A Big Fish Here and There

We had some fairly stiff winds forecast today but other than there was no rain expected and there was no reason not to fish! I met Brad Hart and his brother Kyle and their dad Keith down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp with just few minutes of tide going out and we headed up the Amelia River to begin fishing the mouth of Jackstaff with jigs and live shrimp. There was a lot of bait movement up near the bank and Kyle did have one hookup at a marsh runout, worked the fish patiently in and as I went to net a fine keeper sized Flounder, it threw the hook! We fished the entire
bank then ran through Horsehead and around to Bubblegum Reef as the tide started back in. Again using jigs, we worked the area thoroughly, had few bites, then landed a slimy Catfish. But then we had another bite, this one a strong one, and the fight was on! Brad patiently fought the fish and after few deep runs and a battle that went from bow to stern, he landed a healthy 23" Black "puppy" Drum. We moved over to some docks, fished the pilings, and picked up a few keeper sized Mangrove Snapper. At the second dock I expected an even better bite from the Snapper but they never

showed. So we ran back through Horsehead and fished Jackstaff bank on a high and incoming tide. Almost immediately did we have a hookup. Keith was on the float rig and he played the big fish perfectly, letting it run against the drag and keeping a nice bow in his rod. It was a good battle but Keith was up to the task and landed a 19 1/2" Jack Crevalle. Later, Kyle had a good hookup, but this fish stayed close to shore and when it boiled to the surface I knew we had a Redfish! He fought the fish to the net and we measured it at 18 3/4" - in the Slot - but we released it to be caught another day. Brad wrapped the trip up when he landed a hungry Seatrout to round out the trio's Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Black Drum, Red Drum and Seatrout. With that, we called it day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!