Big Trout Big Reds and Bragging Rights

I had the pleasure of fishing with Tom Gaslin again and this time he brought along his son, Sam, meeting me down at the Atlantic Seafood dock early this morning for day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. We had a couple of hours before the falling tide hit bottom so we made a run over to Eagans Creek and began fishing deep. Sam got set up on the bow of the boat tossing up current with a jig and shrimp and before we could get Tom going with a slip float rig, Sam yelled FISH ON! His first cast had produced a big
bite. Sam played the fish perfectly and after a good fight landed a nice 19" Seatrout!  Then both anglers were fishing and catching fish and then Tom had strong bite on his deep float and he too had a big Trout, this one over 20". We fished 4 docks, up and down and the duo landed a handful of Trout with another one right at 20" and then Sam added a keeper sized Sheepshead. When the tide hit bottom we headed out and over to the Jolley River, making a brief stop at MOA where we had no bites then we eased back to Tiger Island. We hadn't been there but for a few minutes when Tom had a strong bite. We knew this was a big fish as it ripped the drag on the Shimano reel but Tom kept the pressure on. It was a good fight and Tom prevailed, landing a nice "Tournament sized" Redfish -26"-boy what a fish. They kept tossing jigs and a few minutes later Sam had a strong bite. It was immediately clear that this fish was even bigger! It stayed deep so long that I was thinking it might be a big Black Drum. It took Sam from one side of the boat to the other, but Sam stayed with it and eventually landed a nice, oversized 29.5" Redfish - a beast! Now that's the way to wrap up a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island!  This fish puts Sam in first place in the Anglers Mark 2016 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish Category (scroll down the right side of this report for standings).