# Sunday 11/14 Report



## Fog Ducker (Dec 24, 2009)

I met up with some new friends Sunday morning and headed out to enjoy another great day on the ocean. It was Jason's birthday (almost), so he brought his wife Liz along for her first offshore adventure. Brett's wife is expecting baby #2 in early December, so she couldn't make it, and this may be his last trip for a while.

After a brief stop at Bob Sikes to catch some bait, we headed southwest out of Pensacola. About half-way to our spot, baitfish were everwhere, so we made an unscheduled stop for about 10 minutes to load up on some more bait. Jason and Brett were throwing sabiki rigs out and hauling in 3-4 each with every cast, so Liz and I were running fresh live bait from the front of the boat to the livewell. Now fully-stocked, it was time to find some snapper.

We got our lines in the water around 11:30, and the Raymarine was marking lots of fish. After about 45 minutes, though, it became evident that we weren't going to get much there other than some sea bass and ruby reds, so we decided to move on to bigger (much) and better things.

Seas were pretty smooth and there was a slight wind, so we decided to drift and see what we could come up with. Shortly after we got started, I managed to tie into a 10-poundish red snapper. Never missing an opportunity to show off, I demonstrated my world-famous catch-and-release-as-you-lift-him-over-the-side move, and the snapper did a half gainer back into the ocean. :no:

Brett managed to get one in the boat, but he came up just short of keeper status. Shortly after that, it was Liz's turn to land her first keeper, and the first one in the cooler. :thumbup: Jason and Brett took turns fattening up whatever was biting down below, until Brett got snagged up...on what turned out to be a six foot nurse shark. He battled him like a champ for about 10 minutes before we got our first peek at it, and then another 10 before it could be released boat side. 

After a couple of more drifts, a school of stupid ones came through, and I managed to catch two keepers in the 10 pound range, Brett landed the hoss of the day at around 13 pounds (along with a nice Lane), and Liz showed what a compassionate wife she is by letting all of the big ones she kept hooking into go before they came up to the surface, so she didn't hurt Jason's feelings.  

Jason had baited up with a big butterflied whiting and was helping Liz when his pole doubled over. His back took a beating getting the rod out of the holder and trying to raise the beast, but after a couple of minutes it just got added to the break-off scoreboard. 

The action wasn't fast, but every hit was a pole bending adventure. If we manage to get back to that spot, there should be lots of fat snapper based on how much bait we fed 'em, and quite a few more with hooks stuck in their jaws. We went through some serious tackle on Sunday, lol. Well worth it. Hopefully I'll get some pics up here later today.


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## USMCPayne (Nov 1, 2010)

looks like it was a beautiful day out there! nice shark too!


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Great report!

Sure wish that Jason fellar would learn to fish!


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## Fog Ducker (Dec 24, 2009)

Great report!

Sure wish that Jason fellar would learn to fish!  
================================

Nah, you did great helping your wife out. You probably only had your line in the water about half as much as the rest of us. Hopefully she had enough fun to want to go again.

I know when I've got my boys on board I'm too busy rigging, baiting, and taking fish off to do much fishing, but it's just as much fun.


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Fog Ducker said:


> Great report!
> 
> Sure wish that Jason fellar would learn to fish!
> ================================
> ...


I hear ya man. That night at dinner she even talked about getting a boat she enjoyed it so much! But really, why is it ALWAYS the women that dont have much experience get run after run?! :blink:


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## ClemsonTiger11 (Aug 12, 2010)

That snapper sure was good last night!!! My brother and I spent about a hour getting every bit of meat off that sucker and ended up with 5 quart bags, after saving some out for the frying pan. That was some of the best snapper any of us have eaten!!! We are in the garage right now using the heads and bones to make some fish stock. Thanks again for the great time on the water!!! As soon as I get another kitchen pass from the wife I am def. game for round two!!!


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## Island24 (May 12, 2008)

Always seems to taste better when you catch it yourself as opposed to buying it at the store.


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