The Stars Aligned

 When I talked to Cole Nalor a few months ago, setting up today's trip, we talked about what kind ofoptions we had to take his wife Aly and their very young daughters Wyn(4yo) and Neely(2yo) out on a fishing trip. I usually recommend that they need to be around 7 years old to really "get into" fishing but we thought we could try a bit of fishing, then maybe do some sight seeing and hope the kids could make a half day trip. And to top that off, when we looked at the weather last night, it was forecasting a good chance of rain! But when I got up this morning and looked at the forecast, the rain wasn't expected at all!

I met the Nalor's up at the Dee Dee Bartels Park boat ramp. The tide had only been coming in for about 45 minutes so we headed over to Tyger Island where Cole  began pitching a jig and live shrimp to the bank while Aly herded the kids. I think we went thru two dozen shrimp feeding "baitstealers" until finally Cole snagged a couple of small Mangrove Snapper. I wasn't feeling a bit down about the spot's production until Cole made an excellent cast to the back side of a log, had a strong bite, and BAM! Big Fish on!  Cole played it perfectly and when it boiled I knew it was a Red. Cole worked it to the boat and we netted a nice 22" Slot Redfish! That woke things up!

We made the run around to the Jolley River, turned in and fished the "bank", now tossing float rigs with shrimp. We hit one stretch where Cole picked up a few hungry Seatrout, and a couple of feisty Redfish. We then buzzed up the river to Snook Creek, again turned into the current and began fishing the marsh line with the oysters almost covered on that incoming tide. Cole picked up a Seatrout out deep and just shortly after he got up real close to the grass. When his float disappeared he called for one of the girls to come help reel but that was before the fish made strong run! That drag started ripping and it was BIG FISH ON!  It wall Cole could do to slow this fish down but he did and turned it then kept the pressure on  until it tired and came to the net - an Oversized 33" Redfish, boy what a fish! This fish moved Cole squarely in to first place in the Anglers Mark 2021 Bragging Rights Tournament-Redfish Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings).

We tried our hand at Shark fishing but found a big Catfish, then we got in that tour of Cumberland, Ft. Clinch and Pippi's house before we called it a day, another great one here at Amelia Island, Florida.