I caught my biggest redfish yesterday - one inch and 2 lbs bigger than the one I caught at Walton wading a few months ago.
It was big-- so big its tail wouldn't quite fit in the picture :) Jim had a nice trout that was around 8 pounds- it wasn't long just stout:
Jim's chunk of a trout
So here's the report of our day yesterday and the big one that got away!!!
Fishing Report 7-20-16 around 7:00 am wind east 10-14mph. Jim's boat fishing Lagoon in Vero area, high tide going out water temp mid-80, air temp about 92 when we left. I fished Skitterwalk on top and various plastics on jig. Jim fished a jig and red mirro-lure on top plus a popper.
We got on the water fairly early a little before 7 am to beat the heat. I was fishing top water and Jim was using a jig. We went out to our best trout spot and there were some fish there. I got three hits on top - all misses before Jim caught a nice trout on a jig. He caught another trout before I finally got one on my Skitterwalk. I got a great strike and then wham- nice fish on! My drag whirred and when I got it the boat it was a 4 lb bluefish. Jim helped get it unhooked and I was back working the Skitterwalk on top.
I caught two more trout then switched to a jig and caught a nice 18" fish that flipped off at the boat. I switched back to topwater and threw my lure 50 yards away twitch, twitch and wham!! Huge explosion - I set the hook-- but the line broke. My 8lb test must have been frayed or something cut the line.
Jim had caught 10 trout to my 4 when we moved to another spot further North. We drifted through once and Jim caught a nice snapper, then on the second drift he caught a two pound black grouper- too small to keep tho. 20 minutes later we couldn't find any trout so we tried the middle section of the lagoon near near a sandbar. It was less than 3 feet deep an clear. I made long casts with the topwater and finally caught a nice jack. We drifted through another area fishing jigs but no trout.
Jim went to the East shore and we drifted out over a big shallow flat with jacks busting bait in the area. The grass which died off last year was starting to grow back. Jim threw a Mirro-lure twitching it on top and I used my Skitterwalk. Jim got three hits, one trout knocked his lure in the air. He got 10 strikes with no fish. Finally I caught a trout near the boat. Then he caught one and I landed two more on top. He switched to a jig and caught two more. We went back to drift through again but ended up further north. I caught one more trout on top and he got a nice trout on a jig.
"This is a big trout spot," Jim said. "I bet we get a big trout here and a redfish. We used to catch redfish here all the time but that was 6 years ago!"
"We haven't caught a redfish in a while," I said. "It's been two months since I've caught one, at Walton when I was wading."
We went back and drifted through again. Right by the boat-- with just 10 feet of line out-- a monster trout slammed Jim's jig. It pulled drag several times and Jim was right - there's our big trout (see pic at top) he predicted. She weighted almost 8 lbs but she wasn't very long, probably 26, maybe 27 max- still a beautiful fish. Jim also caught a 4 lber and I had a nice 20" 3 lber on topwater. The fishing wasn't fast but there were fish in the grass and bait swimming through.
We went back and drifted through near where we got all the trout strikes. They weren't hitting like before. Half-way through the drift it happened. by it- I mean a giant redfish, bigger than any I'd seen and bigger than any Jim had seen in Florida came up and swiped at Jim's jig not more than 12 feet from the boat. The water was crystal clear so the got a look at that monster. This redfish was way over 3 feet long and must of weighed over 25 lbs. After she swiped at Jim's jig, she swished her tail and was gone. We were both in shock.
I stopped fishing topwater and threw my jig. Two minutes later, I saw a huge swirl behind my jig. I lifted the jig near the top and shook it. Wham!! A big redfish grabbed it only 15 feet from the boat, and like the monster redfish we both saw this one too.
"Redfish!!!" I yelled as the fish pulled drag, "it must be over 5 pounds!"
"Take you time," Jim cautioned, "Don't reel in when he's pulling line!"
That's about all the redfish did was pull drag! I was reeling down but I couldn't get him in. 10 minutes later I'd bring him in 20 feet and he'd pull drag 20 feet. He just kept pulling drag. Jim pulled up the drift sock and told me to pull him around the boat. Several minutes later I finally pulled the tiring redfish to the boat.
"That's a big one," Jim said, "way more than 5 pounds." He lipped him with his scale and handed him to me. "Grab him under his gills and we'll take a picture." We took a couple pictures (see one above) and set it free.
It was hot and we headed back to out honey hole to catch a few more trout before we went in. Jim caught three more trout and I caught one on a jig. We got off the water after over 5 hot hours.
My totals: 1 big redfish, 1 jack, 12 trout, 1 bluefish
Jim's totals: 18 trout with one 8 lber, 1 snapper, 1 grouper
A great but hot day on the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment