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Did not drop the boat in the water till 12:30 due to family issues but accroding to the tidal charts, the fisin should be good later that afternoon! Talked to a few folks taking there boat out as we were putting in and NO-body had anything great to say!! Headed down to Turkey Point to try and locate some some trount and reds but the tide was still to low to make-em cooperate!! Got on the outside of Lanark Reef and found a few shorts but the dang Spanish Mac were so thick that it was tuff to target anything else! After loosing $20.00 in lures and a buch of jigs we headed out to Dog Island Reef and that's where the fun started! Working a sandy edge with a Catch 2000 a BIG Red showed some interest in my lure on 10lb mono! What was I thinkin!! Needless to say the fight lasted longer than expected as the drag on my ole Shimano baitcaster was jerkey (lack of use) and I had to back the drag durin the fight! After the CHAOS ended I landed that fat 24lb red for pictures and we revived her to fight another day!! We must have caught 20 plus trout for the day but ended up taking only 5 keeper home for dinner along with some nice Spanish Macs. If you want to take the kids fishing, the Spanish are thick just make sure you have a light steel leader!! Fun day on the water and memories made!! salute





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Sounds like a great day on the water! Congrats!

Good report bonecracker. Really nice red. Not to sound like a fish nazi, but hanging a big red by the lower jaw has been shown to increase post release mortality. Their internal organs aren't meant to hang that way out of water and can be damaged as a result. Notice florida sportsman magazine will not publish photos of sport fish hanging vertically anymore.I don't want to take anything away from a great day on the water, but try to take good care of the breeders if you can. Get em in, support the belly, take a pic and revive (don't weigh). Good luck.

Salty Gator wrote:Good report bonecracker. Really nice red. Not to sound like a fish nazi, but hanging a big red by the lower jaw has been shown to increase post release mortality. Their internal organs aren't meant to hang that way out of water and can be damaged as a result. Notice florida sportsman magazine will not publish photos of sport fish hanging vertically anymore.I don't want to take anything away from a great day on the water, but try to take good care of the breeders if you can. Get em in, support the belly, take a pic and revive (don't weigh). Good luck.

No problem Salty Gator, I totally agree with you! Got to admit that I was using my new BOGA GRIP for the first time and it really changes how you handle a big fish like that! Very awkward holding the BogaGrip and supporting a big slippery fish at the same time while taking pictures! She was not out of the water for long while photos were taken and we spent 2/3 minutes getting her back to full speed when she left the boat under full protest!