Bragging Rights Blowout

 Our weather pattern has been holding the last few weeks...great early morning, sometimes even overcast like today, with just a slight breeze, then some sunshine, then the heat comes on by about 10am.  And the fish bite has been similar. I met Grant Gressman and his son Colton along with Grant's dad Charlie out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp early and we headed down to Spanish Drop to fish the last couple of hours of an outgoing tide. We baited jigs with live shrimp and began pitching to the exposed shell bank as we eased into the current. And it wasn't long before we were catching fish, First a couple of Jacks, then we got into some feisty "Rat" Reds, and caught one after another. Grant had the hot hand initially but the other two anglers joined in on the catch. Grant caught a Seatrout and a Black Drum to round at his personal Amelia Island Back Country Slam.

We moved up to a large drainage and fished it and here Charlie hooked up out deep and landed the firstkeeper fish, a nice Seatrout. Colton had a strong bite and fought it expertly to the boat to land the largest Jack Crevalle of the day. Then, when Grant's rod bent over, we questioned what he had on the line. I was thinking a big Catfish but when it came to the surface I saw that it was a HUGE Flounder and it was all I could do to get the catch net under it's nose and bring it to the boat - a 22" Flounder, the biggest of the year and big enough to smash into First Place in the Anglers Mark 2023 Bragging Rights Tournament-Flounder Category. Scroll down the right side of this report for standings. 

We fished a dock at Seymore's Pointe briefly, added a Mangrove Snapper to the box, then made a run down to Broward Island where we added another Flounder to the catch. Our last stop was back at some docks at Nassauville where Colton hooked up and landed a nice 16" Flounder, a keeper, then all three anglers dueled the Mangroves, winning a few and losing a few, but adding to the box another good handful of keeper fish. And with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

Captain Lawrence Piper is a fishing guide in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida and is a 

 US Coast Guard licensed charter boat operator