Early Bird Gets the Fish

 It's been the norm all week - the fish are biting early, up until about 9am, and then the bite fall off, and the
same happened today. I had met Tim and Crystal Hanley up at the Old Town Bait and Tackle boat ramp and after easing out of Eagans Creek we made a run down to Lanceford and set up current from some dock pilings to toss jigs with live shrimp and mud minnows on an outgoing tide. Crystal was fishing shallow while Tim was fishing deep and deep paid off when Tim hooked up and expertly brought to the boat a big 19" Seatrout. They added one small Redfish to the catch before we moved on. 

After running back and around the Tygers we pulled up at Jolley "bank" and began to work the exposed oysters and almost immediately Crystal began to get bites. She hooked up and landed a handful of feisty Redfish. They added a Jack to the catch then Tim had a strong bite and when we heard his drag began to rip we  knew it was of some size. He played it perfectly and let it tire itself out and eventually brought to the net a Slot sized 22" Redfish.

We moved further up the Jolley and fished thru Snook Creek. Tim was tossing to the bank and Crystal was fishing a bit deeper - she hooked up and landed a small Seatrout then shortly after hooked up and landed a fat keeper sized Seatrout.  After fishing the MOA unsuccessfully we motored around to the Bell and fished some docks and boy was it hot! The temperature, not the catching! After fishing just a bit we headed back to the ramp and counted 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 licensed US Coast Guard charter boat operator.