Turkey Sausage, Egg and Cheese

 ..on a Multi Grain Bagel, no donut, seemed to be the trick!  I had fished with Eddie Byrd and Bruce Beauchamp all morning long - down on the south end - and even though it was an outstandingly beautiful morning - clear, sunny, just a slight breeze - we didn't have a whole lot of action early, until Bruce started talking about his Turkey Sausage Egg and Cheese Multi Grain Bagle, no donut. 

We had met down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp, made a quick run up the Nassau River and made our first stop at some dock pilings to catch the incoming tide before it got too high. Although we did pick up a pair of Mangrove Snappers on jigs and shrimp, we had no drag ripping bites.

After running down to Spanish Drop, with the oysters about covered, Bruce took the bow and tossed some artificial lures, slow sinking and topwater and did have a few "spits" but no takers. Meanwhile, Eddie was taking up the stern, drifting a float rig along the shoreline and he picked  up a few fish - a nice 11 spot feisty Redfish, and a couple of high flying Ladyfish. We fished Twin Creeks briefly but had not a single bite, then moved on. 

We fished between some docks at Nassauville and caught another small Mangrove but not much else. I was beginning to think the day was going to be a bust. We cruised over to Back River and fished a grassy pointe and here Bruce got on the board with a Slot Redfish catch.  After that, he had a big bite and a drag ripping bite and, Big Fish On! It was a fun battle but when it took off and dug deep my first thought was "shark" and after a good battle Bruce brought tot he boat a 4' Bonnethead.

Our next stop was down the way a bit and here that Turkey Sausage Egg and Cheese (on a multi grain bagel)  paid off!  Eddie was on the bow, drifting a live shrimp long under a float and Bruce was following right behind him. Eddie had the first hookup and we could tell it was a nice fish the way his rod stayed bent. Eddie played it perfectly and brought to the net a big 19.5" Seatrout. Then, the "bite" was on! Eddie and Bruce traded catching fish - keeper sized Seatrout with the next 4 being right under that 19" mark, then Bruce hooked up and caught the first Jack Crevalle of the year. He added 2 more Redfish, one of them being of Slot size, then he had the Big Bite and the Battle was on! This fish stayed up near the oysters and when it rolled and tailed up near the bank we knew it was a Big Redfish. Bruce worked him out then it ran back into another shallow pocket, burrowing its nose to no avail. Bruce worked it out again, applied the pressure and eventually landed a big Oversized 29" Redfish, boy what a fish!

Although we had a slow start we had a big finish so as we headed back we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida