Oh What a Beautiful Day

The river was like glass when David Feenstra and his wife Diane and I left the Fernandina Harbor Marina out of Amelia Island this morning.  They had taken the short trip into town from the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge and we met at the Atlantic Seafood dock. We headed up to the outside of Tiger Island to fish the first of an outgoing tide. Fishing the flooded oyster beds with live shrimp under floats we had a few nibbles but no takers.  We made a run well up into the Jolley River and here David hooked up with a hungry Seatrout and a feisty Bluefish.  We fished a large creek with no bites then headed back to the mouth of Jolley to fish an oyster lined bank.  Although the

oysters were still covered, we switched to jigs and eventually were able to hookup with a very nice Puppy Drum that Diane worked in to the net.  We made our next stop at the logs of Tiger Island and here David had a strong hookup and he expertly played to the net a nice Slot Redfish.  Later, Diane made a great cast to a downed tree branch and had a bite almost as soon as the jig and shrimp combo hit the bottom.  She patiently fought the fish and we soon netted a nice Redfish.   We spotted our first Rosette Spoonbill of the year and were accompanied by the Tiger Island resident raccoon!