Good Times Fishing

It's always great to get to fish with old high school friends and today I had the pleasure of fishing with Chuck Lynch, his father Buddy, and his son-in-law Matt. We met early up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp and made a quick run over to Bell River to fish the last of an incoming tide with live shrimp under floats. It didn't take long and we were getting hookups - Seatrout that were just a tad bit undersized, but fun to catch. Although we saw Reds tailing up by the grass, we had no takers from them.

After running thru Tiger we pulled in on the outside of the Island
and boy were things hopping! There was a Sheepshead tailing by some sparse grass and on down the line a big 'ole Redfish tail was flopping around. The trio "got to it" and started catching fish! Chuck had a strong hookup - one that was ripping drag - but this fish didn't get big by being dumb! It pulled right under the boat and down into the oysters and BAP! Fish off! But Chuck went back to the grass and pulled out a nice feisty Redfish. Matt stayed on fire the entire trip. He put the first 3-4 "keepers" in the boat. First a big

bull Whiting, then a 17" Flounder. We worked the bank thoroughly and caught a couple of small Reds and Trout.

We made a pit stop at a large marsh run out and pitched some jigs and mud minnows on the now outgoing tide. but had no luck. Our next stop was way up the Jolley River and again Matt came thru when he hooked up and landed a big 22" Slot Redfish. After battling a 4' Shark on light tackle we made our way along the bank. Somewhere along there we caught a Black "puppy" Drum  and another Red or two.

Jolley Bank was looking good so we eased along it. The oysters still were not showing so we stayed with float rigs. Matt put another Slot Red in the boat and Chuck added a keeper sized Seatrout. We had some good bites along the way and landed another couple of feisty Reds.

Our final stop was back at Tiger, fishing the logs, and here Buddy got on the board with a Redfish catch of his own. It was a great day to get out on the water and do some fishing with friends and family here at Amelia Island, Florida.