Carol and I fished the Nassau Sportsfishing 23rd Annual Trout Tournament yesterday. It was a beautiful morning with the temperature around 56 degrees and a slight breeze. We picked up some live shrimp at the Bait House on north 14th street, launched at Dee Dee Bartels, and checked out around 6:30am. Being so close to Rayonier pulp mill we decided to fish the warehouse pilings while we were there...and had no bites. Our intent was to run south so we headed that way but when we rounded the pipeline we stopped to fish the shoreline and picked up (2) nice, but small trout. When Carol lost a hook on an oyster I the
n realized that I had forgotten to load the tackle! OUCH. We pulled up and ran back by the Bait House and picked up some hooks and jigs then crossed the river to fish Tiger Island. We were there for only a few minutes when Carol caught another small Trout and with another cast drifting across an oyster bed the battle was on. Eventually she worked the big fish to the boat and my net, boating a 23" Redfish. We have a legal Redfish in the boat and were catching Trout, albeit little ones and it's not even 9:00 yet so we've got a shot at the "Slam" entry in the Tournament, right? We moved around behind
Tiger Island to get out of the wind that's picking up, fish the south end of the island and get no real bites. With Carol nodding off (I got her up at 4:30am), we pull anchor and run to the south end of the island, heading straight for Leon's Spanish Drop spot. The wind's whipping pretty good but we have sunny skies and we've shed most of our jackets and soon pick up another couple of small Trout then Carol hooks up with a hard running fish. We're hoping for a huge flounder but it makes some pretty strong runs, deep, then shallow and after a long fight we see the shark fin. It's a 3' Bonnethead. With the tide
starting out around n
oon, we run to the mouth of Jackstaff, anchor up, and catch a couple more small Trout. Then I start a troll along the bank, heading up into the creek and we catch more small Trout and then UMPH, fish on! I play the fish on my light tackle, 10lb test rig and hope for a big flounder. I felt a number of head shakes initially and then change my guess to a BIG Trout. After what seemed like a 15 minute battle we get a glimpse of a large Redfish and eventually boat the 31" oversized fish. We quickly got a picture and released. We
ended up catching more small Trout, ending up with a total of 14 for the day, 2 nice Redfish, a Blue, a Bonnethead Shark, and some pinfish, but no Trout to weigh in. We saw dolphin, Osprey's, Cranes, Pelicans, and other shore birds - a great day to be out on the water...and fishing!
n realized that I had forgotten to load the tackle! OUCH. We pulled up and ran back by the Bait House and picked up some hooks and jigs then crossed the river to fish Tiger Island. We were there for only a few minutes when Carol caught another small Trout and with another cast drifting across an oyster bed the battle was on. Eventually she worked the big fish to the boat and my net, boating a 23" Redfish. We have a legal Redfish in the boat and were catching Trout, albeit little ones and it's not even 9:00 yet so we've got a shot at the "Slam" entry in the Tournament, right? We moved around behind 
Tiger Island to get out of the wind that's picking up, fish the south end of the island and get no real bites. With Carol nodding off (I got her up at 4:30am), we pull anchor and run to the south end of the island, heading straight for Leon's Spanish Drop spot. The wind's whipping pretty good but we have sunny skies and we've shed most of our jackets and soon pick up another couple of small Trout then Carol hooks up with a hard running fish. We're hoping for a huge flounder but it makes some pretty strong runs, deep, then shallow and after a long fight we see the shark fin. It's a 3' Bonnethead. With the tide 
starting out around n
oon, we run to the mouth of Jackstaff, anchor up, and catch a couple more small Trout. Then I start a troll along the bank, heading up into the creek and we catch more small Trout and then UMPH, fish on! I play the fish on my light tackle, 10lb test rig and hope for a big flounder. I felt a number of head shakes initially and then change my guess to a BIG Trout. After what seemed like a 15 minute battle we get a glimpse of a large Redfish and eventually boat the 31" oversized fish. We quickly got a picture and released. We
ended up catching more small Trout, ending up with a total of 14 for the day, 2 nice Redfish, a Blue, a Bonnethead Shark, and some pinfish, but no Trout to weigh in. We saw dolphin, Osprey's, Cranes, Pelicans, and other shore birds - a great day to be out on the water...and fishing!
1 comment:
WOW!!!! I'm really impressed by the fish AND that you got Carol up at 4:30 am.
My bro-in-law caught a 29 inch redfish but had to throw it back b/c it was over sized. He caught it in the Sierra Madre in the Gulf.
LOL
Judy
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