Father's Day Surprise

Candace Carter, her sister-in-law Heather, and her mother-in-law set up a surprise Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip today for their husbands.  They rousted them out of bed early and had them at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp by 7am.  We headed up the Amelia River and started an easy troll of the exposed oyster beds as the tide began to ebb.  Using a jig/shrimp combo, Clifford was first to break the ice and hooked up with a nice Seatrout.  Al had a couple of hookups with the "Poor Mans Tarpon" - Ladyfish and landed them expertly.  Rashad grew quiet.  As the tide started in, we cranked the big Johnson and ran around to the Nassau River and the south end of Broward Island.  Al caught a feisty Redfish and Clifford had a nice Trout.  And Rashad grew quieter.  But then Rashad's rod bent and his drag ripped out and FISH ON!  He had a good fight with the fish hunkering down deep then rolling on the surface and he played the fish like a pro and we soon landed a nice 25" 5lb Redfish!  Game On!  Clifford hooked up with a big one, too and played it for a minute or so until the fish got into the tree limbs and broke itself off.  Rashad added a 16" Trout to the fish box then he had another powerful hookup and another big fish! He fought it to the boat and we soon netted another 26" Slot sized Redfish.  Things slowed down so we headed back, stopping at a couple of run-outs where Clifford caught another Trout and then Al had something take his live shrimp under a float and FISH ON!  His drag ripped out and the fish kept going until Al slowed him down and then the battle ensued.  15 minutes later Al landed a 3'+ Bonnethead Shark on the light tackle rod/reel combo.  We took pictures, released the fish, then headed in, counting it as another great Father's Day to be out on the water!