A tale of triumph and loss...

Saltwater Inshore Reports
1

So I thought for my first post I would try and provide an entertaining fishing story…

A friend and I were fishing on Friday on the Wando and the day started off fantastic. Fishing live bait on bottom rigs we started off by boating a nice keeper black drum and a nice keeper red within the first 10 minutes of lines in the water. We started fishing right at low tide and the fish seemed to turn off with the water movement. We spent the next several hours trying some different spots, searching for a mid-tide spot on the Wando - I don’t have many holes on the Wando and never seem to find anything that will produce well in the middle of the tide cycles. Anyway approaching the 2 hours before High tide we decided to head back from exploring and go to another tried and true fishing hole… at this point we collected a whole buffet of live bait choices from occasionally throwing the cast net. We were also pitching some artificials hoping to entice a strike…

Even at a known spot and the right tide fishing was slow, but moving around a few times we persisted. leaving some bait in the water and having a sandwich 2 lines suddenly went off spooling line like crazy. My friend grabs 1 rod and I grab the other and be both begin our fight with the fish on. The fish were both reds and good sizes too, we could see them both jumping, mine about 20 yrds off, and his about 35… We could easily tell his fish was well over slot, both by how hard it was fighting and just seeing it jump - it was massive. Mine was smaller, probably a slot fish. Unfortunately we had to many lines in the water and in my rush to try and boat my fish so I could get the net and help him I tangled a line and the first one broke free… As soon as that happened I started grabbing the remaining rods and reeling them in while my friend continued his fight with his red.

The remaining monster managed to tangle the line around some marsh grass at a bad angle for us… After another minute or 2 of trying to finesse him out of the grass and he broke free

2

Good story!:smiley: Im always amazed at how the fish can tell when you are eating a sandwich, going to the bathroom, or just not paying attention. Never fails! Congrats! And welcome to the site!:sunglasses:

3

Sounds like a good day! Have you tried using braid? I use it religiously (20 or 30 lb), and have pulled fish out of some thick stuff with good results. Also, with braid, you can feel everything that you rig is doing. I swear sometimes I can feel the fish breath on my bait before they bite.

~You holdin’ your mouth right?~

GMC z71
Sea Hunt XP 19
Yamaha 115

4

Any day not working and spent on the water is a good day! I’m a huge fan of braid - 1/2 my rod’s are rigged braid the other 1/2 mono. While I love braid for myself, I have a 7 and 8 year old and Mono works much better with kids! But yes, good quality braid on a light high sensitive rod and you can feel anything.

5

those dang fish are smart for sure!! if theres a oyster rake, old piling or dock nearby you can bet the fish will usually come out ahead! i swear i think they take bets with each other on “outsmarting the humans in the boats” :slight_smile: great day of fishing and story. thanks so much for sharing!

miss’n fish’n

212 SEAHUNT CC
Sea Squirt 16

6

yea,those big reds always head for the closest structure. I had no idea they would jump though:wink:.

  • I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.

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