First Redfish and First Hush Puppy

 We had another beautiful morning here at Amelia Island when I met Andrew Perrin and his son Sam down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp. We had clear skies and just a slight breeze as the sun was coming up heading to our first stop up at Pumpkin Hill. We set up with an hour left of an incoming tide and began tossing float rigs and mud minnows to the flooded marsh grass. Both anglers were making excellent casts and getting good drifts. It was kinda slow but then Sam had his float disappear and he had a good strong hookup. Sam was working him to the boat when the fish threw the hook, OUCH!  But Sam went back and within a cast or two he had another hookup - this one he expertly brought to the boat and landed a keeper sized Seatrout, which we photographed and released. 

We fished around the corner for a bit, had a couple of nibbles, then made the run around to Seymore's Pointe to fish the first of an outgoing tide with the float rigs. The bite was slow but Sam did manage to put a feisty Mangrove Snapper in the boat. 

Our next stop was down at Spanish Drop. The tide was going out and the duo were getting good drifts but we weren't getting any bites so Sam decided to switch to a jig and minnow and that did the trick! He'd only been fishing it for a minute or two when, BOOM! Fish On! Sam played it patiently and worked a nice Redfish to the boat - his first ever. From then on it was like someone flipped a light switch - Sam hooked up and battled to the boat a good handful of Redfish. Andrew had been "laying back" but when he switched to the jig it paid off  BIG!  He had made a good cast to the edge and when he hooked up we know right off this was a big fish. His drag was ripping and the fish was digging deep but Andrew kept the pressure on, fought it to a standstill, the worked the big fish to the boat and waiting net - a 26" Tournament sized slot Redfish!

Sam picked up another Red or two, Andrew added a Seatrout and a Red to his catch total, then Sam finished things off with a hard fighting Jack Crevalle that he boated handily. The father/son fishing team reported that they had Kitchen 251 in the Amelia Island Marina cook their catch and Sam was able to try Hush Puppies for the first time! That's a great way to wrap up a day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.