We put in at Lanark around 6:30 am and headed out to the first hole. We each dropped an LY down and immediately the bite was on
!!! We boated 3 keepers right away and lost 5 or 6 more. Then, out of nowhere, they stopped biting. We picked up our lines and decided to troll to the next hole. We trolled for the next 2 hours and caught a few rock bass and a bunch of bonita. The wind was picking up, so we decided to head in and drift. We drifted around and caught a few rock bass here and there and a few short grouper. We were approximately 8 miles south of Dog Island where the waves dropped to about 2 ft. We were having a good time boating rock bass when all of a sudden the day got really interesting. All 3 of us were fishing off the same side of the boat when all of a sudden all 3 of our poles started to scream!!! Immediately the bro-in-law got broke off! Then, my buddy's line followed. I was left alone in the rear of the boat fighting the biggest fish I have ever hooked! I wasn't sure what it was, but my buddy started yelling," It's giant reds!" I had not yet even been able to reel at this point....I just held on for dear life! The fish nearly pulled me into the water when I was able to turn it. I looked down to see 6-8 HUGE redfish swarming beneath us in about 40 ft. of water. As I brought the fish closer to the boat, the others began to attack it! I have never seen anything like it. After 10 minutes or so, I was able to get the fish next to the boat. The entire time I was waiting for the 80 lb. test line to snap like the others.....but it never did. My buddy Bobby reached over the side and hauled the fish in the boat with both hands under the gills. He started yelling," Look at the size of this redfish....have you ever seen a red this big?" We put him on the scale which only went to 36"......it hung about 8-10" past it! We determined the fish was approximately 45" and weighed about 30 lbs. Then, I did one of the hardest things in my life...I released it
. It eventually swam off and we all sat down and relived the last 15 minutes while recooping from all the excitment. We continued to drift catching a few more rock bass and a 1 keeper red grouper. TOTAL FOR THE DAY: 4 GAGS, 1 RED, 25 ROCK BASS AND A FEW GOOD PICTURES OF THE RED OF A LIFETIME!
It was a beautiful day on the water and the only downside of the day was being checked by the "man" back at the ramp. He made us wait for 1 hour before letting us go with a fine for no whistle and a big long lecture about boating safety.
