Movement on the Bragging Rights Board

 

There was forecasted winds for today, but not so much early so we decided to try and squeeze a morning of fishing in. I had met Steve Locke and his fishing buddy Jason out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp and we headed straight to Spanish Drop to fish a high and outgoing tide with float rigs and live shrimp and they  produced......nothing - not a bite! But we were about to leave and I handed Steve a jig and shrimp combo "just to try it" before left and within seconds, BAM! He had a strong hookup and, Big Fish On! The way it was ripping drag I wondered if it was a Shark (we'd seen a couple up near the bank), but then I saw a "roll" and knew it was a big Redfish. Steve played it perfectly, from bow to stern and back, and eventually landed a big 29.5" Oversized Red - a fish big enough to squeeze in to first place in the Anglers Mark 2022 Bragging Rights Tournament - Redfish Category, boy what a fish. (scroll down the right side of this report for link to standings)

And While Steve was fighting his fish, Jason had a hookup - we had a "double". Jason patiently played his fish, held it in the

water while I netted Steve's, then we netted Jason's - a 21" Slot sized Redfish  From then on the duo were catching Reds. We lost count at 8 or 9 total, but two of those were of Slot size. Eventually we moved up the river and fished a large marsh runout, then further up the river and fished a shell "bump out", then moved on. 

Our next stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe, fishing some dock pilings, to no avail. We moved around the corner and squeeze in between two docks and picked up a handful of Mangrove Snapper, a small Flounder, and a small Seatrout.

After fishing a stretch of shell at Pumpkin Hill we finished the day down at Broward Island, fishing under a juvenile Bald Eagle. After picking up a small Mangrove, Steve outsmarted and hooked up and landed a keeper sized Sheepshead. The wind was now really "kicking up" and we had some pretty serious swells, so we headed back, but with some nice fish in the box, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.