Two Slams Make A Grande Slam

Or, Big Sheepshead Tops the Board.  We could give this report a number of titles. It was my first day back since the big Nor'easter blew thru, canceling four of my trips due to high winds. But today was beautiful, and only a tad bit cold. I met Bill Pepe and his son Dylan down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early and we made the run up the Nassau River with plans to fish some docks on the very first of an incoming tide.  Both anglers were making excellent casts to the pilings and it wasn't long before Bill had a subtle bite
and a hookup. He worked the fish patiently to the boat and landed a nice feisty Redfish. We worked the docks and both Bill and Dylan added a Redfish then we begin to bounce up and down the docks. Again, Bill had a subtle bite and as he tightened the line this one put up a fight, FISH ON! Bill applied the pressure to get him away from the pilings and after a good battle landed a big 19.25" Sheepshead, the biggest on the Anglers Mark this year (see Bragging Rights standings by scrolling down the right side of this report).  All fish were released today. We hit another dock, had a
good bite, but this fish was smart and made quick dash around the pilings threw the hook. Our next stop was down at Broward Island as the tide was coming in and worked some downed logs. We had no real bites so we began to slowly work up current and this did the trick. Bill found some Seatrout out deep and about half of them were of keeper size, and then some. This rounded out Bill's own Amelia Island Back Country Slam of a Redfish, Sheepshead and Seatrout. Dylan was  not to be outdone. He picked  up some nice Trout, too ( a couple of these were in the 17-18" range) then as we were preparing to leave, he had  "bump" on his bait and after waiting patiently, Dylan set the hook. It was a weird bite and a weird fight a sure enough, the fish turned out to be a nice keeper sized Flounder. Dylan had his Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Seatrout, and Flounder. Together the two anglers could claim a "Grande Slam". We made one more run over to and through Horsehead where we worked a now flooded marsh line. After adding one small Trout Bill hooked up.
He slowly worked the fish to the boat and just as we were about to net a big Flounder it threw the hook! OUCH! But we'd put a good handful of fish in the boat today and it was beautiful one at that so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.