Cold Day But Hot Fishing

When I checked the weather report last night I saw that that we'd be battling the wind today but it'd be nice, sunny and clear. I forgot to look at the temperature though, so when I stepped outside I realized I better head back in and get some back up jackets, and boy I'm glad I did! I met Jason Lane, his son Robbie, his father-in-law Tommy and brother-in-law Chad down at the Big Talbot Island Park boat ramp and luckily all of us had some cold weather gear on as the temperature was hovering just over 40 and the wind was blowing 12-15mph. But we were all in for some fishing so we headed up the Amelia River and then tucked in to Jackstaff to fish an exposed oyster bank on the last of an outgoing tide with jigs and shrimp. These anglers were making excellent casts (and into the wind) but we had no real bites after fishing a good stretch so we headed over to Seymore's Pointe to fish some docks and this did the trick. After fishing for just a little while Jason "knocked the skunk off" the boat when he landed a hard fighting keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. There must have been a school down there because they all began to haul in fish. Young Robbie hooked up and played his share of fish, casting and reeling in  a few of  his own.  I think Tommy had the biggest one, a 20"er and he and Chad had a double on at one time. Then Chad spiced it up by landing a fat keeper sized Seatrout. They put a good "mess" in the boat then we ran down to Broward Island to fish the still outgoing tide. They were getting nibbles here and there when Jason had a strong bite and, FISH ON! This was a big one! He played the big fish perfectly with his light  Fenwick HMG 6'6" rod, battling the fish smoothly with the Stradic 1000FJ and 10lb braid. He worked it out from the bank then it went deep and into the current but Jason kept the pressure on and landed a big 25.5" Slot sized Redfish, boy what a fish! We worked the area up and down and Chad completed a personal Slam when he put a keeper sized Sheepshead in the boat. Our last stop was back at Seymore's Pointe where Jason wrapped things up when he caught another Slot Redfish, this one on a float rig and live shrimp. It was cold and windy but the day turned out to be another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.