First Red and a Slot

An outstandingly beautiful day greeted  me and Froilan Esclusa, his dad, and his son (all Froilan's) when I met them down at Atlantic Seafood dock this morning. Another day with a slight breeze, not too hot, and not a cloud in the sky. We ran north once we got out of the no-wake zone and then eased into a small creek on the outside of Tiger Island. The three anglers were tossing live shrimp under float rigs and at first they had to fight off the baitstealing Perch, Pinfish, and small Snapper.  But then Grandad had a good hookup and landed a hungry Seatrout. The youngest Froilan landed a small Snapper then his dad put a fat Seatrout in the boat. We eased across the creek and here Froilan caught two feisty Redfish and Grandad quietly put another Seatrout in the boat. We made the run up to Jolley River, cast netted some finger mullet, then fished a grassy bank that had the oysters still flooded. Young Froilan had a strong bite and fought the fish perfectly, landing what I think was his first Redfish!  Shortly after that his dad had an even stronger bite, FISH ON! The big fish zipped the drag on the reel then charged deep, taking Froilan from bow to stern and from starboard to port. But he played the fish patiently and soon landed a nice 22" Slot Redfish!  We continued to fish the area then made the run around to Bell River to fish some docks. The anglers picked up a couple of keeper sized Croaker, then we headed back to the dock to pick up the rest of the family for a tour of Old Towne, Fort Clinch, Cumberland Island (yes, we saw wild horses) and Tiger Island then we wrapped it up, counting it as another great day to be fishing Amelia Island waters.