The Catfish weren't holding anything back. They were devouring everything we put down. Not what we were looking for, but I think these guys would have had a great time regardless of the species. We boated probably close to a dozen Catfish before moving on in search of redder pastures. Steve didn't know it yet but the sun was about to shine down on him.
David started us off with a nice, if little, Scamp. Then he followed it up with a 12" Gag Grouper...and the clouds parted from over Steve's head. He hooks up big, and catches his first Flounder of the day.
A few minutes later Steve connects with another, bigger Flounder. David answers with a small Red Grouper. That gives Dave the three most common Grouper species we catch; Scamp, Gag, and Red Grouper. Again, Steve finds an even bigger Flounder, his best of the trip.
A few Catfish come across our baits among the Flounders and Groupers, keeping everything lively. Somewhere in between all this, the beer cooler ran empty, and the bladders got topped off. The ladies gave me this kinda coy look and asked exactly how far away a "civilized" bathroom was. I reassured them it wasn't far and began heading that way. When everyone was finished using "real" potties, we ended the trip tossing jigs at a couple of docks. Then returned to the ramp, cleaned fish and said our good-byes.
Thanks again David, Stephanie, Steve, and Jan, I had a really good time.
I went home, tidied the boat and waited for Shawn to get home. She had a wedding to photograph this afternoon, and got home just after I finished. It was around 2100 when I arbitrarily mention that I ought to go flip some shrimp under the dock lights and catch some Speckled Trout.
She looks at me and says, "If you want to go right now, I'll go."
Now honestly, how many wives do you know that would say that? Man, my wife kicks ass! Of course, I totally agree, and reload all the stuff I'd just taken out of the boat. By 2200 we're nearing the ramp, ready to go.
We hit probably 6 docks before we found one with fish that wanted to cooperate. We saw fish at nearly every dock, but many of them had seen at least one other fisherman already tonight, if not more. We each caught a couple fish before the wind forced us to move on. A few more docks and we stumble upon an awesome Trout bite. We stayed right there for what turned out to be a LOT longer than it felt. I guess time really does fly when you're catching Trout.
All told, we boated close to 2 dozen Speckled Trout, all of them at least 18" and included 4 over 20", and 5-6 Ladyfish. We released everything we caught. When it dawned on me to look at the clock it was 0200. I was supposed to meet Capt. D.P. at 0530 at Navy Point to go throw top-waters for the early morning Trout bite. Looks like sleep isn't on tonight's menu!
After pulling the boat and getting back to the house I saw that the clock had crept to nearly 0245. Shawn went inside and crashed, worn out from following a bride around for 8 hours, then catching Trout 'til her arms were exhausted. In my nocturnal mind washing the boat was the obvious conclusion to going fishing, so I began at 0300.
I cannot believe, looking back, that I did this!
I finished up 30 min. or so later and, in the bright 0330 light of the street lamp, the boat shone beautifully... I'm not willing to admit what it looked like the next afternoon.
I spent the next little while rigging for the next mornings outing. Capt DP was having problems with his trolling motor, so I needed to pull mine off to take with us. I took a shower, changed my clothes, and hopped in the truck. Continuing my escapade, I rolled the boat to the pump and refueled. The traffic was amazingly light and the bill was not so amazingly heavy at $3.82/gal. As I was pulling away from the pump, the brightest light I've ever seen, blinded me for a few seconds.
When my vision returned I saw It was coming from the sign in front of the Waffle House! Shining like a beacon in the pre-dawn hours, it was so enticing that my willpower shut down, I gave into an All-Star Special. I must say... it was excellent! I stopped back by the house to drop off the boat and couldn't keep myself from calling DP, even though it was 0500. He didn't answer. Didn't answer when I called 2 min. later either.
0505 my phone rings, DP, he's on his way to the ramp. I told him I'd see him there, and he better hurry, the sun wasn't going to stop rising just for us! 0530 and I'm back underway, for the third time, 15.5 hours after it started.
My insomnia was rewarded on my very first cast. This nice Trout nailed my Rapala Skitterwalk (Baby Trout pattern).
Dusty commented that I just successfully did the first cast jinx, nice job. I laugh it off and continue casting, and casting, and casting. We moved twice, and got a few big blow ups, before I broke the streak with a smaller fish. We saw a few more nice fish moving across the flat, but couldn't get another one to commit to our baits. 1015 and it's a unanimous decision to head back to the dock.
Captain Dusty dropped me off at my truck. I was ready to get home, in bed anyway. Luckily, when I got there, Shawn was up and getting ready to take the kids shopping for a few hours. I told you she was awesome! I slept most of the afternoon away, but it was worth it!
18 or so hours of fishing/cleaning/fishing/cleaning/fueling/eating/fishing:
-Caught well over 20 nice Trout, a couple nice Flounder, some Ladyfish, Groupers, and a few Pinfish.
-I got to meet 4 great people, ones I'm really looking forward to fishing with again.
-I spent some great quality time with my wife, something we don't get as much time to do anymore. Teaching her a new technique, and watching her be successful. I'm one of a fortunate few to have a wife that enjoys fishing with me.
-And I got to fish with one of my favorite partners on a gorgeous May morning.
What a horrible life I lead.
Thanks to everyone for participating in my little marathon, it's not something I'll soon forget...or probably repeat.
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