Bragging Rights Busted

 After debating whether to even fish today, and meeting under some dreary skies up at Old Town Bait and Tackle this morning, and easing down Eagans Creek with a fine mist on our faces, David and Michele Dannenfelser proceeded to have a pretty good day of fishing! We made our way over to the back side of Tyger and fished the logs - the first area produced only a nibble or two - but as we moved down the island and set up around a group of logs the bite got to hopp'n. David had made good cast over to the bank and within seconds, BAM!  He had a strong hookup. He battled it to the boat and landed a nice 21" Slot Redfish that had a Georgia DNR tag on it. Michele got in on the action after she got the hang of fishing a jig and shrimp on the bottom and picked up a keeper sized Seatrout.  She then put their secoind (and limit) Slot Red in the boat.  We found out we could fish those jigs out deeper and get Seatrout and after getting a handful, we moved on. 

We made our way up and around to the Jolley River and turned into the "bank" and switched to float rigs and the live shrimp on that lower incoming tide. This was just the ticket. Getting our cast up near the bank was rewarded with Redfish bites. Most were smaller (but feisty) but  one was in the Slot which was released to swim off. Again, another handful of Trout were caught, a couple of keeper size. They kept a couple of Trout but began to release the rest. Further up the river at "Snook Creek" we stayed with the floats and again we were busy catching fish. The current was faster here and the Trout were biting, and there were  few Reds caught, too. 

Back down the river we made a stop at Tyger Cut and here David found he could drift back into a "ripple" and get Seatrout. After making a short stop further down the river and fishing some "fishy looking spots", to no avail, we moved on. 

Our final stop, after running thru Tyger and around to the Bell, and over to a point of grass, we eased up to it and began to toss the floats. When David's float disappeared and his line began to run and his drag began to rip I was thinking, "oh boy, this is big"!  It was ripping towards what I knew was shallow water and big humps of oysters so we crossed our fingers and hoped!  David was up to the challenge and was very patient, and he needed to be because this was going to be a long battle. He worked the fish in, let it run, worked it in, let it run, pulled it out from under the boat, let it run. Every time we thought it was going to come in it would see the boat and take off again, ripping drag. But David kept that pressure on, stayed patient, and eventually landed on Oversized 35.25" bull of a Redfish - just barely bigger than the biggest of the year, but big enough to take over first place in the 2024 Anglers Mark Bragging Rights Tournament (scroll down the right side of this report for standings). Now that's the way to wrap up a great day of fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.