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'Poon time at St. Marks

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 10:20 am
by rx fisher
Since the 4th crowd had dispersed, I thought I'd take my wife out for some
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.

Image

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. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Total
1 red fish
2 short trout
1 80lb tarpoon
life time memories.

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 10:29 am
by fish on!!
Great story. :thumbup: :thumbup: The batteries always pick the worst time to crap out.

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 11:08 am
by Sir reel
ATA GIRL!! :thumbup: :D

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 11:24 am
by Atticus
NICE!!!!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 11:45 am
by Will_Fish_4_Food
Enjoyed the post :thumbup:

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 12:41 pm
by tin can
That's a heck of a rush. Good job, RX & Deb.

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 12:58 pm
by mjsigns
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...
:smt005 :smt005 :smt005

She did an outstanding job. It takes team-work to chase a big fish. Great story RX :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 8:59 pm
by Eerman
That's awesome. I'm going to have Deb give the wife some driving lessons. :wink:

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 9:58 pm
by rocket
:o Holy crap...that would have been fun!

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 10:17 pm
by captainspride
WTG :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Posted: July 6th, 2006, 11:03 pm
by Welby
Thanks for the thrill !!!!!!! :-D :-D :-D