It Was a Big Trout

 

When that line is ripp'n and that big fish is digging deep, the first thing you hope for is to "just be able to see  him"!  We had that happen this morning and when the fish came to the surface briefly near the boat and we saw it was a Huge Trout, we all held our breath, and hoped. 

I had met James Driggers, his brother-in-law David Purcell and his nephew Chase out at the Goffinsville Park this morning with the sun having just cleared Amelia Island off to the west. The forecast called for not much of rain but winds were going to increase from 9mph to 12 to 16 as the trip progressed. Our plan was to fish some just exposed oyster beds over in the Nassau first so we headed that way and deployed the float rigs and live shrimp to the edge. We eased along the bank, had a couple of good bites, then finally, David "knocked the skunk off" with a nice Seatrout catch.

We moved up to a large marsh runout and switched to jigs and shrimp. Just as Chase had a good hookup, David's rod bent over and the drag began to sing. Chase worked  his fish to the boat expertly and landed a feisty Ladyfish but David had his hands full on the stern. I was thinking "Redfish?"  No, probably a Jack Crevalle, but as David worked it patiently to the surface, OH BOY, a huge Gator Trout! Then the fish dove and went under the boat and I think we all realized what we could potentially lose!  But David kept the pressure on, brought it back out, played it around the engine, then brought it to the net to be lifted in and measured to be right at 25" - big enough to move into first place in the Anglers Mark 2021 Bragging Rights Tournament, Seatrout Category. Boy what a fish! (Scroll down the right side of this report for standings)

Once we gathered our wits, the angles went back to fishing and after James had a made a perfect cast, BOOM! And drag began to sing as the fish ran like a freight train, heading East. But James played him perfectly, stayed with him in a couple of long runs, worked him up off the bottom, and landed a nice 40" Bonnethead Shark-the first Shark we've caught in the back water this year. 

We later fished some docks and got a couple of Mangrove Snapper, fished some more docks and got another couple of Snapper, then finished up down at Broward Island where the trio teamed up to catch a handful of Seatrout and Redfish. The wind had picked up as forecasted but we were able to get some fishing in so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.