Finally, back to fishing after a week off due to the hurricane and then the winds! But when I looked at the weather forecast last night it called for winds beginning at 10mph and rising to 15 before the trip would be over. When I talked to Garland Clark on the phone he sounded like he was ready to fish so I made a "plan" in my head as to where we could fish as the trip progressed. I met him and his two sons Chris and Scott down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp under grey skies and a brisk wind and we headed up the intercoastal, turned up the Nassau, and found a shell bank to fish on the first of an incoming tide. We worked a bank about 30 yards long and it was the "experienced guy" Garland, who knocked the skunk off with a hungry Seatrout catch.
Our next stop was up at some docks at Seymore's Pointe and here we got into some good fish, fishing jigs and live shrimp. Scott had had a few nibbles and on about the third one he set the hook quickly and when his rod bent we knew it was a nice fish. Scott played it perfectly and soon landed a keeper sized Sheepshead. Shortly after that Garland had a similar hookup and as he brought it to the boat we saw the stripes...but this one was a keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum. And Chris added a small Mangrove Snapper to the catch.
After fishing float rigs at the rocks at Nassauville with no bites at all, and just as we were about to leave, Chris's float slowly went under and, Fish On! Chris played it perfectly, had his drag rip a couple of times, then brought to the boat a Slot sized Redfish - we had a "slam" in the boat.
We ran down to Broward island where Scott and Chris added a few more Seatrout to the catch, then we moved down the island where Chris picked up another Redfish after a good toss to the bank. Moving back up to Pumpkin Hill we fished a stretch of flooded marsh grass, drifting floats long. Scott had vacated the run and Garland drifted his in next and BOOM! Fish On! We had a little bit of "diversity" during the battle but we overcame and Garland landed a "barely legal" Slot sized Redfish.
Our final stop was back at Nassauville, fishing between two docks and here the trio of anglers weeded thru some Mangrove Snappers to get a nice keeper and Chris wrapped it up with a feisty Redfish catch. And with that, we called it a day, another great one to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.
