Veterans Day Blow Out

 We had another beautiful day when I met Dennis Ambercrombie and his dad Jay, a Veteran and an
angler. Little did we know that today would be one of those "banner" days, and it couldn't have come at a better time with today being Veterans Day! We made a short run from Goffinsvill Park down the Nassau River and set up at a marsh run out. The two anglers baited up and were fishing that drainage with about an hour left of an outgoing tide. I had turned my back to do something and BAM, Jay had a bite on that first cast and we were in for a battle! Jay played it patiently (watch the below video) - it took well over 6 minutes, but he was up to the task and eventually boated a Oversized 32.5" Redfish, a fish big enough to move him into 2nd Place in the Anglers Mark 2021 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish Category (scroll down the right side of this report and click on Bragging Rights to see standings). Boy what fish! While he was fighting the Red Dennis had a hookup and landed a hungry Seatrout!

We continued to fish that spot for a good 30 minutes and Jay was on fire catching  Seatrout out the back of the boat. We then moved down to Spanish Drop and fished some exposed shell banks. Jay picked up more Trout off the stern while Dennis found a couple of feisty Redfish.  After that we worked along some shell banks, pitching jigs and shrimp on the very last of the tide until it hit dead bottom. 

Our next stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe and now the tide was coming in and it made a difference. Jay was fishing the stern and hooked up and landed a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum (all fish caught today were released), then Dennis followed that up with a Drum catch of his own. Then Jay had a slight "bump", set the hook, and reeled in a keeper sized Sheepshead! We had a good, brief flurry at that spot. We ran down along Nassauville and made one more stop and picked up a few more Trout and a small Sea Bass. 

The final stop was down at Broward Island and boy was it hot! Right off the bat, Jay began to catch keeper sized Seatrout, most all of them out deep in 20' of water. They picked up a small Red or two then after Dennis had made a good cast to a "beach", BAM! The minute it hit the water he had a big fish on. Jay expertly played the fish, kept the pressure on, and slowly worked it to the surface. I was thinking< "Big Red" but when it came up we saw that it was a huge Flounder! Dennis kept that line tight and eventually we netted a 23.35" Flounder, and we had another Abercrombie slide in to the Bragging Rights Tournament, this one big enough to move in to a tie for 2nd Place in the Flounder Category. Another great fish!

We fished that spot until we ran out of bait, catching one Seatrout after the other. I remember commenting that IF they had been keeping fish, they surely would have hit their limit! As we headed back to the dock we counted it as another  great day of catching here at Amelia Island, Florida.