If you'd like the boat to yourselves, every Big Fin Charters trip is private, built around one group on one of two boats: a 30-footer for up to six guests or a 24-footer for up to four. Captain Michael Foster runs the company. He's a third-generation captain from an Amelia Island family of commercial fishermen, and his boats leave from the downtown Fernandina Beach waterfront on South Front Street.
Most trips are built around the St. Marys inlet, where long rock jetties run out from the north end of the island near Fort Clinch State Park. The company says redfish, black drum, sheepshead and flounder feed along the rocks most of the year, with tarpon in the warmer months. Your options:
- Half-day jetty (4 hours): the most popular trip, fishing from the Intracoastal Waterway out to the end of the inlet.
- Three-quarter-day jetty (6 hours): more time on the inland water, aimed at a target fish like tarpon or redfish.
- Offshore (6, 8, 10 or 12 hours): bottom fishing plus trolling in season, running roughly 15, 20, 40 or 70 miles out depending on the trip and time of year.
The company recommends the jetty trips for beginners, anyone short on time and anyone who gets seasick, since you spend less time crossing open water. Licenses for everyone aboard, rods, reels, tackle and bait are all on the boat. Pack food, drinks, sunscreen, polarized sunglasses and shoes that can handle a wet deck. Species like red snapper and gag grouper can only be kept in their open seasons, and the captain tells you what's open before you leave the dock.
Most trips offer morning and afternoon departures. For a captain who sight-fishes the flats on a fly rod, look at AC Charters down the same waterfront. Back at the dock, the Salty Pelican on North Front Street will cook your cleaned fillets blackened, fried or grilled.