Trout Queen at Amelia Island

 

Back to "work" today after a nice vacation to the North Carolina mountains! I met Bob Blalock and his brother and sister in-law Tommy and Martha out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp. The sun hadn't come over the horizon as we left the ramp on the cool and clear morning. We made a quick stop around at some docks at Seymore's Pointe in hopes for some Drum, on a tide that had been coming in for a few hours. but we ended up catching a Seatrout and a small Sea Bass.

After running down the Nassau we pulled up to some flooding marsh
grass and began working the bank with jigs and live shrimp. Bob had made an excellent cast right up to the grass and BAM! Big Fish On!  This fish was a big AND feisty! It ripped drag, heading up current along the bank, then down current, then deep. We weren't sure what it was but finally it boiled up a couple of times and we knew it was a big Red. When it came to the surface it gave a wicked head shake, but Bob kept the pressure on and brought it to the net - a nice 25"+ Slot sized Redfish.

We worked that bank thru and had no additional bites, other than a couple of Catfish, then made the run back up river to Pumpkin Hill where we switched to floats and live shrimp. I think it was Martha's first drift and she had a hookup and expertly brought to the boat a hungry Seatrout. And from then on she worked up to a big lead in the fish count, catching a good handful of Trout. Tommy had  a good  battle with what turned out to be a nice Bonnethead Shark. This was another fish that took the bait and ran hard - I kinda hoped that the Shark had left the area with the cooler water, but nope - Bonnethead Shark. Tommy played it perfectly and brought it to the net for a photograph and release.

Fishing around the corner Bob landed another Trout, then we moved back to Seymore's to fish an outgoing tide - had  few bites, but no takers.We wrapped things up over at Back River fishing the first of an outgoing tide, then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.