Worthwhile Braving The Nasty Weather

 

It was drizzling rain when I launched yesterday. A dreary fog had set in and as I tied the boat up the rain increased enough to where I was scrambling for a rain jacket and I ended up sitting under the cabana until Freya Phillips and Ray pulled up. They had come prepared, with both wearing rains suites, head to toe, and it being Ray's birthday, we were going fishing one way or the other!  So off we went and after making our first run up and into the Jolley River, we eased back into the tide that had been coming in for a few hours and began tossing float rigs with live shrimp. And the rain stopped and never rained again!

We worked the entire bank for about 30 minutes and we didn't get even a nibble. Not a bite, which I thought was strange. After running further up the Jolley we worked another bank and fairly quickly Ray "knocked the skunk off" with a hungry Seatrout catch.  I thought we might pick up a few more, but no. Then Ray saw a "tail" up in a pocket behind us so we dropped back and fished it. Freya was fishing within 6 feet of the boat when here float slowly went under. She tightened up the line, lifted her rod tip, and BAM! Her line began ripping out as her rod tip bent over, Big Fish On!  Freya was on the bow but made here way back to the stern and luckily the big fish made for deeper water. Freya fought it from port to starboard and back again a few times. Just when we could see the float come to the surface the fish would dig deep again, ripping drag. But finally, Freya, who was getting double coached, brought the fish to the surface and landed an Oversized 32" Redfish which we photographed and released. This fish put Freya in third place in the Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament-Redfish Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings) Boy what a fish!

We fished the outside of Tyger in a couple of places to no avail, then motored thru Tyger and fished over in the Bell. Here, we got into some action. Both anglers caught Seatrout, one after another for a good bit. They were in the 12"-14.5" range, fun to catch, but all released. Our final stop was over in Soap Creek. We had a few bites as the tide turned and started back out, then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.