Making The Most Of It

               

We all agreed that the weather forecaster fooled us! I thought for sure this morning would be pleasant - maybe a bit overcast - but not too cold, not rainy, and not windy. Wrong was he. It was on the cool side and the breeze made it seem cooler and we had a misty rain for about he first hour - but we were fishing and this group of Joe and Karen Szkaradnik and their friend Bruce were up for it and we made the most of it. After leaving Sawpit Creek we headed up the Nassau River and made a stop at Spanish Drop to fish some exposed oysters on the very last of an outgoing tide. The trio was pitching jigs and live shrimp to the bank and after getting warmed up, they began to catch fish. The guys followed Karen's lead as she put Trout after Trout in the boat and the too began to hookup. All of the fish were in the 12"-14" range so we broke the cardinal rule, and move on. 

Our next stop was up at Athens Drop and again the trio landed a handful of Trout. But the tide had stopped and was beginning to come back in so we headed over to some docks at Seymore's Pointe and began to fish the pilings with the jigs and shrimp. Within a minute Karen had hooked up, Fish On! She played it perfectly and landed a nice 20" Black "puppy" Drum". Not to be outdone, the "boys" went in and caught Drum of their own. Most all of them were of keeper size. Then we had a couple of nice sized keeper sized Sheepshead brought to the boat. 

Our next stop was down at Broward Island. We were back in the wind but the rain had stopped. The boat was rocking from the wind and current but it didn't deter these anglers. Karen had made an excellent cast to the mouth of a marsh run out and BOOM! Big Fish On! When it boiled up I new it was Red. Karen kept the pressure on, worked it to the boat, and landed a nice 21.25" Slot sized Redfish. Moments later, it was Bruce's time for a fish fight. He'd gone to a little cove with a good cast and had a strong bite. The drag ripped but Bruce was ready and fought it to the boat to land another Slot sized Redfish. We had  a pair of Bald Eagles keeping an eye on us. 

We moved north and fished a bit and here Joe landed a feisty Sheepshead and another Seatrout. After fishing the rocks back at Nassauville for a while, we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.