Monday, July 26, 2010

Fast and Furious

Jeff Haskins was in town with his family, visiting from Tennessee, and scheduled to take in an Amelia Island backountry fishing trip for him and his two sons, Lucas and Jacob. We met at and left from the south end boat ramp at 7am this morning and ran up the Amelia River to the mouth of Jackstaff. I had been kicking around where to fish this morning with the tide coming in and expected to peak at around 10:30am. The oysters were still showing so we anchored up at the mouth of Jackstaff and began to fish the 1/4oz Sure Catch jigs with a live shrimp attached. After only a few casts the guys were hooking up. Jeff caught a feisty Redfish then Lucas had a major battle on his hands with something big that he fought expertly for 10 minutes. The fish went from bow to stern and back again then under the anchor rope.
Lucas passed the rod to me and I threaded the rod under the rope and then back to Lucas...and then I slipped and almost went overboard with one leg in the water and one around the trolling motor! Luckily, Lucas was there to lend one hand, with the rod in his other, and we got me back on board! The fish eventually broke itself off, but it was good practice because it wasn't long before Lucas had on a hard fighting Jack Crevalle. He fought this one to the boat and the waiting net.
While all this was going on, Jacob hooked up with another Redfish and battled it to the boat, then Jeff had a Bonnethead Shark take his bait and the fight was on! After playing the fish like a pro, we soon boated the 4' Shark for pictures and release. This went on for about two hours with Sharks, Jack Crevalle, Redfish, Trout and Flounder being caught, photographed, and released. It was a beautiful morning and the fish were biting! We eventually moved around to the Nassau River, fished Bubblegum Reef briefly, then headed down the Nassau to troll the marsh grass. They guys continued their catching ways, pulling in more Redfish, Trout and another Flounder. We left them biting, counting it as another great day to be out on the water!

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