Thursday, July 18, 2013

Young Angler Catches Big Fish

We were greeted by another beautiful morning down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp at Big Talbot Island Park today.  I met Ron Cerniglia and his son Sam at 7am and the creek was like glass as we pulled away from the dock, heading towards Nassau River.  We made our first stop at a nice creek run-out and began to fish with live mud minnows under floats on an outgoing tide.  It wasn't long before young Sam had a hookup and reeled in a feisty Redfish.  Ron added another then Sam hauled in a pesky Stingray.  We made a move up the river and this time we switched to a 1/4oz jig with the mud minnows.  Sam caught a hungry Snapper then Ron's rod bent double and the drag began to sing, oh boy, FISH ON!  He played the fish patiently as it rounded the bow a couple of times and as it dove deep to the bottom,  Keeping pressure on the big fish, Ron was eventually able to wear the big fish out and we netted a nice, 24" Slot Redfish!  Sam was fishing out the other side of the boat and it wasn't long before he too had a big fish on!  He fought the fish all by himself and landed another nice Slot Redfish which measured to 21 1/2"!   As the bite slowed we ran around to the mouth of Jackstaff and trolled the oyster bank.  The anglers picked up another feisty Red and Sam fought a high-flying Ladyfish.  The sun was up and with just a little time left, we ran back to Nassau River and fished the last 15 minutes of our trip.  Although we had a few nibbles we had no real takers, until Sam again had a good hookup!  Big Fish On!  He worked the fish in patiently and we were somewhat surprised to net a very large 20 1/2" Seatrout!  What a great way to wrap up another day of fishing here at Amelia Island!

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