The forecast was for rain starting at noon. The temp was to fall throughout the day. Steve Baldwin and his son Will wanted to fish. This was a trip for Super Strike Charters. The wind was honking at 15-25 with higher gusts. Not a day to enjoy fishing.
We met at 6:45. The 22 mile ride down the 45 deg. river, at 40 mph, with 20 plus winds, and absolutely no sun was bone chilling cold. We did not know it but this was the warmest part of the day. Once there we were limited as to where we could fish due to rough and stirred up dirty waters. The water temp in the front part was also a lot colder than desired. I went to the back side and for the first hour we found nothing. Suddenly Steve says "There it is". I look up and he is fighting a big redfish.
This was over the 16-27 inch limit but here we are allowed one each over and they elected to keep it. Nice way to start but very slow tough day. About 3 casts later and will is fighting one.
This one was just under 27 inches. It would make a good tournament class fish. After that we had to move around some more. In this back dead end corner Steve picked up another about 22 inches. Real slow day and the temp was dropping. The winds were not letting up either but we had a little protection here.
Unfortunately we could not stay there and find any more fish so we got back into the open. As we moved in and out of the rozos we got an occasional fish. Will got the second fish over and we had to concentrate on the smaller ones now.
That was the toughest thing to do. Will hooked another monster and it threw the hook late into the fight. A few casts later and he hooks another big fish We get it near the boat and it makes another run. The line breaks! I was looking for the cork to pop up but it never did. A look at the Power pro line revealed it got nicked on something. This started a good bite and we had to look no more. We tossed a bunch back due to being too big including this double. The one on the right was 27 and 1/2 inches.
Once we had our 10 fish limit we were ready to head to the barn and try to warm up. The ride back was a lot colder. Our 10 fish limit weighed 66 pounds. A 6.6 average with only 2 over 27 isn't a bad day. A reporter on the radio at 3;30 said the temp has gotten up to 40 and may reach mid forties today.
With poor expectations the day turned out to be a banner day. I only wish it was not so rough on our bodies. I will wash the boat tomorrow if I warm up by then.
Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.
CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM