St Marks NWR - 3 Apr 2015

[Terrier]

Fishing St Marks yesterday from 7:30AM - 3:00PM. I thought it would be a great day but could never find the fish. Ended up with a puppy drum and a ladyfish. Did have one bit of excitement - I was fishing the end of the wash bar in my kayak with a purple/yellow cowen's coyote on an intermediate line - got a huge hit and then a burning run. One second into the run, the spool flies off and parts go flying. The fish is still on but now I've got no reel - the spool is somewhere in the deep, unraveling 150 yards of backing. I let the fish go, while trying to maintain some tension - got a groove sawed into my finger on one run. Whatever it was tows me past the boat ramp canal down to the point and then back again. I slip it enough line to tire it but can't put any heat on it since I only had 12lb test at the end of my leader. I started to gain line and had handstripped in about half the fly line, so I only had about 20 yards still out. I thought I could get it in at this point when the spool trailing behind must have finally reached the end because the tension increased and pulled all the line in kayak out behind so that I had the fish pulling one way and the spool dragging line the other way. The tension got to be too much and the fish popped the leader. I never saw it. At the time I thought maybe a cobia or big jack but hearing about the oversize spanish in the area, it may have been one of those. The reel was a Lamson Guru 3 and the spool is held on by a tension from an "O" ring, but the run of the fish must have flexed the reel housing (I don't really blame the reel - it's my light 7wt set-up for trout and redfish). I have a vague recollection of one part (the clutch I believe) flying off to the left while the spool went over the right side.

Foggy start at the lighthouse:



Mess of backing and fly line left by the exploding reel:

[tallykenj]

Crazy but a good memory. You'll get'em next time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

[Jhults11]

My guess would be a Cobia or Bull Red....Iv caught a legal cobia while wading on that bar in April back in the day before I got a boat.

[Terrier]

went back to the wash bar last night and fished the outgoing until sunset - got two trout on cowen's coyotes, had a follow and strike on a topwater and a short strike from what may have been a spanish. Once the tide slacked all activity died. Saw a trout and flounder being caught as well.