34" Trout caught in Steinhatchee

[jsuber]

I hear there is going to be a story about a 34" Trout that Capt Pat McGriff reported, and it will be in the Florida Fishing bi-Weekly. If I find a picture, I let you know.

Jerry wrote about it in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Captain Pat McGriff tells the tale of one absolute giant that is still out there. "Last Thursday, I took Joyce Clark of Perry out scalloping and after we got an easy limit and cleaned them up, we decided to go fishing for an hour or two," said McGriff.


"It was 4 p.m. with a high tide around 7:04 p.m. On the first drift Joyce caught an 18 inch trout on a live menhaden under a Cajun Thunder in 6 feet of water. After a few minutes and three baits later I decided to move on to another spot.

"The first bait she put on and cast, a huge trout missed the hook but got the menhaden and left her empty-handed. The next bait she put out was struck immediately, and after a few seconds she set the hook on a good fish.

"I netted it for her and then was taking her picture with her largest trout yet, a 5-pound trout which was just over 25 inches long. Then I heard a sound and looked up and while I was setting up to take another photo of her sow trout, my rod, which had been in the holder since she set the hook, was sounding off.

"I then unceremoniously reeled in a 25.5-inch trout which weighed 4.5 pounds; longer, yet skinnier. My fish took a live pinfish while hers ate a menhaden.

"The next bait Joyce put in the water brought a respectable 17-inch trout to the boat. However, when I got almost to the front of the boat she was yelling, 'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.' When I netted the trout for her I saw the HUGE 34-inch-plus trout (I would estimate somewhere around 8-9 pounds) swinging at the menhaden, which had slid up on the line in front of the 17-incher.

"We didn't get that one to hit again, but when the smoke had cleared we had seven trout, with five weighing a total of 16.5 pounds. We caught them all in 4-6 feet of water with live pinfish or menhaden under Cajun Thunders. We fished a grand total of an hour and 10 minutes."

[caseycook]

They didn't catch it, Sube. The baitfish slid up the line (after another trout was hooked) and had no hook in it. The big trout swiped at it a couple times... Another story of the "one" that got away...sounds like an impressive fish though.

[Reel Cowboy]

DAYUM

[BayGator]

Same thing happened to CC a couple of weeks ago, fish hit his zoom while it was slid up the line. It was a pig!

[jsuber]

What a gip, hell I gotta thousand stories of the one that got away. My bad ya'll.

[Tom Keels]

Yep. Had one hit close enough to sling water in the boat. The water weighed 6 pounds.

[Redbelly]

Are his bookings a little slow?

[MudDucker]

Hmmm, Pat, the sexual intellectual, fishes out of Keaton, not Steinhatchee.