Sand Gnats for Breakfast

Ted and Bonnie Simendenger were visiting their daughter, Gracie and other family in Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday and took in an Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip on The Anglers Mark this morning.  Although it was a cool, there was no breeze at all and when we anchored at our first stop in Lanceford Creek, the sand gnats soon found us.  But these anglers were game and we fished the area for awhile, picking up some hungry Seatrout on live shrimp floated over the flooded oyster beds.  We moved to fish some of the Lanceford docks and it with the first cast we had a good Redfish hookup and Bonnie fought the fish perfectly to a waiting net.  Then Gracie's float rig disappeared and the drag ripped out, FISH ON!  She played the fish expertly and after a good battle, brought a Slot sized 23" Redfish to the net for pictures and release!  The anglers picked up a few more Redfish and Ted added a few keeper sized Seatrout to the catch, but the gnats had overcome any fear of the bug repellant and Skin-so-Soft and we were all covered with the swarming critters!  It was almost unbearable so we pulled anchor and left fish biting at this great fishing hole!  We made a long run up to Jolley River and when we arrived we found that there was a nice breeze and NO GNATS!  The shoreline looked real fishy with the oysters now exposed but the anglers worked an entire bank with their jig and shrimp combo with no real bites.  We tried a creek run out and had no bites but on the next stop we found some good Redfishing!  Ted was the first to hookup and he played the fish perfectly then all three anglers got in on the action, catching 7-8 more Redfish.  At one time both Ted and Bonnie had a fish on and then Ted and Gracie had the double hookup, making for a great way to wrap up a day on Amelia Island waters!