Fishing Lure

 Where have the fishing reports been? It's kinda hard to write reports when the fish "catching" has been almost non-existent! I fished four trips Monday thru Wednesday - we caught a few - Jacks, and Catfish, and Ladyfish, and maybe a few small Trout and small Flounder. Yesterday morning we did get into some Redfish and caught about 8 of them, but the biggest one was about 14"!

But today was a highlight, hence the report! I had met brothers Bob Miller and Jim Bergert down at Sawpit Creek boat ramp early and we made a good run up the intracoastal to make our first stop at Poteat Point. The tide had been going out for about an hour so we had time to drift the floats and it paid off. After getting a couple of good bites, Bob had gone up against the grass with a good cast and as it drifted along with the current, BAM! That float was gone! Bob quickly tightened up the slack and let the circle hook set and the fight was on. The big fish went deep, then came to the surface and rolled and we knew it was a big Redfish. Bob kept the pressure on and when the fish headed for the grass - it got in in for a just a bit- Bob gently teased it out and fought it to the net and landed a thick 22.75" Slot Redfish- the Big Fish Skunk was off!

We worked up along the bank, tossing forward and with Jim on the bow, he had gone up to a point of grass and was letting his bait drift back (we were alternating between live shrimp and mud minnows) and he had his float disappear. Those earlier bites we'd had were good practice because Jim caught up to it quickly and it was his turn to have a big fish on! I almost thought it was a big Gar fish when I saw it flash in the water, long and fat, but as he worked it to the net I saw it was huge Seatrout. He successfully landed it and it measured right at 22.75", the biggest Trout of the year and it placed Jim squarely in first place in the Anglers Mark 2026 Bragging Rights Tournament-Seatrout category. (Scroll down the right side of this report for standings).

But Jim wasn't finished. Just minutes later he had another hookup - he played it perfectly and soon
brought to the net a 21.75" Seatrout, good enough for 2nd Place in the Bragging Rights Tournament. Boy those were some nice fish! We hit a number of other spots for the rest of the morning - caught some small Reds, small Trout, tangled with Ladyfish, and caught the first Mangrove Snapper of the year (it measured about 8") which was a highlight for me! Then we called it day and as we headed back to the dock, we counted it as another great day to be fishing here at Amelia Island, Florida. 

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