Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Big and Bigger at Amelia Island

I fished again with Steve Locke and his fishing buddy Jason, meeting them down at the  south end
ramp on a cool, clear and sunny morning. We made a short run up the Nassau River and made a stop along an exposed shell bed on a tide that was still going out with about 2 hours until it hit bottom.
(Note, there were anglers at the ramp fishing jigs and white grubs with chartreuse tails and they were tearing up the Trout!).  We were pitching jigs and shrimp to the bank and these two were making excellent casts, but we didn't get even a hard bite, which surprised me.

But after running just a couple of hundred yards up the river and hitting the Spot Lock, Jason caught fire, bumping his jig/shrimp down the bottom, and began to catch one Seatrout after another. I followed him in with a grub and jig but didn't have a decent bite. Jason when go back in and pick a fish up. Go figure.

We then ran up to Seymore's Pointe and set up current from some dock pilings. Steve got on the board with a strong hookup and after working the fish patiently to the boat and landed a nice 16" Black 'puppy" Drum. He followed that up
with a keeper sized Seatrout, then Jason reeled in another keeper sized Drum.

Our next stop was even further up the Nassau where we fished some exposed oysters, still on an outgoing tide, and things got busy! Jason landed a Slot sized Redfish then it was Steve's turn on the stern to catch Seatrout. Between the two of them, they put two more keeper Trout in the boat with Jason's being the biggest, measuring at 18".  The wind was picking up but we were so close to Broward Island as the tide began to turn we decided to give it a try and it paid off.  This was where Steve got on the Bragging Rights board with a big oversized Redfish catch last month and sure enough, BOOM! Big fish on again. He fought it to the boat after several "boils" and Jason netted the 28" oversized Red for pictures and release.  After putting a keeper sized Sheepshead in the box, Steve had another strong hookup - another oversized Red we were thinking? But no, after an excellent fight, Steve landed a "Tournament Sized" 26.5" Slot Redfish.

By now the west wind was really howling and the river was white capping so we ran back to the safety of Seymore's Pointe, fished some docks, picked up one more Trout, then called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

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