Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Spanish Mack in the Back (country)!

Rick Echols along with his wife Chris and their two kids Ryan and Emily were visiting Amelia Island from Raleigh, NC and decided to take a fishing/boat tour on The Anglers Mark today.  Rick, Ryan and myself left the Atlantic Seafood dock this morning at 7:30am and headed up to Jolley River with a tide that was coming in and already covering the oyster beds.  We started trolling the bank with the anglers tossing their live shrimp up to the marsh grass;  each had a few bites then Ryan's float disappeared and his rod bent and the fight was on! The FINS Windtamer Braided line stood firm and he fought the fish like a pro and we were soon trying to corral a hard lunging Spanish Mackerel!  I was real surprised because I haven't had a Spanish Mackerel up in Jolley and we didn't have a wire leader, just one of fluorocarbon.  We netted the fish, took some pictures and released the brute to be caught another day.  Further up into the river Rick hooked up and we had another fight on our hands, this one turning out to be the first shark of the year.  Rick caught a smorgasbord of backwater fish, boating Trout, Blue and Whiting.  We picked the ladies up at the dock and toured Old Towne, Fort Clinch, and Cumberland Island before making one more stop where all the anglers pitched in,  Emily reeled in the "poor man's Tarpon", a Lady Fish, and Rick topped it off with a 6-spot Redfish. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on the water!

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