Girls Rule, Boys Drool

 Crazy how big fish just come out of no where!  I fished with Marty and Cathy Siciliano again today, but met them down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp with plans to fish south. We made a long run up the Nassau (it almost feels like you're going to Tallahassee) and up to Broward Island and set up fishing with a tide that had just a few minutes to hit bottom. I had Marty and Cathy throwing jigs with Mud minnows and live shrimp, first to a drainage, and then as we drifted back to the bank and fishing down thru some rough bottom and it paid off. They picked up a couple of small but feisty Redfish and a Bonnethead Shark. 

Then the current changed and just after I had turned the bow into the incoming current, BAM! Cathy had a strong hookup off of the stern. It boiled up and I called it a Redfish". Boy was I wrong! Cathy worked it to the boat and eventually landed a huge 22.75" Seatrout - a fish big enough to move her into sole possession of First Place in the Anglers Mark 2023 Bragging Rights Tournament-Seatrout Category.  But Cathy wasn't finished. We fished just a dozen yards or so and BAM! Another Big fish on! She fought it valiantly and worked into the net an EVEN BIGGER Seatrout - this one measuring right at 23"! Boy what a fish! (scroll down the right side of this report for Bragging Rights standings).

All fish caught today were released.

We worked that bank for a while, then moved on up to ways and fished, then moved on.  Our next stop was up at Pumpkin Hill and here we switched to floats and the live baits, drifting them long with the current. The duo of anglers picked up a couple of Jacks and small Seatrout. After moving around a point and fishing that side they caught a good handful of hungry Seatrout, fishing along the current line. 

After fishing Twin Creeks with the floats and catching another Jack or two, we finished up fishing at Spanish Drop where Cathy tangled with a Ladyfish and Marty battled a huge Shark. As most know, I use very light tackle and those Sharks tend to win the battle, as this one did, but Marty gave it the best that you could do. And with that, we headed back and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelai Island, Florida.

Captain Lawrence Piper is a fishing guide in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island and is a licensed US Coast Guard charter boat opoerator.