Two Big Fish

Ron Paxton was visiting his hometown of Callahan and took in an Amelia Island back country fishing trip with his brother Lee, nephew Paul and friend Wade. We met down at the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina this afternoon and made a run up to the Jolley River to fish the first of an incoming tide.  The anglers were tossing jigs and shrimp to the exposed oyster bed and I believe Wades first cast produced a strong hookup!  Wade worked the fish patiently to the boat and landed a nice Redfish.  We continued to fish the bank and then Wade landed a keeper sized Seatrout.    Both Ron and Lee had Ladyfish hookups and all the anglers had to deal with the pesky Croaker.  We ran further up the river, fished some more oysters and here Paul landed a nice Seatrout and Ron landed another feisty Redfish.  We fished a small creek but had no real bites then made the run to Tiger Island.  Paul rounded out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam with a Flounder catch and Ron caught one, too.  Our next stop was Temptation Cove on a flooded high tide.  We had a few bites on live shrimp under a float but no real takers.  As we were leaving the Cove we checked out some flooded grass flats and immediately saw tails!  Redfish tails!  One was barely in casting distance but it just wouldn't eat then Paul spotted a different tail only 15' from the boat. Wade dropped his mud minnow under a float near the fish and a minute later we saw a boil near is bait but thought the fish missed it.  Seconds later his float slowly began to disappear and Wade set the hook, FISH ON!  It was a furious, but brief battle - I don't think the big fish knew what had got a hold of him!  Wade kept the pressure on and we netted a nice Slot 23" Redfish!  We checked out a few more flats and saw a few more Redfish tailing but they were too far away to cast to.  After fishing a grass line for Trout we made one last run to the outside of Tiger Island. The water was high, high, high but we had a few minutes to spare.  We had had no bites and most of the anglers had put there rods away when Lee yelled, "FISH ON" and his rod bent double!  The drag was ripping and we could tell he had a big fish on.  Lee worked the fish patiently and eventually we landed the 21 1/2" Seatrout.  This fish placed Lee in 3rd place in The Anglers Mark 2014 Bragging Rights Tournament-Seatrout category. Scroll down the right side of this report for standings.  Now that's the way to wrap up a great day of fishing out on Amelia Island waters!