PDA

View Full Version : She is strong...like bull red!


teambigbobberz
01-16-2008, 12:53 PM
I had to put the boat in the water in St Augustine today, so I figured, since I was there anyway, :dunno: , might as well go fishing!!! :D Susan, had JUST IM'd me about fishing again soon...ahhhh, victim #1! Then I heard Greg's nephew, (John), was in from NY and he wanted to take him fishing. YESSSSSS, victim's # 2 & 3.

Perfect!!! Had crew and plan...all we needed now was a Captain who knew how to set her *@!?% cell phone alarm clock. :sad:

After finally getting in the boat, the plan was to head to SS. Well, believe it or not, NOAA was a WEEEEE bit off with the forecast. :eyepopping: It was pretty breezy and the waves were a VERY GENEROUS 2-3! Needless to say, we weren't running 25 miles. Sooooo, we had to find something closer.

Having never fished the bottom out of St. Augustine, I pulled out my trusty ol' JOSFC book, picked a couple of spots, put them in the GPS, and off we went. The first spot was natural bottom, and although we never saw anything to get excited about we tried a couple of QUICK drifts, tried the sabiki, but to no avail.

So we went to a tug that was on the chart and pretty close by. Again, nothing significant on the bottom, but something was holding a few fish there, the drift had slowed quite a bit, so we gave it a shot. I sent the sabiki down again. NOTHING, no cigar, no sardine, no baby got bass, not even a LIZARD fish!! :mad: I was being skunked on a sabiki!! :dunno:

Meanwhile, Snack had John all rigged up and sent down half a cigar to see what might be down there. He was hooked up pretty quickly, but lost it! He said a couple of choice words, but refrained from any serious profanity. After the second hook up coming unbuttoned...John's head started spinning, steam came out of every hole, and there was no more restraint! :mad: Then he got the hook planted solidly in the corner of this guys mouth...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/TeamBigBobberz/DSCF5090.jpg
After a quick photo session, we put him back in the water for the revival. And he layed there. :eek: As we coached John on how to revive him, the following conversation took place...

(John) "Why can't we keep him?????" :dunno:

(Snack) "He's not the right size John" :nono:

- fish still non responsive -

(John) "He's too small?!?!" :eek:

- still swishing fish -

(Snack) "No John, too big." :sad:

(John) " :crying: "

(Trina, secretly to self) "IF, for example, he doesn't swim away, can you REALLY let a perfectly good redfish just float away?" :dunno:

Finally, out of no where, the fish started moving, regained his strength for minute, and down he went. WHEW! I had never had one play dead on me like that!

We made the same drift a few more times, and were just about to move when John's line went off again!! This one was peeling drag and John was all smiles! Another beautiful bull red!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/TeamBigBobberz/DSCF5094.jpg

Look at the size of his mouth compared to Snack's hand!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/TeamBigBobberz/DSCF5095.jpg

What an awesome fish, even bigger then the first! My legs are close to 3 ft long and he was longer than that!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/TeamBigBobberz/DSCF5096.jpg

John was very pleased, and we were all happy he got to catch these brutes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/TeamBigBobberz/DSCF5097.jpg

Not wanting a repeat performance of the last revival, we got him back in the water VERY quickly! It only took him about 2 seconds to snatch his tail out of John's hand and down he went.

It was one of those days where there wasn't much action, but when there was action, it was amazing! It was cold, windy, we never found anyhting worthy of dropping the anchor, and it seemed like we kept running into little obstacles...but we had a BLAST!! I really enjoyed meeting and fishing with you Snack and John! Susan, at least it was on your rod? :wiggle: Good to see you!

Can't wait to do it again!!

Sinker
01-17-2008, 08:56 AM
NOAA got a report wrong :eek: Naw I don't believe it :rofl:

From the look of the water in those pics I guess things calmed down for you.

Nice Bull Reds for sure. John must have been stoked.

We had a guy out from Wyoming the other day. I took him out but unfortunately it ended up only being a boat ride :mad:. Bet he would have much preferred to have been on your boat :beerbang:.

Keep the reports and pics coming. Might have to get me a one of them JOSFC books. What is it and where do I get one?

Bait Catcher
01-17-2008, 09:04 AM
Sweet Pics !!!!

baitfish
01-22-2008, 03:51 PM
Nice Trina, way to make a tough day work! Those are some thick looking reds! Sometimes you never know until you drop a bait on their heads!

teambigbobberz
01-23-2008, 11:38 AM
Sinker, the pictures were deceiving. It did calm down A TINSY LITTLE BIT for about half an hour, but it was never "calm".

The JOSFC book is a compilation of numbers of artificial reefs, natural bottom, and wrecks in and around Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Fernandina put together by the members of the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club who are responsible for most of the artificial reef program in our area. Around here, most tackle shops carry them. There is a history of the reef program on our website, www.jaxfish.com, and the numbers MAY be on there as well.

I'm tied up in class until Thursday next week, but if you would like, I can see how much they are, and ship you one.

Thanks guys!

Sinker
01-23-2008, 07:07 PM
How about when I come up you just take me out fishing heheehe - I like that idea . . . .

Twister
01-23-2008, 10:53 PM
Sweet reds..