Thursday, August 11, 2016

Slot Reds For The Angler

After a 5 day absence due to my boat needing service, I was back fishing today with Josh Thompson and his son Noah, meeting them down at the Big Talbot Island park boat ramp this morning and running up the Amelia River to ease into Jackstaff and begin fishing on an outgoing tide. The oysters were already showing so the two anglers began to toss mud minnows on jigs up to the bank. It was a slow start but when things got going they began to catch some fish. Josh landed a feisty Redfish then Noah put an even bigger one in
the boat to "knock the skunk off". They picked up a handful of those feisty Redfish and when we found a sand bar edge Josh landed a hungry Seatrout. Then Noah had a strong bite - one that took him deep behind the boat, but Noah kept the pressure on and after a good fight, landed a big 'ole slimy Catfish! Then he put it's little brother in the boat, too!  We ran through Horsehead and down to Spanish Drop and here things really heated up. Josh had a good bite and I thought, "another feisty Red", but then this one began to rip drag and, FISH ON! This was a big fish but Josh played it
patiently and after a prolonged battle, he landed a nice 24.5" Slot Redfish. By now I could tell that Noah was natural Angler and as we continued to fish the spot the two put another handful of small Reds in the boat, then Noah had a strange bite and hooked up and caught a small but keeper sized Flounder to round out the duo's Amelia Island Back Country Slam (all fish were released today). Then Noah had a strong bite again. this was a big fish and ripped the drag but Noah applied just the right amount of pressure and after the fish went from bow to stern and from starboard to port and back up to the bow, he landed a nice, big Jack Crevalle, boy what a fish! We ran up and fished some docks briefly and Noah added a Mangrove Snapper to the catch, then we crossed over to some old oysters thinking we'd wrap up the trip and BOOM! Josh had another nice fish on. He worked it to the boat and landed Slot Red #2. After pictures and release with just a few minutes to go, BOOM! Josh was hooked up again. This one turned out to be an 11 spot, slot Red. With that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.