I'm sitting here at my puter trying to write to Y'all but it ain't easy! I realy put a hurtin on myself today like never before! I woke up early, around 4ish and couldn't get back to sleep, you know those pains that keep you from getting comfy so I got up and made a pot of Joe> extra strong brew w/ espresso mixed in. Then I looked at the puter after feeding Hanna and taking Rose out for her morning poop. Hmmm> 10% chance of rain and a strong outgoing tide all morning??? So I made some samiches and packed up all my esenchals woke Lisa and said, I'm goin fishin! I mowed the whole compound yesterday, took me about
5 hrs off and p/u all the horse poop in the lower 40 so I owe it to myself!.
What I didn't see was wind out of the N.E. to 25mph!!! That made for a very bumpy ride in my flat bottom boat! I was already hurting from bumping around all day yesterday on my John Deere! After I was out on the water it dawned on me>>> I forgot to take my meds!!!>>> Oh Sh**!!! This is gonna hurt! But other than the wind, it was a beutimus day and there was no turnin back now! I did find some old tylonol in my tackle box and gobbled down two extra strength caps.
Now for the fish story! You know that all fishermen are liers right? Well I hit a couple great spots w/ no luck, not evan a bite! Where are all those redfish the guys on my fishing forum keep writing about??? At last I see some fish blasting bait along a long mangrove island and I throw my brand new $7.49 Rapala Skitterwalk surface lure twards them. I lost my only skitterwalk to a big snook the last time I went fishing so I sneaked a new one in at Wallyworld w/ the groceries last week! I hate loosing those expencive lures but this one is special> it works great!! I'm twitching it along the surface and BAM, it sounded like a giant toilet flushing when the fish hit it! My drag was screaming and rod was bent over double! Now I have to make my way to the front of the boat and make sure my net isn't tangled up in something then drop the anchor as I don't want to drift too far away from the school in this wind! This fish is fifghting like gangbusters on my 10lb test line! Then I se it> DAM!!! It's a jack creval! Hardest fighting fish in the gulf except for a snook but no good to eat and I thought for sure it was a red! Jeeze fighting this fish really hurt but fun as hell!
The morning turned to afternoon and nothing is biting! I evan kept the big jack> around 10lbs for bait> Sorry Jack! I'm not really a bait fisher but things were bad and nothing was biting my lures.
Now its low rtide and I need to get away from the mangrove islands before theres no water at all so I make a bead for the spoil islands out of Crystal River across open water to the N. W. of me. The wind is coming out of the N.E. so I'm quartering the 2~3' waves but am stuill getting hit in the face by spray, no more than spray, like a bucket of water hitting me in the face over every wave but I'm a H.W.C.P'er and I'm tough as naild so I venture on> at least it's cooling me off since it's 95 degrees and climbing!!!
Finally I get to the furthest out of the spoild islands and it's wavy out there!
Now I'm thinkin, if there are big schools of redfish moving around out here someplace, they have to go around this spit of land that pokes out into the gulf they call "the spoild islands" to get north or south so I anchor out by the end where it's really rockin! The waves are close to coming over the bow but I'm holding fast and cast out a big chunk of jack (very red bloody meat) Around 10 minutes later a bite. It's a gag grouper, very good eating but only 20" long> keeper size is 22" so back in the water he goes! I' such a tough guy evan w/ zingers and stabers in my neck w/ evey rock of the boat and my back just on fire no mater which way I stand or sit> Stupid guy forgets his meds! Then I'm thinkin this is crazy, I'm in agony and one of my lines takes off! I'm fast into a fish> a BIG FISH!!! 15 minutes later I se a huge redfish bouiling behind the boat!!!! Florida has a slot limit> Redfish under 18" or over 27" have to be let go. I net this bad boy and it's over 35", my biggest this year! Back inthe water w/o evan taking a picture becaus there may be a school of them out there! Yep, the bait no sooner hits the water and I'm on another!!! Evan bigger than the first> 38" close to 20lbs!!! Then my next cast the same thing! My hands are numb but I don't feel any pain in my backl or neck, this is insane! I've heard about schools of reds like this but never found them before! Ththe next red nears the boat it's smaller than the two previous fish! 27" on the nose!!!! Yea buddy into the cooler you go!!! I'm done! I can hardly cast my line, hell I can't hold the rod! What do I do??? I cast out again of course! Bada Bing!! Another and it feels like the biggest one yet! I slowly reel in putting one hand into the cooler of ice water at a time hoping it will help the pain in my carpol stinking tunnel hands and wrists!! I'm holding on for dear life!! It's him or me but I'm really taking my time on this bruzer. Finally she comes to the net and I have to leave her there for a while in the water cause I can't lift her into the boat! I rest for a while looking at the biggest redfish I ever caught and she looks as tired as I do! She swallowed the hook and the best rthing to do is cut the line. She will be fine, the hook wuill rust out in less than a week in tha caustic salt water! I don't evan bring her aboard, simply cut the line as close to her mouth as poss and let her swimm away w/o evan messuring her!! Over 40" easy!!! Thats it, I'm done! Now the wind is coming out of the east and it's gonna be a long ride in!!! It's only 2:30 but I couldn't reel in another fish evan if it only weighed a pound! I leave rthe fish biting, who would have thunk such a thing?
I'm home now and in agony but it was worth it! Sleep will come easy tonight and w/ it relief from this pain! Maybe I'll dream about redfish tonight or maybe the redfish dinner we're gonna have tomorrow night????>>> Way too tired and sore to cook tonight! Hell too tired to eat!
So Fams, I'm sorry to take up your time w/ this fisherman's story! You are the first I told! I haven't evan taken a shower yet but thats where I'm headed now!! Man do I stink!!!
Good night all! My fingers are done, hell I'm done!!
Love Y'all!
Peter the Fisherman!