Tuesday, May 10, 2022

We Had a Nice Back Country Slam

 It was a a prettier day today, than yesterday, but the winds were still forecasted to grow to 16-17mph by late morning. But the skies were clear, the sun was out, and we had a "window" to fish so I met Jack and Patsy Elgin down at the South End boat ramp and after running up the intercoastal, we dipped into Jackstaff and then in to a side creek to set up fishing with float rigs and live shrimp on a tide that had been going out for an hour or so. 

Right off the bat Patsy had a hookup and landed a high flying Ladyfish, the "poor girls Tarpon". We eased along the bank and when we reached a small drainage I commented to Jack that we had caught a good handful of nice Redfish at the mouth. He made a perfect cast and within seconds his float slowly slid under. He tightened his line and let the circle hook set and, Fish On!  Jack played it patiently and after a good battle landed a Slot sized 21" Redfish.


We then made a run thru Horsehead and down to Spanish Drop where we worked a flooded shell bank with the float rigs, to no avail. Just like yesterday, I switched Jack and Patsy to jigs and shrimp, but today it didn't work- no fish! We moved up to Twin Creeks and stayed with the jigs and in a short time Jack had a battle on his hands! I felt sure it was a big shark as it was headed to England! I hit full speed on the trolling motor and Jack took up the line as we "backed down" and when I stopped Jack applied the pressure and began to wear him out. But this Shark had other plans and with a quick turn of it's head, BAP! Fish Off! We motored back to Twin Creeks(we had drifted a 1/4 mile downstream) and again, within a minute or two, Patsy hooked up with a Shark. Hers wasn't as big but it was "just right". Patsy battled it valiantly and after a good fight she boated a 2 1/2" Shark.




We worked along the bank then and just before Athens Drop
Jack had a strong bite, set the hook, and expertly played to the boat another nice Redfish. 

The wind was beginning to kick up so we ran over to the Nassauville rocks and fished between a couple of docks. We had some good nibbles but no takers then finally, down deep, we had a good bite and a hookup. Jack brought to the boat a big 21" Seatrout. Then Patsy followed that up with a 17" Flounder to round out the couple's Amelia Island Back Country Slam of Redfish, Seatrout and Flounder.  We fished Seymore's Pointe with float rigs, them some docks around the corner but by now the wind was kicking us around pretty good, so we headed back and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 



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