Wearing The Gold Plate Off

 We've been initiating the "GPK Challenge" a lot the last few trips - I gotta get rid of them! Yesterday, after Cutler Averbuch put a small but feisty Redfish in the boat we used that fish to set the standard for the Challenge. Little did I know, the GPK changed hands so many times I thought the gold plating might wear off! Yes, I have to admit, the GPK's aren't solid gold -they are plated!

I had met Mark Averbuch and his son Cutler and grandson Harvey down at Sawpit Creek early and we made the run up the intracoastal and all the way up to Poteat Point where we went with float rigs and mud minnows. We were there about an hour late but I was hoping for a few fish on the outside of the oysters. Hoping didn't do me much good - I don't think we got a bite! We then moved over to Jackstaff and fished a cut where we have been getting Flounder all week and when Mark had a good bite and the big fish stayed deep I was thinking it was going to be a massive Flounder! But as he brought it to the surface we saw that is was a big ol ugly Gar Fish! We got it in the boat, de-hooked it, photographed and released it.

After running thru Horsehead and down the Nassau we made a stop at Twin Creeks and fished them
with jigs. Cutler put that 14" feisty Redfish in the boat to kick off the "GPK Challenge" - todays rules were "the biggest game fish" takes home the prize, Redfish, Flounder, Seatrout, Drum, Sheepshead, Tripletail, Snook were all up for grabs -Snook and Tripletail were mentioned as far fetched but we have caught them in NE Florida! Cutler confidently pocketed the GPK but it didn't stay there long - at the next stop Harvey had a good "thump" - he hooked it up and played to the net a keeper sized 14.5" Flounder (all fish caught today were released). The GPK changed hands. Then Cutler put a tad bit bigger Flounder in the boat and repossessed the GPK. We moved down that way and caught a couple of more Flounder of equal size (I counted a total of 4 that could have been kept),  then we moved on.

The last few days we had some negative low tides and I have been fishing a point where on that low tide I saw that there was "grass like" coral growing about 30 feet from shore. I never new it was there but realized that may be why we catch Seatrout in the area on a high incoming tide. But we had a almost dead low now so we stayed out a ways and tossed float rigs up near the coral "grass" and boy did it pay off! Mark hooked up and his drag was ripping - the fish charging deep off the stern and while he was fighting it Cutler hooked up and his drag was ripping - we had a double! Both anglers fought their fish expertly - Mark got his in - a 19" Slot Red, but before he could actually get his hands on the GPK, Cutler boated his and it measured right at 19.5"! A few minutes later Cutler had another hookup - this one was even bigger. He played it patiently and soon brought to the boat a nice 22" Slot Red....and the GPK stayed with him for the rest of the trip. The only other fish caught in the last few minutes was a monster of a Gar fish!

We had a nice breeze all morning, a cloud cover that kept the heat down, and some good catches during the day so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.