Off Day Leads to Big Trout

 I had the day off and decided to get in some "fun" fishing before we had to batten down the hatches for the approaching storm.  After be first in line at the Amelia Island Bait and Tackle for some live shrimp, I headed down to Sawpit Creek boat ramp, launched, and ran up the Back River to hit a flooded point in the Nassau. Tossing float rigs and the live shrimp on the last of an incoming tide, I hit the Ladyfish jackpot! Every cast - BAM! The first couple of times I got excited when the float went under but then I got complacent.

Fishing the point, the tide was so high my float was drifting the wrong way but when it went under I reeled up a bit of slack and let the circle hook set and when it bent the rod a bit I thought, "well great, a nice little Redfish". I even remember giving complete slack as I reached behind the Yeti to grab the catch net but when I lifted the rod up I saw a huge Seatrout!  I got that line tight quick! And got that net under it and landed it - a big 21" Seatrout!

As the tide started out I fished a couple of more spots with the floats and picked up some small Mangroves and Jacks, then moved down the Nassau and switched to jigs and shrimp and picked up a couple of small Seatrout, a couple of small Redfish, and then a big Bonnethead Shark. Moving further down I fished the back side of a submerged "bar" and caught one small Redfish after the other.  I'd had a fun day of fishing and had dinner for the evening (see next report) so as a I headed back to the ramp I counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.