Already In The Winter Pattern?

Boy what a beautiful day we had today! I had met Clint and Jean Davis up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp as the sun was coming up and we made a quick buzz around to Tiger Island to take advantage of the very first of an incoming tide. We fished the north end for just a bit and the "baitstealers" made their presence known so we eased down to the tree tops and this did the trick. Jean had made an excellent cast up into a pocket and as she worked it out she felt a faint bump, set the hook, and FISH ON! She played it perfectly and soon landed a nice 18" Black "puppy" Drum. The "Skunk" was off!  Dean had been casting to another pocket and wasn't quite

getting it to where he wanted it, but after a perfect cast, BOOM! Big Fish On!  You can always tell when you have a big fish on light tackle because it Just. Doesn't. Come. In!  But Clint was patient, let it make a few runs, then slowly worked it to the net, a nice 25" THICK Slot Redfish!

After the two anglers put another Slot Red and another keeper sized Puppy Drum in the boat, and some smaller Reds to go along with those, we crossed the creek and set up where we had seen some bait getting busted. Sure enough, both Clint and Jean began catching Seatrout, up to 14" in length. We caught a good handful and probably could have caught another handful, but we decided to make a run up to the Jolley River.

The first 50 yards of oysters we fished produced nothing but baitstealers, and a lot of them, but finally Clint had a good bite on a float rig and live shrimp and he hooked and landed another Slot Redfish. And that was it!  We fished another couple of banks in the Jolley and only caught a fish or two. After we fished some flooding oysters in the Bell River, we called it day, another great one fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

We had somke good fishing early around the logs but not much along the oyster beds, later. Makes me wonder if the water temperature (67 degrees) is already affecting the fish!  We also saw a Bald Eagle, Blue Heron, and a Manatee during this trip!