Just when you think you've seen it all in the backcountry waters of Amelia Island a fish is caught that just boggles your mind! A few years ago I was fishing up in Jolley River which is northwest of Amelia Island and I had a hookup, a good feisty fight, and landed a small Snook, to my amazement! We've been having pretty good catches this summer of Redfish and we've been also catching a few Trout and Flounder, and once in a while a Sheepshead. But you can imagine my surprise when one of my customers caught a hard fighting fish that just didn't want to come to the boat and when we finally netted it, a TripleTail!
Jack Coward and his friend Brian Shepley were in town on business and scheduled a fishing trip on The Anglers Mark today. We left the Sawpit Creek boat ramp on Big Talbot Island just before 7am and headed up the Nassau River, making our our way to one of the oyster bank outcrops, and began our troll, tossing the jig and shrimp combo with the tide still heading out. It wasn' long before Jack had a good hookup and a strong fight, but after one roll, the Refish threw the hook! Ouch. We hit a few more outcrops in Nassau with no real bites, then headed to Jackstaff to fish a long oyster bank and again, no real bites. However, after crossing to a sandbar spit Brian had a good hookup, his drag ripped out, and FISH ON! He fought the big fish expertly, 'round and 'round the boat, stern to bow and back to stern and after about 10 minutes, subdued the big Bonnethead Shark, and we brought it aboard for pictures and release. After that we cranked up and headed over to Broward Island just as the tide was changing and starting back in. This turned out to be a great move because the anglers starting getting good bites and picked up a couple of Trout and Croaker and then Brian had a strong hookup, his drag zip-zipped and the fish bulled to deep water. But Brian had already tamed a 25+lb shark on the light tackle rigged with FINS Windtamer Braid and this fish didn't have a chance. Eventually Brian worked the fish to the top and we netted a.....Triplefish! I think I was more excited than Brian and Jack! We snapped some pictures and released the guy, hoping he'd find his way back to the ocean! That started things off because the anglers ended up catching a few Redfish, two being in the slot with one measuring to 25". They also picked up a keeper Trout to round out a sort of Slam, then knocking it out of the park with a Flounder. The last Redfish was caught at almost 11am, in the heat, so we called it a day, another great one to be on the water!
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