With nothing critical on my work schedule for the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to take the day off and enjoy a 5-day weekend.  The weather report called for near freezing temps in the morning with highs in the mid 60's and very little wind. Time to layer up and go do some fishin'! 

While I normally prefer to fish with artificial lures, today I was in the mood to sling some shrimp, so I stopped off on the way to visit Don Whitman at Leaders & Sinkers, one of the bait shops in Fernandina Beach.  Don almost always has live shrimp on hand. With a couple dozen shrimp secured in my easy live bait cooler, I was ready to go.

I hadn't been to Kayak Amelia in a while, and the tides were right for launching there, so I paid them a visit. They only charge $1 to use their gravel launch, and it's easy-in-easy-out there. Just make sure you don't try to return near low tide at that spot. The whole place turns into one giant mud flat with the consistency of chocolate pudding.  They also have a fresh water hose to rinse your gear and a restroom, which can come in handy before or after a long day on the water.  I was on the water in time to catch the last half of the falling tide. Kayak Amelia closes at 5 pm, so I would have just enough water at the launch to make it back in time without having to slog through the mud.

Kayak Amelia sits more or less at the middle of Simpson Creek, wich empties into the Nassau Sound to the North and the Fort George River to the south.  On an outgoing tide, you can go north or south and still be paddling with the tide. I hadn't fished the north section of the creek in a while, so that's the direction I headed. The north half of the creek has more deep holes than the southern half, and I was betting that with the cooler temps we've had lately, the fish might be schooling up in and around those deeper holes, seeking more constant temperatures.  

I stopped first along the edge of a 12-foot hole and staked out near the bank, just downstream from a point of land that created a nice eddy as the current swept past it.  I pitched out a live shrimp on a carolina rig, and another on a jig head.  Both rigs produced several underslot puppy drum and a small trout, followed by one keeper black drum at 15" who volunteered to go home with me for Thanksgiving dinner.  The undersized drum were becoming a nuisance and I got tired of feeding them shrimp and decided to move on. 



My next stop was another deep hole with a fair amount of structure along one side, so I again staked out, facing the kayak into the current so I could cast upcurrent and work a bait slowly on the bottom.  I also tossed out a carolina or "fish finder" rig with a circle hook and live shrimp, placing it downcurrent and securing the rod in a holder behind my seat. While that rod was on autopilot, I put another shrimp onto a simple leadhead jig and cast that one upcurrent and let it settle to the bottom.  I didn't have to wait more than two minutes before I felt the freight train impact of a hungry redfish inhaling the shrimp and taking off with the line. At the same time, I heard the drag peeling off the rod behind me -- double hook-up!  The result was a nice 22" red on the jig and another keeper black drum on the carolina rig.  I stayed in this spot for another hour or so, landing a total of 10 redfish, along with missing 3 or 4 more fish that unhooked themselves before getting to the boat.  Most of the reds were 20-something inches, with the largest measuring 24".


 
For the next hour or so, things stayed very interesting. With water temps around 57 degrees, the fish were in the mood to chow down. I'd throw out another shrimp and hook up shortly with another:

And another...



I ran out of live shrimp and switched to Gulp! shrimp, which the reds continued to inhale as aggressively as they did the real thing. This went on until the tally went up to 10 reds or so.  I decided to move on and see if I could rustle up a legal sized trout and/or a flounder.  I never did find the flounder, but I found LOTS of trout. Unfortunately, the biggest of the trout was just barely 15", so no keepers for those today. After a while, it was almost (but not quite!) becoming annoying to reel in one undersize trout after another. All but one of the trout were taken on artificials.

One of the reds (22") and two of the black drum went home to join us for Thanksgiving dinner (grilled with Montreal steak seasoning, olive oil, tomatoes and onions). 

Final tally for the day:
5 black drum to 15"
10 redfish to 24"
21 trout to 15"

Baits & lures used:
Live shrimp
Gulp! 4" shrimp, grey
Gulp! watermelon jerk shad
Gulp! swimming mullet - white
D.O.A. shrimp