23 June 2007

The alarm clock sounded at an EARLY 0400. The race to get ahead of the tournament boats vying for parking at Shoreline Park was afoot! I left the house around 0430, scheduled to meet Jeff, T.R., and Christine at 0515. I got a good jump on almost everybody and found the perfect parking spot! Loaded everyone on board and was away from the pier just before 0530, en route to Big Lagoon.

We had an hour or so of tournament free flat to ourselves and utilized the time as best we could. Jeff landed this 3lb fish and soon after T. R. pulled the hook on another fish that size at the boat. They weren't able to take any fish home so all T.R. missed out on was a picture.


























I noticed that Christine was at the height of fishing fashion with her Tommy Hilfiger shoes and I just had to snap a picture and have a laugh.

Seriously ladies, these kinds of footwear pose a BIG hazard aboard the boat. These shoes roll-over easily on a rocking boat and can potentially injure an ankle or a behind, and most definitely your pride. Your guide always appreciates the proper shoes on board. Sandals are fine but thinner soles than these are necessary; closed toe shoes are ALWAYS best. I understand the emotional burden of fishing in ugly shoes, but your experience will be better if you are properly equipped, head to toes.

ONTO THE FISHING...

After catching our trout we proceeded to the Pass in search of Redfish. We were in the middle of our first drift when Capt. Matt and Capt. Chris whistled at us, pointing towards the center of the pass.We sped over, hooks baited, the lines were loosed, and Jeff immediately gets a BIG bite on a live crab and is just as immediately cut off. Just then Matt yells "TARPON, TARPON!!" I looked over towards the beach in time to see a school of 100+ Tarpon rolling just yards from shore! We chased those fish for over two miles, westerly, down the beach throwing EVERYTHING we had at them to no avail. Pinfish, Crabs, Threadfin Herring, Jigs, Spoons, Plugs, Shrimp, nothing even got their attention. After about 200 casts we turned around, happy to have gotten the chance to see such large (lady)fish schooling down the beach.

We made a short run offshore on the slick surface of the Gulf of Mexico in search of a couple snappers. We found a few at our very first stop, including a Lane Snapper that was almost 5lbs. Jeff managed to shorten a rod on a mystery fish and we all missed a few really good bites. The ride back to the ramp was as nice as anyone could have asked for.

Thank you Jeff, T.R., and Christine for a great morning