That's what Patrick Verner's dad used to say when he needed to get out of the house and go fishing. That was our plan yesterday when I met Patrick and his wife Michele down at the marina to get out into Amelia Island's back waters for an afternoon of light tackle fishing. Patrick and Michelle were visiting Amelia Island from the Orlando area and staying at the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary and knew of no better way to top the weekend off than to get out on the water and "wet a line". We had somewhat of a breeze out of the north east so I headed up to Tiger Island to have the land mass block the wind but when we rounded the island there were at least 3 boats fishing the area, maybe even 4. I knew that there was a Trout Tournament going on and knew that there would be more boats than the usual weekend traffic. Nevertheless, we found a spot to squeeze in and set out to toss some live shrimp on a jig to the shoreline. Our first cast was up near some logs and as Michele worked it back slowly, BOOM! FISH ON! And a big fish it was! She played the fish patiently and after a long battle, landed a nice 24" Slot Red! From then and about 2 1/2 hours it was FISH ON! FISH ON! The couple caught and landed at least 9 Slot sized Redfish, more than we could count undersized Redfish, a good handful of Seatrout of which at least one was keeper sized, and then Michele rounded out her personal Amelia Island Backcountry Slam by boating a 14" Flounder. (IF we had been in the Tournament, Michele could have entered her catch in the Slam category). Crazy. That's what we were all saying about the fishing trip. Just Crazy. With only about 45 minutes to go before sundown, we headed around to the outside of Tiger and set up behind an oyster bed and immediately began to catch fish on float rigs and live shrimp. Here, Patrick had the hot rod as he boated Seatrout after Seatrout with three being keeper sized to 17". He also had a feisty Redfish which we hoped was going to be a Big Seatrout then he hooked up with something even bigger, FISH ON! He played this fish perfectly and patiently and eventually landed another big Slot Red, measuring in at 24". Crazy. Just Crazy. We headed in as the sun was going down, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!
That's what Patrick Verner's dad used to say when he needed to get out of the house and go fishing. That was our plan yesterday when I met Patrick and his wife Michele down at the marina to get out into Amelia Island's back waters for an afternoon of light tackle fishing. Patrick and Michelle were visiting Amelia Island from the Orlando area and staying at the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary and knew of no better way to top the weekend off than to get out on the water and "wet a line". We had somewhat of a breeze out of the north east so I headed up to Tiger Island to have the land mass block the wind but when we rounded the island there were at least 3 boats fishing the area, maybe even 4. I knew that there was a Trout Tournament going on and knew that there would be more boats than the usual weekend traffic. Nevertheless, we found a spot to squeeze in and set out to toss some live shrimp on a jig to the shoreline. Our first cast was up near some logs and as Michele worked it back slowly, BOOM! FISH ON! And a big fish it was! She played the fish patiently and after a long battle, landed a nice 24" Slot Red! From then and about 2 1/2 hours it was FISH ON! FISH ON! The couple caught and landed at least 9 Slot sized Redfish, more than we could count undersized Redfish, a good handful of Seatrout of which at least one was keeper sized, and then Michele rounded out her personal Amelia Island Backcountry Slam by boating a 14" Flounder. (IF we had been in the Tournament, Michele could have entered her catch in the Slam category). Crazy. That's what we were all saying about the fishing trip. Just Crazy. With only about 45 minutes to go before sundown, we headed around to the outside of Tiger and set up behind an oyster bed and immediately began to catch fish on float rigs and live shrimp. Here, Patrick had the hot rod as he boated Seatrout after Seatrout with three being keeper sized to 17". He also had a feisty Redfish which we hoped was going to be a Big Seatrout then he hooked up with something even bigger, FISH ON! He played this fish perfectly and patiently and eventually landed another big Slot Red, measuring in at 24". Crazy. Just Crazy. We headed in as the sun was going down, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!
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