Sunday, February 16, 2014

Slot Redfish Makes the Day

We rescheduled Saturday's afternoon trip to this morning due to wind issues.  I met Nick Peet and his girlfriend Julia at Atlantic Seafood early this morning and even though it was somewhat chilly, there was only a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky.  We hit "Temptation Cove" south of Rayonier on the last of an incoming tide but had no real bites on live shrimp under a float then we headed up Lanceford Creek to fish some flooded oyster beds but again, no real bites.  Moving back up the river we fished  a couple of docks with jigs and shrimp then eased along a grass line, back to tossing float rigs in 4' of water.  With almost two hours into the fishing trip and no real bites I was  glad to see Julia's float go under and her rod bend - we got a fish!  Whooeee!  Julia played the fish perfectly and as I was about to net this keeper sized Trout, Nick hooked up and he had a fish on, too!  Nick worked his bigger Trout to the boat and we netted it for a "double Trout" picture.  We made a run around to Tiger Island, fished some more flooded oysters, then moved into Tiger Basin to switch back to jigs and fish on the bottom.  I think Nick's first cast produced a nice feisty Redfish!  And on his 2nd cast, boom!  Redfish.  Julia elbowed Nick out of the way and put her bait up near the structure and in a few short seconds, FISH ON!  This was a bigger fish and took some patience to work it in and Julia did great.  After a good battle we netted a nice 21.5" Slot Redfish, Julia's first ever.  This fish moved Jilia into 2nd place in the Anglers Mark 2014 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfsih Category (scroll down right side of this report for standings).  We continued to fish the area and in addtion to the anglers catching a few more of the Reds on jigs and shimp, Nick picked up one on a weighted chartreuse plastic shrimp.   The sun had warmed things up as we headed in, so we counted it as another great day to be out on Amelia Island waters!

No comments: