Lily's Luck

 

I was back to work today and when I stepped out this morning to get the boat ready I noticed it wasn't as humid as last week and sure enough, when I met Jeff Whorton and his teenaged kids Casey and Lily down at the Sawpit Creek boat ramp, there was a nice breeze and as the morning went along, we had some clouds here and there that made for a pleasant day of fishing. 

We left the dock and ran up the intercoastal, turned into the Nassau and made our way to Spanish Drop where we began fishing jigs and live shrimp on a tide that still had a couple of  hours of going out. The shells were exposed and the trio of anglers were making excellent casts and it paid off when they began to catch Flounder. Lily put a keeper sized Flounder in the boat while Jeff and Casey added one each. We eased along that bank and when we reached a corner Jeff hooked up and he knew right off - Redfish! Jeff played it perfectly and landed a Red that was just undersized. But moments later, going back to the same spot, he hooked up and this fish "pulled some drag". Jeff played it to the boat and landed a Slot sized Redfish. 

After moving up the river we fished a large drainage where they caught some Jacks and Ladyfish, then it was Casey's turn to hookup and land a nice keeper sized fish - a 18" Flounder.  Lily added a hungry Seatrout or two. We then fished some dock pilings and after "tinkering" with some nibbles, all three anglers contributed to the box with a keeper sized Mangrove Snapper. 

I had been kidding with the guys - Lily, the least experienced of the anglers - seemed to be having more hookups than the others - her casts weren't as long or accurate - but she seemed to be catching the fish so we deemed it "Lily's Luck"! 

After fishing some docks at Nassauville, we ran back thru Horsehead to the mouth of Jackstaff and fished a stretch of bank and here Lucky Lily hooked up with a big fish - her drag was ripping and her rod was bent over. She kept that rod up though and after the fish took her from bow to stern to bow, under the boat and around the boat, she eventually landed a big 6lb Jack Crevalle, boy what a battle!

And with that, we headed back to the ramp and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.