On Thursday continued my quest to load up the cooler with good sized Whiting and keeper Pomps. Fished American beach just off Lewis st. on Thursday from 1-4pm hoping for that loaded cooler. Started on a falling tide. The first thing I noticed was the water clarity was bad with a tiny bit of sargassum on the retrieve. Was still hoping the long rods would be productive and they were; just not with what I was looking for. Everything was out beyond the last bar. Used two rods long and two rods short and the short rods yielded nothing. A guy about 100 yards north of me was wading out to cast and he reported only one nice blue. The Blues are definitely closing in on twenty inches. They're big! The long rods would eventually land a nice blue before the Sharpnose took over. Caught four Atlalntic Sharpnose between 18 and 24" The strike even for such a small creature gives the impression you've hooked into a slot red or keeper black drum. They are definitely feisty. Not the day I was looking for but getting some decent pullage was still fun!
Tried the spot I've been spying on Saturday on the south end of Amelia Island, called the South Access. It's a city created path right in the middle of all the condos. There is a steep set of stairs to climb that put you on the path, which is only about 5 feet wide. There's a fence to the left of the mostly shallow sand path that's about 150 yards long. There are shrubs to the right with a fence elevated behind them. At the end of the path there's an over hang of branches followed immediately by another set of stairs that will put you on the beach. It is a well maintained area. The sand has been bulldozed back to provide a breakwall for excessive high tides. Either it was recently bulldozed or not a lot of people trample it. Based on what I saw I believe people just leave it alone.
My family and I were the lone fishers from 9am to 3pm. I also don't think there's a lot of fishing activity there on a regular basis. Unfortunately the current was ripping otherwise I believe it could have been a productive day. 4oz sputniks were not holding at all and the 6oz would stick most of the time and the other times it would drift slowly south. The winds were 10-15 out of the North which probably helped create the current. Fished about an hour of the outgoing and only caught four dink whiting. The rest of the day was spent struggling with the current on the incoming tide. Caught another huge Ray and that was it for the day.
If you're traveling light it's a good place to go and fish. You do have stairs to climb up and down. I have a wheelez cart and it was not too difficult to pull it up and bounce it down the stairs. If you only have a pier cart you'll definitely need help getting it up and down. There are locals passing by all the time, since it sits in the middle of a group of condos, but they were all friendly and not too terribly interested in what you are doing.
It is also in eye shot of Nassau Sound, which makes it a spot you can probably get the occasional Red and Black drum. I've got some pictures I'll post later. Happy Hunting!
I've fished there a few times. Haven't been successful there yet. Surf has been strong and the beach looks like its got a quick dropoff then is flat for 200 yds. Even on a day with no wind I've had trouble holding bottom with a 4 oz sputnik.
ReplyDeleteI think the shape of the island causes that part of the beach to catch a lot of the surf. I might just have bad luck on that front though, I know a lot of people have success around the beach access part of the Crady Bridge state park on the southern tip of the island.