Frisky Redfish

We had a beautiful clear cold morning today when I met Bob Blalock out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp. We made a quick run over to Broward Island and got out the jig rods; the bait shop had no live shrimp today so we went with mud minnows, something I haven't used in months, and it had me concerned just a bit. But on Bob's first cast he felt a "bump" but thought surely it was the bottom and when he reeled it in his minnow was gone. He made second cast, let it settle and BOOM! Big Fish On! However, at first we both thought it was small but then it began to dig deep and go long! The tide was
coming in moving fairly strong and the fish got back in the current and it was a struggle. Neither of us could believe how long and hard this fish fought. But Bob was up to the task and after a long battle, brought it to the net - a big oversized 30.25" Redfish. After a quick photo we released it and it swam off strongly with an attitude! 

But that was the only fish we got there! We moved down the island and picked up one small Seatrout then ran around to Pumkin Hill and switched to float rigs and minnows and fished some shallows, to no avail. Our next stop was down the Middle River, fishing some flooding
pockets in the marsh but again, no fish. Had we used up all of our mojo?

We ran back to Nassau River and slipped into a small creek and went back to jigs. After fishing a curve in the river with not a single bite I was beginning to think that one big Red was going to be the highlight of the day. But then Bob made a cast up into a shallow "cove" and BAM! Hooked up. This Redfish was putting up another ferocious fight. He played it patiently to the boat and landed a nice 22" Slot Red. Bob worked that area thoroughly and BAM! Another Slot Red. He went back and BAM! ANOTHER Slot Red. BAM!  Another Slot Red - this one at 26".  BAM, another Slot Red.  We kept count and in addition to the oversized fish early that morning, Bob boated 8 Slot Reds, two that were undersized, and that early small Trout.  The sun was up, the temps had warmed, and it had turned out to be another great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.