Big Fish Come Late

The pretty days just keep on come'n and today was no different. I met the Fazio family, Chris and Halen and their kids Dane and Ashlyn down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp early this morning and the water was like glass as we headed up the Intercoastal Waterway to dip in at Jackstaff on the last of an outgoing tide. I set the anglers up with jigs and live shrimp and they began to  pitch to the bank as we eased up current. They were making excellent casts but we had no real bites the entire stretch. We bounced over, fished a sandbar pointe, then ran through
Horsehead to the other side and found some docks to fish. Although they weren't big, both Haden and Ashlyn put some Mangrove Snapper in the boat (they're back!) then Ashlyn had a good tug and landed a small but feisty Black "puppy" Drum. We jumped over to Bubblegum Reef, fished it briefly, then ran down to Broward Island. Haden hooked up with a feisty Redfish which Dane expertly reeled in. We let the current drift us down the bank an again Haden had a bite, but this was a bigger fish. They tagged teamed the fish and after a good battle landed a nice 18" fat Seatrout. Moving further down the bank we had another bite and this was an even bigger fish. Dane was on the rod and he patiently played the fish, letting the rod do all the work and after a good battle landed a 24"+ Slot Sized Redfish. Boy what a fish! We made one last stop over at Pumpkin Hill and broke out the float rigs on an incoming tide. Within seconds these anglers were getting bites. We had a good flurry of Trout catching, but he sun was up and it was getting "summertime" hot, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.