Redfish Bonanza

Tim and Emma Everett were making their annual visit to Amelia Island and set up an Amelia Island backcountry fishing trip along with Emma's brother Rob and friend Ryan.  We met at the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina Friday at 2pm and headed up Landsford Creek to fish the last of an outgoing tide.  Using The Anglers Mark new Minn Kota I-Pilot 101lb trolling motor with built in GPS and compass, we "anchored" just south of a dock and began to toss our jig and shrimp combo.  The tide was extremely low - the lowest that I recall in a long time and I was wondering how it was going to affect the fishing when Tim yelled "FISH ON" and he had a battle on his hands. He played the slot sized Redfish to the boat and net and we measured it at 23" - not bad for the first fish of the day in less than 5 minutes!  The other anglers joined in and began to catch feisty, hard fighting Redfish, and more than once we had a "double" hookup.  Of the 12-15 Redfish, three ended up being in the Slot, but as the bite slowed, we made a move to behind Tiger Island to fish the first of the incoming tide.  I was somewhat surprised that we didn't find any Redfish, but we the anglers did pick up a couple of Trout, one measuring well over the 15" minimum size.  Our last stop was on the outside of Tiger Island, fishing the flooded oyster beds with float rigs, and Emma pulled in the last fish of the day, a hungry Trout.  With that, we headed in as the sun slipped down over the horizon, counting it as another great day to be on Amelia Island waters!