I arrive at Presenell's looking for a "birddog", we meet and greet, load the boat up with my entourage of equipment and we head out.
We talked about what to do, where to fish, I say we did real well "close" by last year, so we motor on over to the not so distant location. Please take note that Chalk advised this location
.Topwater baits are launched, in a few casts I land a short trout, hmmm that's good. Another few cast's and I land a keeper trout, one in the box. Please take note that Chalk has a fish in the box
.Birddog is throwing a Topdog, all of a sudden something pounces on his Topdog like it wanted it bad. A short fight later and a 22" red is in the box.
The wind was out of the north, so we were drifting parallel with the bank. We had drifted into some sand and motored back into the spotty bottom.
Birddog is still throwing the Topdog and the world below his dog starts boiling and the topdog is praying for his life. The line is leaving Birddogs reel at a high rate of speed....And after a few minutes of tug-of-war a 24" red is in the box.
This was in the first hour of fishing, a keeper trout and two topwater reds. It looked as if the day was going to be a fish catching day. Well, we tried the same drift again and didn't catch anything.
We moved, talked and talked and moved and fished and talked some more. Birddog keep on throwing that Topdog and managed to land four more trout one to 19 inches. I managed to play guide, tell stories, net Birddog's fish and take pictures of Birddog's fish
...This is not because I didn't have opportunities, I had several blowup's on topwater, but couldn't make the connection, like Birddog was
.We did find the hole holding all the short trout, but we wanted bigger fish so we moved on.
We moved to the back of the bay, looking for some gator trout. We found some floating grass and a foam line. On the other side of the foam line there was no floating grass and a sand hole
...I had formulated a hypothesis by now why Birddog was catching fish, he was using chrome and I gold. So, I tied the trusty Slap Stik on and started flinging.Ahh the sand spot, I pitch to it, working the lure, talking, not paying attention and out the corner of my eye I see a red at my lure and snatch it away from him
...I keep working the area as we drift across the area....Then something nails the Slap Stik and whiz's by the boat, taking drag and running about 30 yards behind the boat. I say did you see it Birddog, was it a shark? I fight it for what seemed like an hour, more like 5 minutes, get it close to the boat. BIG RED, it see's the boat and say's BIG BOAT and heads on out to sea ....I get it back to the boat and tell birddog you have one chance ...He stick's the net in the water and the red more or less swim's in, birddog lifts and my line breaks 
....I'll take a whooping at trout any day, for one fight with a 29" red....Birddog finished the day with a "Poor Man's" tarpon and we called it a day...
Man, what a great day on the water, awesome first fishing trip with Birddog, nice mess of fish (Momma was proud
, fish tonight ), wonderful fellowship all day, saw many object of destruction floating in the bay (logs, stumps and limbs) and heard a rooster on Black Island Thanks for the invite Birddog, nice to meet you, hell of a nice guy....I gotta get me one of them Topdog's next time
Total:
3 red's to 29"
5 trout to 19"
10-15 short trout
10+ misses
10+ Object's of Destruction
1 Rooster
Open your eyes Birddog....
Topwater Red....
Another topwater red...
Birddog again....
My personal inshore best 29"+ red....
Released to fight again another day...
