Caballa Espanola!

 

I wrapped the week up fishing with  my newest "in-laws", Douglas and Cindy Bailey who were down visiting Amelia Island to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary!  We met up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp, eased out of Eagans Creek, and made a quick run over to Bell River where we set  up fishing a flooded oyster bed with float rigs and live shrimp with a high tide expected about 9:30am. Both anglers were getting good drifts but we had no takers.

We then moved around to Lanceford Creek and were treated to a Manatee sighting. It caused a boil up near the grass - Douglas made a perfect cast to the spot and BOOM! He had a hookup which he fought successfully back to the net - a hard fighting Jack Crevalle. It must have been hanging close to the Manatee. Shortly after that Douglas worked in another Jack Crevalle, then Cindy, fishing off the stern, had a good hookup. She played it patiently and soon landed a keeper sized Seatrout.

We fished further down Lanceford, then even further -fishing a small grass patch then a seawall, then we made the run back to the Bell River, thru Tyger Basin and around to the outside of Tyger where we set up to fish the first of the outgoing tide. It didn't take long before we began to get fish. The duo landed a fat Mangrove Snapper, Cindy put a surprise in the boat - a Spanish Mackerel (Caballa Espanola in Spanish!), then Douglas expertly landed a big Seatrout, then another Jack Crevalle. 

After crossing the creek we picked up another couple of Seatrout and battled a 4' Bonnethead Shark to the boat, then made a tour of Beach Creek, the outside of Cumberland, Fort Clinch and Old Town and as we headed back, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.