# Epic coastal fishing trip!



## FishingAddict (Sep 17, 2008)

Well, I fooled ya’ll...I did go on my trip on Monday and Tuesday.  I just realized that OlCaptain had recently posted my full name on one of his posts, and I did not want to advertise to lurkers that I was leaving my wife with only a 90# dog and a 12 gauge. :lol: 

Anyhow, I left for Amelia on Sunday afternoon and got there right before dark.  Accommodations provided by my good friend Trent Maddox, who owns a rental management/real estate company.  My family has been going down to Amelia for 28 years now, and the last dozen or so years we have been using Trent's company because he does such a great job and has better rates than any other quality company on the island.

Trent and I talked about me coming down some time in August for some tarpon fishing by myself.  The August date got pushed off, but we were able to do it before it got too late in the season.

Unfortunately, the storms that they recently had slowed the bite and pushed the tarpon "candy" bait off shore...but the tarpon were still there and our guide, Danny Flynn was still able to put us on some!

We went out at 6:30 am the first day.  With in minutes, Danny put us on some fish!  Here is the first fish that was note worthy....notice the full moon had not even sank yet...







Being out on the water this early is one of the top ten experiences in life....no one around, the balmy breeze, watching the bait getting chased around, the smell of the salt, the sound of the water lapping the boat....PARIDISE!!






I lost count how many fish we hooked up to in the first hour.  Sometimes when you are fishing with friend waiting for the bite, you kind of have a sense of remorse that your turn is done, because it means you may have to wait a while until you get to fight another one.  But not in this case with Danny at the helm!  I don't think 2 minutes went by when another rod would start to bounce.

After wearing out two areas, Danny told us that we were going to a spot that had some mongo redfish.  Up until this point, the biggest redfish we had caught was probably 32 inches, which, by the way, beats the biggest one I have ever caught before then.  I had seen pictures of redzillas before, and I was stoked that we were going to try to catch one of them.

Not 10 minutes after we arrived to the last spot of the day, my rod doubled over in the rocket launcher.  I picked up the rod, and experienced first hand why they call the big ones "BULL" reds...this thing was fired up and having his way with me on 50# test.

I pulled and pulled on this monster while sweat poured out of me. When he finally surfaced, I almost fell over from the shock of how big it was.  I just could not believe the size of the thing. (This trip, by the way, has ruined me because some of the reds that were 30 inches started to look about 19 to me).

(Pictures of these beasts just don't do them justice):





Now this fish was big, but it had a tell tale reminder almost EVERYTHING in the ocean has a predator to worry about.  Look at the fish's back dorsal fins....

And the other side of the fish had some bite marks:






A couple of minutes later Trent was on his own monster redzilla.  He and Danny got in this picture as the red has a very pretty pattern on it's tail, and this picture may end up on his web site:






Measuring the fish (43 inches):






We caught a variety of other fish, including one that is rare for the area...a true hammerhead (and by far the smallest fish of the day).





As you can tell, it was a tad angry and looking for someone to chew on.

Danny had some business to take care of and we had to call it a day by 11 AM.  However, I Danny put me on what may have been a WORLD RECORD bonnet head shark...the world record currently stands at 23.8#s, and this one may have been more:







But we did not want to kill the fish, and did not have a scale  to see if it was even close.  And who could take the world record from this cute little girl?

Current world record bonnethead:




(pic from fishcall.com)

That afternoon, I got my kayak out and fished the marsh and some local ponds.  Nothing all that noteworthy, except for these rosette spoonbills!






Sorry, my underwater camera does not have a very good zoom...

_______________________________________

Day 2.  I thought the prior day was as good of fishing as I would see for the week, but I was wrong.

Unfortunately, Trent could not make it out in the morning because of something that he had to take care of work wise.  I was wishing about a hour in our trip that he could be there, because my biceps and forearm were burning!

The first stop we made, actually, was a bit slow.  The first thing we caught was a catfish, and Danny was not pleased with that because it's a bad sign.  The next thing I caught was a toadfish, another rare and bad sign.

The dummy award for the day goes to me.  While I was taking the hook out of the fish's mouth, I was watching the tips of the rods for another bite. Well, since I was not watching what I was doing I put the tip of my finger in the fish's mouth and it let me know it by biting down.

For those who don't know, toad fish have a strong set of choppers designed to chew through oyster shells...and human fingers.  Well, this one just made me bleed a little, and it will be a while til I make that mistake again!

Here is a picture of toad fish teeth.  While the toadfish I caught was slightly different (the teeth of the one I caught were not as sharp), you get the idea:






Danny then showed me a way to get toad fish off with out even touching them.  I'll remember that for as long as I fish!

We immediately moved, and Danny found a spot that the fish were CHEWING!

The baits would be in the water for less than 20 seconds with a bite.  We could hardly get 2 rods in the water, and at one time had three fish on at once.  We caught a bunch of reds, with a grab bag of other things like sharks and jacks.

Two of the reds were BEASTS:











Danny putting a hurting on my rod:






We saw some tarpon around, and were hoping one would eat even though we did not have "tarpon candy".

Now, even when the big reds bite, the rods will shudder and the reels may groan a bit...

I was baiting up one rod when all of the sudden of rods started to scream bloody murder. Line starts ripping out faster than a bullet train.  A  6 foot, 140# tarpon basically tail walks 40 yards and pops the hook.  Talk about adrenaline!

We caught an uncountable amount of fish over then next couple hours, and I was getting slap out tired.

We went in about 11, and went back out around 12:45 with Trent.  We were considering going to a spot that Danny knew we would tangle with a 300# shark, but....

We saw a bunch of tarpon rolling in one spot, and decided to target them.  We had 3 eat, along with a very nice redfish, but could not connect with one....until....

Trent hung one.  It leaped 6 feet out of the water twice immediately, then went deep.  The battle was on!

About 45 minutes to an hour and several jumps later (I got one on video camera, I will post once I figure out how to) Trent brought the beast boat side.  We all had a round of high fives.  We were almost a mile from where we hooked up to him.

It was time to call it a day, and what a day it had been!

I went to my condo, grabbed a beer and headed over to where I knew some baby tarpon hung out in a off shoot of the marsh.,,,

And I caught my tarpon I was looking for!  Given, it was at  "tad" smaller than Trent's, I still had a blast as this acrobat gave my bass rod a run for it's money.






I caught two more, but my camera ran out of batteries!

If you ever are looking for an awesome guide, look up Danny Flynn of In like Flynn charters.  Not only can the man catch some fish, but he has the best personality of any guide I have fished with...and he has a great sense of humor.  And he did not even throw me off his boat when I took my muddy sandals and put a fresh coat of mud and micro shells all over his boat!  I hear he is great with kids as well. His # is 904-583-3131

Oh, and if ever need a really nice place to stay on the island, call Trent's business, he will treat you right and is typically less expensive than other routes! Trent is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. Amelia Rental & Management Service:904-261-9129


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## Marks500 (Sep 17, 2008)

Those are Some Really nice fish. Very Nice Huge Reds... Those are some good fights. Shouldn't this Post go in the saltwater section???


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## brett30030 (Sep 17, 2008)

I'm glad your boat didn't hit any of those icebergs in the pictures.


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## FishingAddict (Sep 17, 2008)

Marks500 said:


> Those are Some Really nice fish. Very Nice Huge Reds... Those are some good fights. Shouldn't this Post go in the saltwater section???




Yep, my bad...too much sun!


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## Marks500 (Sep 17, 2008)

lol... I am not complaining... Looks Like you all had a blast.


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## FishingAddict (Sep 18, 2008)

brett30030 said:


> I'm glad your boat didn't hit any of those icebergs in the pictures.



I erased the horizion so I did not give away any secret fishing holes....


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## fredw (Sep 18, 2008)

Great trip....and pics.  Thanks for sharing.


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## BOSSOFTHEWOODS (Sep 18, 2008)

Awsome!!!


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## jonkayak (Sep 18, 2008)

Good job.


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## StriperAddict (Sep 19, 2008)

Wow 

That's some good catching


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## Southernhoundhunter (Sep 20, 2008)

FishingAddict said:


> I erased the horizion so I did not give away any secret fishing holes....



You should've erased the pic of that buoy in the background cuz now i know exactly where ya'll were. I'm gonna have to try that spot.


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