Two Asterisks and a Slot

 Finally, we had some good weather this morning -just a slight breeze, slightly overcast, and mild 
 temperatures greeted us when I met Lee Warren and David Vice out at Goffinsville Park. We made a short run back down the Nassau and pulled up to Twin Creeks to pitch jigs and mud minnows to the drainages. It paid off - we picked up a couple of feisty Redfish then David had a strong bite that ripped his drag and took him around the boat. I was managing the net and the Go Pro and trying to position myself when David yelled "big Sheepshead" and I was thinking, "naaaah, can't be a Sheepshead" and I even called out "Black Drum?" But then David expertly brought it up to the surface and we saw it was a massive Sheepshead, and when netted we saw it had been foul hooked*. and measured right at 20" - big enough to take first place in the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament-Sheepshead Category(scroll down the right side of this report for standings). Boy what a fish!

We fished that area then moved down to fish another drainage. Lee had hauled in a couple of oyster clumps and when he had a heavy rod on another cast he was thinking "shell" but then it began to tug deep and Fish On!  Lee worked it patiently to the boat and landed a big 17" Flounder*. We added one more keeper sized Flounder along that stretch. We fished some dock pilings on the first of the incoming tide and picked up a small Sea Bass and a small Mangrove Snapper, then we made a move.

After making our way down to Broward Island we fished the very last of the outgoing down there and it paid off. We had a good strong bite that was ripping drag - we saw a big Red roll, then it went deep, and....thru the hook! Ouch! But shortly afterwards, David had another good bite, played it perfecty, and brought to the net a nice 22" Slot Redfish. We had good weather all morning long, we had some fish in the box, and so as we headed back to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.