Hot February Fishing Leads to Grande Slam

I fished again with Frank Boehm, his buddy Jack Severson and their friend Tom, this tome meeting them down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. It was fogged in when we left the ramp but we took our time and eased up the Intercoastal, turned into the Nassau and made our way around to Broward Island to catch the first of an incoming tide. We baited up our "Walleye Rocker" jigs with live shrimp - these jigs have extremely good hooks, are brightly painted, and are streamlined to bounce over bottom structure - and it wasn't long before we were catching fish. Jack was catching Redfish on the

bow, Tom was catching Redfish on the stern, and they both added a Seatrout and a Black "puppy" Drum to garner an Amelia Island Back Country Slam.

We worked the bank for a good 75 yards and boated a handful of Reds with a few of them being of keeper size. One of the Trout was a keeper. We were joined by two majestic Bald Eagles.  Our next stop was back at Seymore's Pointe. Frank had been holding back, letting the other guys enjoy their day, but finally he decided to join

in and put a couple of nice Reds in the boat along with another Trout. Tom added a keeper sized Black Drum.

We moved around the corner, fished some rocks with float rigs and live shrimp and on the first cast Tom had a hookup. He landed it expertly and we saw that it was a keeper sized Flounder, the first of the year for the Anglers Mark (and a Grande Slam for these anglers) then Frank landed a feisty Redfish. Jack was fishing the stern with a slip float, a tad bit deeper, and finally it disappeared beneath the surface. Jack tightened up and when the drag began to sing I thought that maybe his drag was too loose. This fish was pulling hard! But Jack kept the pressure on, fought it patiently, and soon landed an oversized 30" Redfish, a fish that places him squarely tied for first place in the Anglers Mark 2018 Bragging Rights Tournament (scroll down the right side of this report for standings).  Boy what a fish!

We moved on, now that the tide was almost high, and ran back to Christopher Creek, passing an Osprey on the way. We caught a handful of feisty Reds then Jack had another strong bite on the jig and shrimp and, Fish ON!  He fought it perfectly and after a good battle, landed another oversized 27.25" Redfish. Now that's the way to wrap up another great fishing trip here at Amelia Island, Florida.