Hug'n The Bank

After seeing the weather forecast last night I figured we'd be hug'n the bank today to keep out of the wind It wasn't expected to be too bad - up to 14mph but enough to make things interesting. I met Bob Kossman down at Sawpit Creek early and we made a run up the intracoastal, then up the Back River and around to Pumpkin Hill where we set up with float rigs and live shrimp on a tide that had about 30 minutes to hit high.  That current was still creeping in as Bob tossed to the grass, opened his bail, and let it drift. It didnt' take but a drift or two and BAM! Fish ON! Bob cranked, and the fish swam to us, and he cranked and it swap to us and when it realized it was about to be landed it turned and ran and, Fish Off! Ouch! We fished that stetch for a while, fished around the corner for a bit, then moved on - no more takers. 

I had been stalling, waiting for the tide to change back at Seymore's Pointe, so as we eased up to a drainage there, sure enough, the tide was coming out. Bob was working that current and it paid off - it wasn't "on fire" but he caught fish, nice fish, slow and steady. He put a few keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum in the boat, a handful of small but feisty Redfish, then a couple of Slot Redfish and a couple of Seatrout. Bob kept a few fish but threw back a couple of "keeper sized" fish.  Those Black Drum sure do pull!

We came back around Seymore's and down to Littlefield and went to jigs and the shrimp and like yesterday, caught Seatrout until we got tired of catching them. 99 percent were 14" but we did have one that was keepable - we tossed it back. But we did get a keeper sized Flounder. That West wind was blowing - we hugged that land mass, went back around to Seymore's and tried out hand at fishing the traditional Trout "slip floats" with some success. -we caught a handful of feisty Bluefish. DAVID NEASE/TANDY MORTON, if you are reading this, both Bob and I are not sold on the slip float technique - I'd rather be pitching a jig! But with that said, it was still a great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.