Thursday, May 8, 2014

Patience and Perseverance

That could have been our nicknames today.  And a beautiful day it was!  I had met Chet Johnston down at the City marina this morning with plans to fish the back waters of Amelia Island.  We headed up to the Jolley River to fish an outgoing tide with the oysters already fully exposed.  Chet started off with a float rig and live shrimp and after fishing 40 feet or so, had his float disappear and FISH ON!  He fought and landed a nice keeper sized Seatrout.  But for another 30-40 minutes we had no fish, even though we had a few good bites.
We ran to Jolley Bank and fished it with jigs and shrimp and after fishing for  awhile, Chet landed a feisty Redfish.  So we were getting a fish here and there but it wasn't like we were overheating our reel drags! Our next stop was at Tiger logs and here the drags heated up!  Chet found his own Sheepshead hole, pulling out a couple of small ones then landed a couple of keeper sized ones.  We eased up the bank and got into some Flounder, again landing a couple of small ones and then a couple of keeper sized ones -one being 16.5" which put Chet at the top of the leaderboard in the Anglers Mark 2014 Bragging Rights Tournament - Flounder category. Scroll down the right side of this report for standings.   With a Trout, Redfish, Sheepshead and Flounder, Chet already had his Amelia Island Back Country Grande Slam - but then he landed a hungry Puppy Drum to make it a "Super Grande Slam"!  We put two Jack Crevalle in the boat and a nice whiting, too.  Then Chet hooked up, the rod bent, and his drag ripped - another nice FISH ON!  He played the fish patiently and when it headed to some downed limbs, pulled it out and away.  After a good battle we netted a nice 25" Slot Redfish!  We found another keeper sized Seatrout then headed over to Lanceford Creek to fish some dock pilings.  Here, Chet added another keeper sized Seatrout and caught, landed and released a handful of feisty Redfish.  With that, we called it a day, another great one to be out on Amelia Island waters!

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