redfish and trout. Late start on the water at 10:30, hour past high tide.
Since there was plenty of water we headed up a creek for some redfish
caught a 16 inch rat red in the first 3 minutes, then the bite stopped.
Went out on the flats in 3 feet, clear water. A couple short trout. Heard reports of fish in deeper water went out to 8-9 feet.
Caught a couple pin fish, decided to float one out the back and slow jig on the bottom, couple trash fish, then......
It broke loose big time,
The Shimano baitrunner out the back starts screaming, we see the last part of a big splash and a black fin, this could be fun a large shark, 20 feet a way a 4-5 foot TARPON skies completely out of the water. He makes a couple more jumps before making tracks, lucky for us novices he heads from 50 yards behind the boat to the front which gives us time to clear lines, get my wife setup with the rod and crank the engine. I run 30lb braid with mono backing, we are seeing lots of red cajin line running now. Get the boat up on plane and get back some line, after about 20 minutes my wife can't take anymore, OK be creative. Deb has driven the boat about 5 minutes ever, but I know she can do it. We switch again, along with a few tips on following big fish.
The plan is to stay 30 to 40 yards behind and let the fish drag us.
we are pulled out past the bird rack and the seas are getting a little bit higher, Deb not too happy, but we are heading straight into the waves, not bad, 20 minutes later the fish turns, waves sideways, not good, but winds died down, thats good.
The poon takes us back to the sandbar, after 1 & 1/2 hours and being dragged nearly 3 miles (per GPS) we are within leader range and call it a catch, now what. I try for some pictures but the batteries are dead, too much to ask wife to take batteries out of GPS and put in camera,while keeping the tarpon in front of the boat. We decide to try and bring it along side of boat for a souvanier scale.
I'm using 30 lb braid, 40lb floro and wire length to the circle hook, can't believe this rig has take the abuse. Then the HOOK breaks and the magnificent fish slowly swims a way. WOW what a rush.
My wife and I hug and high five, then she starts turning white and her legs are shaking, I think the heats gotten to her, She deserves a cool ride back, she did an awesome job of Capt.
Total
1 red fish
2 short trout
1 80lb tarpoon
life time memories.
Holy crap...that would have been fun!
