Chasing Snookie's Big Sister

We had an absolutely beautiful morning today - slightly cool and almost zero wind which made for a run up the river on water that was like glass. I had met David Martin and his son-in-laws Mike and David down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp early and we headed up the Nassau River and around to Pumpkin Hill thinking that surely we'd find some nice Trout on the last of an incoming tide. All three anglers began tossing live shrimp under float rigs and we had a few wayward bites now and then, but no real action. Then David's (the Sr.) float went under and when he tightened up and set
the hook we were thinking, "alright, Trout on". But the fish began to make a run for deeper water and then the drag began to rip and, BIG FISH ON! The fish wasnt' but about 15 feet from the boat so the battle progressed right at us. David kept the pressure on, thru numerous runs and soon landed a big 24" Black Drum. Boy what a fish.  We fished that area and around the corner for another 30 minutes and had no more bites - crazy.

It was almost high tide and Christopher Creek was accessible so we
bounced over and fished some dock pilings with jigs and live shrimp. Again, just a few nibbles, then as we reached some marsh grass, BOOM! Someone must have thrown a switch! All three anglers began to hookup  up with fish - Redfish, Redfish, THEN A SNOOK! Another Red, another Snook. Triple hookups on Redfish, then another Snook! They caught 4 Snook in all - the most I've ever had in one day (just one Snook is rare this far north) and a couple of them were bigger than we usually get -about 18-10".  Mike had the biggest Redfish, a nice 22" Slot fish. The anglers could also claim and Amelia Island Back Country Slam of sorts - Black Drum, Red Drum and....Snook!

When things slowed down we made the trip back to Seymore's Pointe and fished some dock's. It didn't take long to begin catching fish. They added a couple of Trout (Grande Slam) and then David (Sr) put a keeper sized Weakfish in the boat (Super Grande Slam) and David (the younger) put a keeper sized Seatrout in the boat. Mike added a couple of Reds on a Temptation Bait Co. fluke. When the bite slowed we ran thru Horsehead and fished the mouth of Jackstaff with some artificial stuff but had no more takers, so we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.