Wrapping up 2021 with a Grandfather, son, and grandson trip

 Where've I been?  Today was the only trip I fished in December!  I've been doing boat/trailer/trolling motor repairs AND building a storage shed. On the boat, I had the bow repaired, and a few new coats applied to the keel. I also cleaned out some old caulk where the gas tank was installed last year and put a nice, pretty bead down. I also replaced the flares, fire extinguisher and scrap leader container. Then I cleaned the whole inside, hatches and all!

The trailer had a bunk broken so I replaced that and then changed out the carpet on most of the bunks. The bow roller was what was causing the bow to get "chewed up", so I replaced that. One tire had a slow leak so I replaced it with a new one and repaired the old one for a spare. The right side trailer lights have been out for 4-5months so I doped that out and repaired it.

I was reminded the other day that my trolling motor had been acting up since last August!  I had dropped it off to Fish307 JAX and Christina overhauled the mechanical parts internally. I also purchased a new battery for the remote, cleaned the contacts and installed it. It purred today fishing!

I'm well on my way to having a nice 10'x20' shed built. It's framed up, house wrapped and dried in with felt paper, windows installed, storage shelving set up, rod racks installed. Roofing and wiring are planned for next week. Unfortunately the doors are on back order with the (next) estimated date of delivery January 17th, which means I can't complete the trim or begin the siding. Ouch.   

So I've been "out of pocket" this  month, but today I was able to get out out on the water with the Averbuch's - Mark, his son Jared, and grandson Max. We met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp and headed up the intercoastal to dip in to Jackstaff then a side creek and set up at a large marsh drainage, fishing with float rigs and live shrimp on a tide that had been going out for about an hour.

It didn't take long before Mark hooked up and landed a small but hungry Seatrout to "knock the skunk off". We eased along a small grassy island with all three anglers making excellent casts and getting good drifts. Mark went up to another couple of small drainage's and when his float disappeared he resisted the urge to give it a hard set, but instead lifted and made contact, and, Fish On! I could tell right off that it was a nice fish by the way it dug deep and sure enough it finally realized it was hooked and took off, ripping drag as it went. That's when Max stepped in to help out - Mark handed off the rod and young Max played the big fish perfectly, keeping the pressure on and working it slowly to the boat. After a good battle he subdued the beast and brought it to the net - a nice Oversized 28" Redfish, boy what a fish.

We crossed the creek and fished a good stretch of bank with the floats, then we switched to jigs, had no luck, and moved on. After running thru Horsehead we made a stop at some docks over at Seymore's Pointe with plans to pitch to the pilings. All three were getting nibbles and finally it was Jared who had the big hookup. He got it out from the pilings then handed it off to Max who patiently brought it in - a big 18" Black "puppy" Drum. Just minutes later, after having made an excellent cast, Max hooked up with another nice fish. He played it to the boat and landed a 16" keeper sized Black Drum. 

Our next stop was around at some docks at Nassauville. Here, both Jared and Max landed Seatrout fishing deep, and a couple were of keeper size. We fished down at Broward Island and picked up a couple of small Trout, again in fairly deep water. Our final stop was back at Spanish Drop, fishing some shell banks with the jigs. Jared had just made a beautiful cast to the bank, about, two feet off of the shell and it paid off. BAM! He had a hookup. He expertly played it to the net and landed a keeper sized 18" Redfish. Although we only caught one fish along there, it was a good one and a great way to wrap up a day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.