Space Shuttles and Big Trout

As I was heading towards Amelia Island with the boat this morning I heard on the radio that a space shuttle would launch at 6:21am. The flag at Ron Anderson GMC was hanging limp with not even a breeze producing a ripple and when I approached the inter coastal bridge I had my eyes peeled to the south. Sure enough, right when I hit the foot of the bridge I picked up a large orange glow rising from the horizon, an awesome sight. If you heard a horn blowing and someone yelling, "Fly, Baby, Fly", that was me!

I met Mike Stanhope and his son, Bryce, at Atlantic Seafood later that morning and we headed over to Lanceford Creek on the last of an outgoing tide. Water temperatures have risen to 67-68 where we were fishing. Our first stop at a long and beautiful oyster bed produced no bites so we moved on to some of the docks in Lanceford. We anchored up just as the tide went slack and as it began to come back in, we started getting gentle bites. All of sudden one of those bites turned ferocious and we had a big trout on. Bryce played the fish expertly and eventually we netted a 20" Seatrout. We fished the dock for an hour with both anglers joining in on the action. Bryce hooked up and landed another 20" trout and Mike landed an 18" one, then they brought another keeper sized trout to the boat and a few undersized one. Mike was patient and allowed his float to drift up under the dock and soon hooked up with a hard fighting Redfish that we landed, photographed, and released. We hit a few more spots, had some "baitstealers", and then called it a morning..another great time out on the water!