Keep to Catch Ratio

 

We had a front move thru last night that brought lots of rain, big winds, and cooler temperatures. When I stepped out this morning it was about 10-12 degrees cooler than yesterday - right at about 61. But the forecast called for just a  bit of wind left over and sunny skies so when I met Tim and Laura Wolfe down at the south end boat ramp early this morning they were raring to go. We ran up thru Middle River and around to Pumpkin Hill and began to fish with float rigs and live shrimp, tossed up near the grass and left to drift naturally along the bank.  That first spot didn't produce anything but bait-stealing nibbles so we moved down a bit. Here, Tim, who was taking up the stern, had let his float and bait drift close to some small grass islands and when the float went under he was ready, set the hook, and brought to the boat a feisty Redfish.

We moved around and into Pumpkin and fished a couple of more grassy island. We thought we had spotted a Redfish roll up behind us as we were in a shallow flat but after Tim hooked up and easily brought a big fish to the boat we saw that it was an ugly Gar fish!

Our next stop was over at Christopher Creek, now fishing jigs on the bottom. We worked the docks and rocks and banks and both anglers were making excellent casts but we had no takers. After making a short run over to Seymore's Pointe we set up outside a grassy point as the tide changed and started out and again, not takers.

I had begun to get a bad feeling that the previous night's front was affecting the fish bite because even the bait stealers were taking a break! But we kept on fishing!  We ran down to Spanish Drop, worked that bank with float rigs, then switched back to the jigs, and Tim put another feisty Redfish in the boat. Back to the docks we went, now fishing the jigs, but to no avail. Back to Twin Creeks to squeeze in just a few more minutes and, BAM! Big Fish On!  Tim had a hookup on a jig and mud minnow. He played it perfectly but we both noticed that the big fish never made a decent run. I think that change in the weather had him confused! Tim was patient, worked it to the boat, and we netted a nice 25" Slot Redfish. Only minutes later Tim had another hookup and brought in a nice keeper sized Trout. 

Although we didn't catch a lot of fish, our  "keeper to catch ratio" was pretty good and with the nice weather, it made for another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.