Big Fish Battles

 We had a fairly clear morning today when I met Paul Genn and his fishing buddy Mike out at theGoffinsville Park boat ramp. There were some clouds off to the east that obscured the sunrise, but we had a beautiful "moonset" off to the west. We made the short run down the Nassau River and pulled up right at Twin Creeks and unlimbered the float rigs baited with live shrimp on a tide that was already a bit high, and still coming in. I think it was Mike who "knocked the skunk  off" with a hungry Seatrout catch. Then Paul battled a hard fighting Jack Crevalle to the net. All fish caught today were released.

We worked that drainage for a bit, caught and landed a couple of high flying Ladyfish, then picked up and moved down to Spanish Drop and fished that edge. We thought we had had a big fish on until Mike's float disappeared and his drag began to rip and the big fish headed south - Fish On!  Mike battled it past the trolling motor, down the starboard side and then back and forth around the engine. When he finally brought it to the surface we saw that it was a big 4' Bonnethead Shark, too big for the net. Mike had the fish alongside the boat and I grabbed it by the dorsal. They usually go limp but this fish was still "green" and I had to let 'em go and, BAP! fish off!  But Mike wasn't deterred - shortly after that he had another strong bite, a big battle, and this time the fish was ready to come in for a photograph!

Our next stop was down at Pumpkin Hill, drifting a stretch of grass. The duo of anglers had a good many bites then it was Paul's turn for the "big fish battle". He had a made a long drift, up near the grass and when his float disappeared Paul quickly took up the slack, lifted his rod and set the hook and, another Big Fish On!  We were speculating what it was - it didn't run deep like a Shark, but it was ripping drag and running out from the bank then back towards it. Paul was patient and slowly worked it in and eventually landed a huge Jack Crevalle, boy what a battle!

We had one more big fish in that area. I lost a $1.00 (I'm actually in debt a $1.00) - I felt certain the way the fish was hanging at the grass line it was going to be a nice slot Red. Even when I saw it flash I knew it wasn't a Shark or Jack and thought I had that $1.00 in hand, but as Paul brought it closer we saw it was a...........big 'ole Gar Fish! Ouch. 

Our final stop was back at Nassauville where we tried our hand
at catching some Mangrove Snapper, first with float rigs (we got a couple of small ones), then with the jig and shrimp on the bottom where we caught a handful and at least two of them were very nice, just over 12", but again, released.  We had had some good action and battled some big fish so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.