Marlin Perkins Would be Proud

After two days of some serious rain the front finally moved through, just in time for me and Kurt Powell and his son Davis to get in some Amelia Island back country fishing yesterday afternoon.  There was a little more breeze than I liked and it stayed overcast but as the wind died the fish catching picked up.  We tried a couple of spots in Lanceford Creek with a high and outgoing tide and barely had a nibble.  We then made a short run to Tiger Island and as we pulled up Kurt spotted a majestic Bald Eagle perched in a tree top.  I almost wanted to start singing "America The Beautiful", but it would have ruined the moment, and possibly the whole trip!  The tide was down somewhat so we fished our jig/shrimp combo's slowly on the bottom and began to catch fish.  Davis knocked the skunk off by landing a feisty Redfish then we all joined in, picking up a Red here and and a Red there.  Later, Kurt landed a keeper sized Seatrout that he caught out deep, and he also caught a Sheepshead to round out the duo's Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Seatrout, and Sheepshead. Davis wasn't going to be outdone and put a Weakfish in the boat to complete the "Grand Slam".  We were seeing Jellyfish and Ray's floating by and had a couple of sightings of the resident Atlantic Saltmarsh Mink, which are being studied by the FWC.  As the afternoon wore on Kurt again pointed out something in the water and it looked to be a fairly large Alligator swimming up current away from the island.  Although I've seen gators over in Beach Creek at Cumberland Island, I've never seen one on our side of the river.  We picked up a few more Redfish then headed in, counting it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!