Venice slobs and some meat

[capt hoop]

Todays trip was for Super Strike Charters

We only had a short window with a front due here around noon. After the day before I had only one place in mind. Where I left them biting. It was not long before we were on. This first one starts running out and manages to wrap a piling. I had to pick up the power pole and use the big motor to get around the piling. By the time I did this the braid line had cut a groove in the wood and I had a bit of a challenge getting the line off the piling. Once free I maneuvered the boat so that the bull could not get back into that area. This customer had only caught land locked stripers and was not expecting what was being handed to him by the stud on the end of the line. What a way to break his cherry.



We found a few more and then we had what seemed like a little one come right to the boat.



Just out of net range it decides to play with us. A few minutes later I am looking at this.



The fish went from right next to the boat to half a spool of braid out in front of us. Turned out the fish was not as small as first thought.



We were taking over where I had left off yesterday. Life is Good! Some of the fish had such big shoulders you could almost jump in and ride them around the gulf. Our biggest one of the day went 42 pounds.



Here is one in front of my 94 qt. cooler just for a size comparison.



From there we moved in looking for something for the table. The rat reds and catfish were giving us some action and suddenly the water starts boiling and a rod bends as the line slices through the shallow water along the shoreline. My first thought was a bull had followed the boat here because this is not a place that you would see a bull redfish. It turned out to be just a very good redfish with an attitude. This fish would be a very good one for a tournament. After thought; I should have gotten a weight on it. It had some good shoulders and a nice gut.



The search for the slots was slow today but we were picking away at them. To add to the box we found a few black drum also. We ended with 4 of them being keepers.



As scheduled at noon the sky opened up. We all had rain gear and used it when I noticed the rigs and land mass disappear in the rain as it headed towards us. We stayed out as long as I could before heading in. We were the last boat to head in. There was no lightning around and we were not very far from the marina by this time anyway.



With a few in the box I was doing better than I had been doing the last few weeks. The day turned out to be a respectable day after all even though the weather drove us in early.



Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM