That's NOT what Paula Eldridge said when I spoke to her last night, but more like, "we don't mind a little rain" after I gave her the forecast of 45% chance for our trip this morning. So we planned to meet up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp - Paula and her husband Dean and their sons Malachi and Josiah. And wouldn't you know, when I got up this morning and looked at the forecast it was a whopping 85% chance of rain. I made sure my raincoat was packed!
We left Old Town and eased up Eagans Creek to set up between two docks and began to pitch jigs and live shrimp to the base of pilings and on Malachi's second cast, BAM! Big Fish On! (and that set the tone for the next two hours). Malachi played it like a pro and kept that pressure on, worked it up from the bottom, let it run, worked it in, and landed an Oversized 28.25" Redfish, boy what a fish!
From then on we were catching fish. Dean seemed to have the "hot" rod, landing a couple of nice Slot Redfish, a keeper sized Sheepshead, a small Black "puppy" Drum, and a hungry Seatrout to round out his Amelia Island Backcountry Grande Slam. Paula got in on the action and hooked up and landed another Slot Redfish and after Malachi put a nice Slot fish in the boat, they had their limit! We also picked up a a handful of Croaker and a couple of Stingray.
After making the run up to the Jolley River we tried to fish the "bank" and even though it was difficult going, Dean had his float disappear and after lifting his rod to hookup, the fight was on! He worked it to the boat perfectly and after a good battle landed another Slot Redfish.
Further up the Jolley we fished the inside of Snook Creek, tossing the anchor over in the grass and fishing off the stern and it was almost immediate that these anglers were beginning to get bites. It was Josiah's turn to have the "hot" rod. He hooked up and when his drag began to sing we knew it was a Shark. Josiah played it patiently and after a good battle landed a hard charging Bonnethead Shark. But he wasn't done. About every other cast he had a bite, a hookup, and landed more Shark.
Dean put a couple of Catfish in the boat, one of them huge, and Malachi landed another fat Seatrout. After fishing back at Tyger Island, we headed in, suffering no more than a drop of two of rain all morning, so we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
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