Day one, we started off looking for reds and trout. I talked to a guy in Panacea last weekend that saw flounder all over the place in about 50 feet of water, so I'm pretty sure they've moved offshore, because we didn't see any. At first light I threw a Sebile plug and Millertime threw the new Captain Mike's spoon. Millertime got first blood with a mid slot red but lost him at the boat. I land a smaller red but it was too early to put him in the coffin. A few minutes later I hear Millertime yell "niiiiiiiice fish" from the back of the boat.
He ends up with 26.5 inches and 7+ pounds.
Also manage to get a shot of the photographer by accident in Millertime's Costa's.
So we have one red on ice and I get a blow up on topwater. Looked like a nice trout.
The trout didn't fight like I expected and I figured out why when it got to the boat.
We catch a few more of both species, but the heat runs us off the water so we head to the Blue Parrot for lunch and some Millerlite. The next morning we wanted a change of pace so we head to Dog Island. We see a lot of bait running around and before we knew it, we get into the biggest feeding frenzy of spanish I have ever seen. I get the first hook up on a spoon and the reel starts singing. After about 100 yards of the first run my flouro leader breaks, but Millertime gets hooked up with another one. He looses 150 yards on the first run and burns his thumb holding the baitcaster spool and then his leader breaks. I've heard of smoker kings, but we got into some serious fish quick. We hook up with a few more and land some spanish, but nothing as big as the first two.
The spanish were gone as soon as they arrived, so we started chunking live bait. Millertime gets the first keeper of the day. I had hoped these guys were still hanging around.
While he's landing the pompano, my reel starts going crazy. I had 250 yards of braid on with a 40lb leader but I break off trying to slow down the spool because I was running out of line in a hurry. I wouldn't expect cobia to get so close to shore, but that's the only thing I've ever had run like that inshore.
I wasn't real happy that I never got a chance to see the mystery fish, but we hook up with a few more tasty fish and we call it a day.
It was a great way to end the summer and I can't wait for fall fishing.
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10" later we land my partner's fish and it turns out to be a 15-20# Jack Cravelle.
. By far the best tug on my string I've had in shore fishing in a long time.
