Slot Red to Start the Day

We ignored the weather forecast that predicted a 45% chance of rain this morning and met up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp early. It was Chris Moscoso and his cousin Rob, back for some Amelia Island back country fishing on the Angler's Mark. We ran across to the outside of Tiger and set up along some marsh grass and fished float rigs over oysters with mud minnows. I don't think we had been there more than few minutes when Chris had a hookup and, Fish On!  He played it perfectly on his light tackle spin gear and soon landed a nice 23" Slot sized Redfish. Now that's the was to start a fishing
trip!  But the rest of the stretch produced no real bites, so we crossed the river and fished another marsh line. We had a few nibbles here and there, but no takers so we pulled up and  made the run up to the Jolley River.

Our first stop was along the "bank" and even though these two anglers were making excellent casts, we just weren't getting the bites. I think the tide was till to high. We buzzed up the river and fished a large marsh run out and may have caught a Redfish or two. After working further up the bank, Rob had a huge bite. He kept the pressure on, and held on! The drag was ripping and Rod was doing everything right but is was not to be.  BINK, the big fish was gone - it threw the hook. Ouch. But the tide had fallen, the oysters were exposed and the fish bite turned on with a vengeance. Both anglers were putting Redfish in the boat, one after the other, and they added a couple of small but hungry Seatrout. Rob hooked up and landed another Slot Redfish. (All fish caught today were released).

When things slowed we made the run around to Tiger Island and fished the "tree tops" with jigs and minnows and both Chris and Rob caught keeper sized Flounder, again, both released.  Once the tide had started out and the oysters were exposed was when  most of the fish were caught today, and it made for a great one to be out on the water here at Amelia Island, Florida.