I wrapped my week up today fishing with John Raker and his friend Kenny King, meeting them out at the Goffinsville Park boat ramp early. The tide had been coming in for about two hours but I wanted to try Broward Island, being that we were right there. We ran down there and set up on that incoming tide and the duo of anglers began tossing shrimp and jigs to the bank and letting them fall down the river bottom. We didn't get what I was hoping for - a big bite, but John did hookup and land a Croaker. Ouch.
After making a run down the Nassau we made it down to Spanish Drop and began working a bank that had the shell already covered. Both Kenny and John tangled with some hard fighting Jack Crevalle, found another Croaker and finally John had a strange bite, set the hook, and reeled in a keeper sized Flounder -"skunk" off the boat!
We moved back up the river and switched to float rigs and here Kenny was in for the big battle. Hisfloat disappeared and his drag began to rip and the big fish headed west, then came back to the boat, then dug deep for the battle. But Kenny was up to the challenge, kept the pressure on, and eventually landed a big 4' Bonnethead Shark.
Then it was John's turn to battle the Shark. Both of his we speculated that it might be a big Redfish in that they didn't make the long, drag ripping runs. Maybe they knew it was to no avail? John brought both of the big Shark to the boat for pictures and release.
Back up the river we went, stopping at Pumpkin Hill and drifting floats along a flooded grass bank. They were getting some good nibbles and finally John hooked up and landed a keeper sized Seatrout, and then a small (small) Flounder. Kenny added a nice sized Mangrove Snapper to the box.
We were running low on time but luckily the tide was just changing so we moved back down the river to my new Super Secret Spot! This week alone we had caught 4 Oversized Redfish, in addition to 4 Slot sized Redfish at this spot and I was hoping that today we'd add some more. Both John and Kenny were getting good drifts and some good bites right off the bat, but no takers. I switched them to mud minnows hoping that would help but, no takers. John had went to the live well and picked out the biggest Shrimp left - there were only about a dozen. He made a good cast to the bank - it stuck on a submerged oyster shell, but when he tugged it off it slowly went back under. John tightened up and let the circle hook do it's thing and, Big Fish On! It made such a long, hard, drag ripping run that we were thinking it was another shark - but then we saw it boil up in the shallows and knew that it was a big Redfish. John was patient with the fish, played it perfectly and after a long battle, landed Oversized Redfish #5 - one that measured right at 32", and big enough to move John into first place in the Anglers Mark 2022 Bragging Rights Tournament -Redfish Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings).
And we weren't finished! We only had a few shrimp left so we kept fishing and were down to the last shrimp and minnow and John had the same thing happen - his bait hung on an oyster, came off and BAM! Fish On! After a good battle John landed a Slot sized 23" Redfish! Five Oversized Reds and Five Slot Reds at the same spot this week. Now that's the way to wrap up a great fishing trip here at Amelia Island, Florida.
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