A Day Full of Surprises

We had another beautiful day for back country fishing here at Amelia Island. I met Ann and Rick Chambers down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp this morning and we headed up the Nassau River to fish the last few minutes of an outgoing tide. I made stop at Bubblegum Reef, fished it for a good 30 minutes, but had no bites. So we moved on to a dock over at Seymore's Pointe and here the fish catching began. Both anglers got in on the action early, catching a small Sea Bass and a small Black "puppy" Drum. Then Rick hooked up with something bigger and had a good battle,
and landed a nice hard fighting Jack Crevalle. Ann followed that up with one of the biggest Blue Fish we've ever had on the Anglers Mark. Rick had something strong take his jig but this fish new the ropes and headed straight through the pilings and cut itself off, leaving the drag singing! Later, Ann had a hard bite and this fish the rod double, FISH ON! She played the fish patiently as the fish ran deep and kept the pressure on to bring it to the net, a big 24" Black "puppy" Drum!  They landed a couple of keeper sized Mangrove Snapper then we ran through Horsehead to fish the mouth of Jackstaff. Rick quickly picked up a fat Seatrout then as we trolled the bank he had another strong bite. We know right off that it was a Shark because it zipped through the water, ripping drag as it went. But it was no match for Rick who knew how to use the rod to land the fish. There was a protracted battle with the fish taking Rick from the bow to stern and from Starboard to Port, and back, and Rick won the fight, landing our first Bonnethead Shark of the year, a three footer! We continued to fish and caught two keeper sized Flounder, albeit somewhat small, then we headed back to Seymore's Pointe to fish the now high and incoming tide. Right off the bat, fish on! The Mangrove Snapper were there in force and we obliged them by tossing live shrimp under floats. It became a game to see if we could hook the Snapper before they stole our baits and we did pretty good, catching our fair share up to 14" in length.  The sun was overhead now so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing Amelia Island waters!