That's Him!

 I fished with Mike Maguth yesterday and today, opting for afternoon trips to fish  high but outgoing tides. It took two trips to get our "Code Words" down, which turned out to be "That's Him!". Both days we met up at Dee Dee Bartels, but we fished north yesterday and ran south today.

Yesterday, the tide was way up high, so we ran up the Lanceford and around to some shallow, flooded
oyster beds and fished a few spots with float rigs. We moved around to Soap Creek and fished the very first of an outgoing tide. Both areas we had nibbles here and nibbles there, but no takers. We came down Lanceford, up the Bell and cut thru to Tyger Island and set up along some flooded grass and here we "knocked the skunk off". Mike hooked up with a nice fish, played it to the boat, and landed a nice keeper sized Seatrout. He went back to the same area and caught a couple of feisty Redfish.

After fishing across the way just a bit, we ran around Tyger, heading to the Jolley, but stopped and fished a large outflow with jigs and mud minnows, in hopes for a Flounder, but we had no takers. We continued on to the Jolley, fished a few edges with the floats, had some bites here and there, then continued on to the Bell where we fished some docks. Here, we went back to the jigs and live shrimp and had a bit of action. Mike hooked up and landed a few Mangrove Snapper and a sneaky Sheepshead. We had a few on that came off and felt for sure they were the Sheepshead.

Today, after meeting Mike north, we made the run south down the intercoastal and to Horsehead. The tide had already started easing out and we were fishing floats and live shrimp. Mike had made a perfect cast to one of my "Redfish Honey Holes" and when his float disappeared, he tighted up and set the hook and his drag began to sing! We thought for sure we had a big 'ol Redfish on -it made some short runs but nothing too long, but I have to admit I had a sinking feeling when it never rolled up like a big Redfish will. Sure enough, after a long battle that took Mike around the boat at least twice if not three times, he finally subdued a big 4' Bonnethead Shark -fun to catch, but not that big Red we were looking for. 

After fishing that area for a bit, we cut thru Horsehead and around to Seymore's Pointe where we fished a large outflow with the floats and shrimp. My usual "notice" when I see a client's float go under is a quick "WHUP" or "Float's Gone"!  A couple of times Mike would be looking at my float but it was his that had gone under and he thought I was crazy!  He told me about a buddy of his that when fishing and his float disappeared or he got a bite, he comment, "THAT'S HIM!", so we began to use that to communicate! 

We fished down at Pumpkin Hill and had some Seatrout Catches, and battled with another Bonnethead Shark, then we fished back at Nassauville docks and had some Mangrove Snapper catches, then fished back at a dock at Seymore's Pointe, and ended up down at Spanish Drop where I went straight to the "honey hole". Mike made excellent casts to a submerged bar and it paid off - he immediately began to reel in one feisty Redfish after another. 

As we headed back up the intercoastal we had really worked a bunch of areas, north and south, so we counted it as another great two days of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.