Good Fishing Day

 I picked up the Stettner crew this morning over at Oyster Bay -Robert and his friends Mark and Kirk. We then made the run over to Tyger Island and set up to fish jigs and live shrimp as the tide started back in. It wasn't long before this trio of anglers were catching fish. They put a couple of keeper sized Black "puppy" Drum in the boat, a couple of small but feisty Redfish, a handful of hungry Seatrout, one of which was of keeper size, then Mark battled to the boat a nice 24.5" Slot sized Redfish. 

After fishing up and down the island for a good while, we made the run around to the Jolley River and fished a stretch of still exposed shell with float rigs and shrimp and then jigs and shrimp, but to no avail. The wind had picked up and our drifts just weren't....drifting! 

A final run around to Bell River did the trick. I was expecting to get Seatrout on the back side of some dock pilings but it was on the front side where Robert found a "honey hole" he had a strong hookup, one that ripped some drag and we knew that if it was a Trout it was a big one, and sure enough, that's what it was, a nice 19" Trout. Robert pulled two three more big Trout out of that same spot before it fell off. After fishing another couple of docks we headed back and counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

We Got Soaked, and Caught Fish!

 

I was remiss in looking at the weather forecast - I noted that the wind was going to be a manageable 11mph but I didn't look at the rain forecast - and we paid for it! I had met William and Dara Blalock out at Goffinsivlle Park boat ramp right at a high tide and we made our way over and thru Horsehead to make our  first stop at Poteat Pointe with plans to drift float rigs and live shrimp. We had overcast skies and on occasion, just a slight mist, but the floats paid off when the duo began to pick up Seatrout. Most were just undersized but they did put one over 15" in the boat.

We then ran back thru Horsehead and over to a large drainage at Seymore's Pointe and again drifted the floats. Again, they caught Seatrout, most biting just as they passed over a submerged oyster bed. The sun came out and the temperature warmed and we were thinking "Rain"? Hah! After moving around the corner and down to Nassauville we switched to jigs and live shrimp and caught Seatrout deep in 20" of water. After getting another "just over 15" we were about to leave when William had a good strong thump and Fish On!  He played it patiently and soon landed the biggest Trout of the day, one that measured right at 18".

After a run down to Broward Island we fished a couple of spots deep with the jigs, caught a few more Trout, then Dara put a feisty Redfish in the boat and a wayward Flounder (the first on my boat in about a month) - she had an Amelia Island Back Country Slam.  There were some clouds building but we then made a long run further up the Nassau River and dipped into a creek and worked the bank thoroughly. This paid off when the duo began to hookup with Redfish. Most were in the17" range but we counted 5 Spot Reds caught (all Reds caught today were released)(I took the Trout home, thanks!). As we were fishing we could hear the wind beginning to roar, the temperature drop and then the rain came, and boy was it coming down! We all had rain coats on but our pants were soaked and water made it's way down into our boots. On the way back to the ramp it was blowing rain and it somehow made it down under my raincoat. I don't know about William and Dara but I was soaked! But we had stayed busy catching fish, down to the last shrimp, so as we eased up to the ramp we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida.