I thought about titling this report, "BOOM, FISH ON!" because when Chip Lobeck and his father-in-law Ron made their first casts to some Bell River dock pilings, it was FISH ON! Ron hooked up first and had a battle on his hands. The fish made numerous runs deep, pulling the 10lb braid to its limit but Ron used the TFO Tactical Rod to slow the big fish down. Then Chip hooked up from the stern and we had double! He played his fish expertly and soon landed a nice Slot 19" Redfish! But Ron's battle raged on at the bow of the boat. He finally wore the fish out and when we netted the beast we found it to be a 28 1/2" Redfish! Now
that's the way to start a fishing trip! This fish puts Ron in 3rd place in my Anglers Mark 2013 Bragging Rights Tournament, Redfish caterogy (scroll down right side of this report for standings) . A couple of casts later Ron had another hookup, another battle, and landed another oversized 28" Big Red. Just before we left the area Chip had a hungry Seatrout follow his jig and shrimp to the boat and he landed the keeper sized fish. We made one more stop at another dock, got "skunked", then made a run to the Tiger Island logs. Here the anglers had plenty of action, landing (4) Flounder, a number of hungry Seatrout, and a number of hungry Snapper. We also picked up a Ladyfish and two hard fighting Puppy Drum. As the fishing trip was winding down, Ron was "dialed in" and began to talk or "whisper" to the fish that were nibbling at his bait. He had a couple of really hard hits, but lost his shrimp. On his last cast he talked it in and sure enough, BOOM! FISH ON! He played this fish perfectly and kept the pressure on as it shook its head and eventually netted a nice fat 19" Seatrout! With that, we called it a day, another great on to be out on Amelia Island waters!