A week or so later I received a call from a buddy of mine inviting me to get after some snook around Crystal River with him. Seeing as Iv never fished for them, I was pumped to give it a go. Snook had long been a species I had every intention of knocking of the list and now I would have my chance. We made the trip down from Tally on Friday morning and fished all day Friday and a few hours Saturday morning before the rain moved in. We bounced around to a bunch of areas throwing artificials all day. The little mirodines were on fire but topwaters took their fare share of fish as well. Friday was great as we landed 6 snook between the two of us to about 25". In addition, we added a nice upper slot red and some good trout. Sunday morning we gave it a go and Scott landed an upper slot red and decent snook before the looming clouds on the horizon turned into storms chasing us off the water. We both had a blast and cant wait to get after them again.
Upon returning to Tally, the following weekend inshore bite was wide open off of St Marks and Lanark. Nicole and I had a blast while fishing both days that second weekend of May whilst catching some really nice trout and reds. She caught a 24" trout and 25" red on back to back casts the same day as the RT shootout, guess we should entered lol. Most of us know how that goes though, you never seem to catch good quality fish like those when $ is on the line (no pun intended).
A few weeks later found us sneaking out for a quick trip in between storms with Nicole's 4 legged first mate. As luck would have it the bite was strong and our 4 legged companion was soon filled with excitement as slot reds and jumbo trout were entering the boat.
The following week I was able to sneak out for a 1/2 day trip off Lanark with the old man on his boat. We were after gags and ARS in state waters between 40-55 fow. The bite was tough in the morning but turned on in the afternoon as we caught a few decent gags and a few quality ARS while being broke off by a couple good fish.
A week later Nicole, dad, and I were chomping at the bit for some ARS and gags during the federal season. We launched early on that Saturday morning to light seas and calm wind and ran out to about 60 feet in federal waters. The bite we wide open as we had our 6 ARS in about 40 mins. We were able to box a nice gag as well. The flat line rod got smashed twice by presumably kings judging by the run, but were cut off shortly into the fight. What a great day out that was with Nicole and the old man.
The beginning of this month started off great as Nicole, Eric, and I made our way out Sunday morning back on brown clown patrol. We moved around a bunch while hitting inshore structures to no avail. That afternoon I went to a honey hole piece of structure I know of and it didn't disappoint. Half of a box of chum and a couple turkey sandwiches later, we had a monster 300+ lb tiger 10 feet below the transom with a trailing wolf pack of about a dozen cobia with him. We picked out what we though was the biggest (30lber) and we almost hand fed him lol. Come to find out he had a few more in the 40-50 lb range with him
. Nicole fought the fish for about 15 minutes before we were able to land him. He was the new boat record and we were pleased. The same day we hit the shorelines and Nicole got a nice overslot red and Eric landed a nice midslot red soon after.
The second week of June had me playing hooky to take a long time friend who was in town from Arkansas out for a day of redfishing. The bite was strong as we landed 8 mid to upper slot reds and a few good trout. Chris had forgotten how hard redfish pulled as he's been busy chasing freshwater trout in the Ozarks (not a bad place to be) while working on his PHD at UOA. We found our way to Coosh's while he was visiting for some Cajun cuisine. Boy do they make some awesome shrimp and grits in addition to their jambalaya.
Last weekend Nicole and I participated in the long anticipated couples tournament amongst friends to compete for the heaviest single trout and red combo. As luck would have it, we won by a couple of ounces weighing in 9.2lbs which slightly topped my long time best friend and his wife's weight of 9.00 lbs. Nicole also caught here first inshore slam, which we were stoked about. The tournament was a success as all teams caught quality fish with some nice bags being brought back to town.
This past spring and early summer have been nothing short of awesome. I hope the coming months continue to provide us, fellow forum members, and local fishing enthusiasts with memories that are swimming amongst our local waters!
