Big Trout Kicks It Off

 I met Keenan Bell, his grandfather Tom and uncles Tommy and Ricky out at Goffinsville Park early this morning. There was a tide still coming in so we made our way over to Pumpkin Hill and set up to drift floats long, baited with live shrimp and mud minnows. (Note, the shrimp seemed to do better than the minnows today).  Ricky did pick up a small Jack Crevalle fairly quickly but it was Keenan who "made the headline" when he hooked up. It didn't seem like much but then as he worked it in patiently it began to rip drag and put up a battle. Keenan stayed with it and soon brought to he net a 20.5" Big Trout, boy what a fish!(and tied for 3rd place in the Anglers Mark 2023 Bragging Rights Tournament)  We continued to fish that bank and caught a couple of more Jacks, tangled with a couple of  high flying Ladyfish and experienced a couple of quick rips and breakoffs from Shark.

Moving down the way, Tommy, fishing out of the stern, hooked up and landed a small Flounder, and we had another quick rip from a Shark bite.

We then came back to Horsehead, ran thru, and around to Poteat Cut and set up again along a marsh line.  Tom drifted long and caught a hungry Seatrout and then we also got another Jack or two.  Moving back into Jackstaff, we worked another bank and this paid off. Ricky had made a good cast to a point of grass that had some oyster shell extending from it and just as he began to reel it back in, BAM! Big Fish On!  Ricky played it perfectly and after a good battle landed a nice 20" Slot sized Redfish.

We fished Twin Creeks for a bit and picked up a couple of small Redfish then fished then Tom had a good hookup, patiently brought it to the boat, and landed a keeper sized Flounder to round out an Amelia Island Back Country Slam. Tommy had a strong bite, played it beautifully, and landed the only Bonnethead of the day.  We wrapped the day up fishing some rocks at Nassauville and put a good handful of keeper sized Mangrove Snapper in the boat, and then we headed in, counting it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.

Captain Lawrence Piper is a fishing guide in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida and is a 

 US Coast Guard licensed charter boat operator