Something Learned

 I wrapped up my week yesterday fishing with Kenny King and his friends John Raker and John's mother Betty, meeting them again out at Goffinsville Park boat ramp. 

Note: You never know when you'll be surprised at the boat ramp - a guy had backed his truck (no trailer/boat) down the ramp, got out, and was fishing from the ramp. When I pulled up I thought he was launching so I sat and waited for a while. When he didn't pull out I got out and checked -  sure enough he was just blocking the ramp and fishing. Crazy. 

We had a tide that was coming in for a couple of more hours so we ran across the river and went with float rigs up to the grass on that flooding tide. I was hoping we'd get  some reds up in those pockets but I don't think we had even a bite until Betty, fishing off the stern, had her float drifting over some submerged oysters. When the float went under she at first thought she might be hung up but that hang up started pulling back!  Betty played the fish expertly and brought to the net a nice 19.5" Flounder, big enough to secure 2nd place in the Anglers Mark 2024 Bragging Rights Tournament-Flounder Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings).

After fishing a good stretch along there we made a run down the Nassau and pulled up at Twin Creeks and drifted the floats again. Crazy how we were getting no bites, not even a baitstealer until John had a good take, and Fish On!  He fought it patiently, let it run, worked it up and soon landed a Slot 21" Redfish. Later he battled a 4' Bonnethead to the boat and then commented, "we've had three bites and three fish caught!"

We went over to Seymore's and tinkered with some Small Mangroves, then around the corner to do the
same and here Kenny put a fat Mangrove in the boat. There was also a Jack or two caught sometime in there.  After running thru Horsehead we fished Pompano Point and here Betty got busy catching fish off the stern. She was drifting here float/shrimp past a grassy corner and then down alongside it and BAM! She'd have a hookup. She added to the catch total with two more feisty Redfish. 

Our final stop, after running back thru Horsehead, was over at Back River, working an outgoing tide. The trio of angles were drifting on the outside of some shell beds that you could barely make out in the water. We had an epiphany - try tossing the float over the submerged shell bed and hope it's deep enough for the float to drift along he backside - they did!  Kenny had a good drift going - it snagged, then came off, and BAM!   Fish On!  Kenny played it to the boat and landed a nice 17.5" Flounder.  John tried it and he too got a good drift and BAM! He had a hookup. When he got his to the boat we found it was a small Black Tip Shark. Summer is here!  It was getting hot. But as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida