Keeper Fish

I wrapped up my week fishing with Bob Blalock after I had met him out at the Goffinsville Park. Tomorrow's high winds will preclude fishing so today was the day  to catch some fish!  We had the last of an outgoing tide so we made the short run down to Broward Island and fished the logs with jigs and live shrimp.  As usual, Bob was making excellent casts but the fish were not cooperating!
I don't think we had a single real bite!

We came back to Seymore's Point and fished one dock with a float rig and it was only a few minutes or so before Bob had a strong bite. When he drag ripped we knew it was a decent fish and it turned out to be a Slot sized Redfish. After pictures we released it. After moving
around the corner and fishing another dock we had another hookup. The  drag ripped and as the fish made for the pilings but Bob kept the pressure up and worked 'em' out of there. After a good battle, he landed a nice 17" Black "puppy" Drum - keeper sized - but released. We also had a nice sized Bluefish caught in that area.

We then worked along the docks, dipping in and out. Bob had made an excellent cast up to some piling and was slowly working it back along side a floating dock  when, BOOM! Big fish on! Man was it ripping some drag!  Bob kept the pressure on but he soon felt the line rubbing on a submerged piling and I thought for sure we were going to lose it. But it eventually came free and when it was out in the open we felt like we'd have it to the net...and we did! The fish was a hefty 25" Redfish. examined the leader afterwards and it was frayed severely! This fish was released, too.

We went back around the corner, drifted some float rigs, and picked up another Slot Red - and this one Bob elected to take home to the frying pan! We caught two more smaller, but feisty Reds before we headed down to Pumpkin Hill to wrap up the day by catching a handful of hungry Seatrout. What a great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.