We Were Delt a Duece

When I stepped outside this morning it was drizzling rain and the wind was kicking up the trees, and when I launched 45 minutes later it was still misting and I could see a wall of rain off to the north. But when Bob and William Blalock walked up to the boat at Dee Dee Bartels Park, the rain had stopped, the breeze was dying and the sun was coming out! We flipped a coin and decided to make the quick run over to Tiger Island to take advantage of the first of an incoming tide with plans to pitch jigs and live shrimp to the shoreline. It might have taken a cast or three but soon Bob had a big bite and, Fish On! He played it patiently as it dug deep, ripping drag all the way, but soon Bob had it worn out and landed a big Slot sized Redfish. Just a few minutes later William had the hookup, and again it was a big drag rip'n fish!  William kept the pressure on, worked it to the boat, and landed another big Slot Redfish. Two fish caught. Two Slot Reds! (All fish caught today were released).

We continued to work in and out of the logs and continued to catch fish. There was another two or three Slot Reds, a couple of big (18-20") Black "puppy" Drum, and a feisty Sheepshead.

Our next stop was around at Eagans Creek, fishing some dock pilings. We had not been there but for a minute and Bob had his jig in the water and BOOM! Redfish on and to the boat! He caught a nice Black Drum then it was William's turn for a Big fish. He had pitched out into deeper water and had a fish hit it hard! This was a big fish and had no plans of coming to the boat. Then it got wrapped around one of the pilings and it was nip and tuck for a while. But William was patient and kept the pressure on until the fish came out to deep water (thank goodness for braid) where William subdued it and brought it to the net, a 27 1/2" oversized Redfish. After getting a couple of  more smaller Reds and another nice Black Drum or two, we moved on.

We fished another dock for a bit then switched to float rigs and drifted shrimp along some still exposed
oysters. William got  hot and picked up another 4-5 Reds with two of them in the Slot. Our last stop was over at Bells River, now fishing a flooded marsh line with the float rigs. I thought we were going to get skunked but Bob nixed that idea when he hooked up and landed one more nice Redfish. Boy what a day of fishing - another great one here at Amelia Island, Florida.