooks).

There were a number of people up and down the beach wading into the river and casting nets or fishing.  I visited the nearest guy and asked if he had been catching anything -- he said mostly Blues and that he had been fishing earlier at the north end of the island until the rain drove him down to the southern tip.  Shortly after talking to the guy, I saw my small rod start dancing in the pole support planted in the sand and started reeling in a decent sized fish which turned out to be a two or two and a half foot shark -- got off when it was about one foot from the beach (thank you very much).

A little bit later, the same rod started dancing again as I was putting some sunscreen on my face so, I pulled and reeled with the tube of sunscreen still in my left hand and landed a nice Jack Crevalle.  Pretty fish with its yellow tail and bright colors (didn't have my camera -- sorry) and it was as long as the inside of my cooler -- perhaps some 18 inches.

After feeding some of the nearby white herons about 5 or 6 of my dead mullet, something hit again on that same small rod and gave a pretty fierce fight but, soon broke the 50 pound test line -- last year's knot right above the swivel (probably weakened over the year or from use in south Texas waters).  A little later, I caught a nice spotted sea Trout about 21 or 22 inches and called it a day at around 2:00 p.m.  Had been fun but, the tide had me moving my poles closer and closer to the Jeep so, I cleaned the fish and headed back along the narrower strip of beach.

You may wonder why the fish were hitting only on that small pole and that is probably because it had been rigged with clear monofilament leaders and the large pole had black steel leaders on it -- bought two of each at Walmart when I bought my new Florida license.  Guess you know I will be buying more of the clear line leaders before I head for the beach again (perhaps later today if it doesn't rain).

Finally -- Back in Florida

Florence, South Carolina

Have been enjoying the East Coast Sunsets for a few weeks now since arriving in southwest Virginia and then again in Northern Virginia -- though the last week of constant rain really dampened things and my attempts to repaint some of the exterior trim of my townhouse (finally gave up on that as the rain just washed off the paint).  Now in Yulee, Florida and looking to enjoy some good fishing off the southern tip of Amelia Island -- hoping to bag a couple of those big Flounders to restock the freezer (now emptied of the trout caught in Colorado).  Will first be looking more into the "Flesh Eating Bacteria" situation that has killed some 9 people thus far in Florida -- think one had been around the Amelia River.  Looked at some rubber boots while at the Walmart last evening -- maybe the white ones would look good.  No rush though since I still have some frozen Tilapia fillets, burgers and hot dogs.  Maybe a trip to the beach to see how others are dealing with it and what they are catching.

Maybe some of those hip boots or waders would be better -- if it wasn't so warm and humid.  Better stay alive to enjoy the fishing and feed the kitties -- have a grandson to meet sometime too.