# Excellent snapper opener with wild Bonus



## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Got down to destin public access just before 5 am hoping to beat the boats out to a snapper hole. Seas were absolutely amazing! Flat as a board and light breeze made for a cake launch. Bait was plentiful so I loaded up on cigs in between the sandbars before I made the long journey out. Got to the reef right after sunrise...no hits on the troll out there
My first line in had a fat lively cig on it and straight to the bottom it went. I felt some nibbling but no good bite so I decided to reel in and check bait. I felt something on the other end but no clue what it could have been. Turns out it was a tiny rumora that wasn't even hooked, he was just hanging on to the belly of my cigar minnow and as I pulled my line up he fell off and ripped the belly of that cig open. So I said hell with it and dropped my now half eaten dead cig back to the bottom. As soon as I hit bottom and got about 2 cranks up my pole doubled over HARD...I started reeling and this fish wasn't having it, he did not wanna come up. I'm thinking holy crap second drop of snapper season and I've got a big sow already! Once the fish finally wore out from making bottom runs and taking me for a few short rides i covered some ground on it and could now see it coming up...Shark! A 3 foot shark, what a let down! I figured I would get it beside the yak snap a picture and cut the line...but once it surfaced a little more to my surprise was a 33.5 inch cobia! Caught straight on the bottom with a half eaten dead cig no less.
After the happy surprise the snapper started biting...a lot. Ended up catching 6 total snapper, threw back 3 small ones and a 19 inch legal one hoping for a sow. (The guy and his wife in the robalo fishing the same wreck brought up a big fat one that had to be well over 30 inches). I ended up with my limit of 2 with a 20 incher and another 19 incher, which made for some good fillets.
So overall it was an amazing opening day, and my first cobia from the yak (even if it was a lucky catch) made it even better. Hope there are a few more days like this one in store before the fish get mauled!








The cobia was too big to fit straight in my cooler on the yak so had to wrap his tail around the cooler so that's why he is crooked as a deck nail!

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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

You didn't measure that cobia did ya??


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## stevenattsu (Apr 24, 2009)

Lookin short


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Nope I just post threads and pictures of illegal fish hoping to fool guys like yall and get the fwc on everybody's ass...yes fish measured at 33.5 soon as I got him on the yak. In this picture he is frozen sideways from being wrapped around in the cooler

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## fishn4fun (May 11, 2008)

Great box of fish.


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

^ didnt need to do that. In fact if the snaps are 20in, I would say that cobe was legal


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

My dad passed conservation on to me and I follow the rules, not gonna let this thread turn into a defense over my fish...fish and polar, thanks I was pretty happy about the days catch. Like I said, the couple in the boat beside of me caught a nice fat sow snapper so there was definitely some really nice ones in there today. They were hitting damn near anything u dropped at em too, live, dead, cut bait, squid...didn't matter they were hungry. I even caught one with my reel set to free spool while I was messing with my fly line...when I grabbed the bottom rod and tightened the slack I had a juvenile snapper on there 

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## chaps (Aug 31, 2009)

Way to go! U haven't fished that area in a long time. Lots of pyramids and public stuff out there to catch fish


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

chaps said:


> Way to go! U haven't fished that area in a long time. Lots of pyramids and public stuff out there to catch fish


Yeah it gets crowded out there but if you get up early you can get a decent spot. I wasn't on the pyramids today, was out a little deeper than those. I've caught some nice kings and Bonita on those pyramids but never any red snapper. I'm sure others have smoked em though

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## Gamecocky (Jul 22, 2015)

Thanks for all the info, that was a great report! Awesome catches too


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Gamecocky said:


> Thanks for all the info, that was a great report! Awesome catches too


Thanks. I'm assuming with a name like gamecocky that you've got a tie to South Carolina? I'm from ky originally but I dabbled around Sumter s.c. for a few years...

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## Gamecocky (Jul 22, 2015)

Shark Sugar said:


> Thanks. I'm assuming with a name like gamecocky that you've got a tie to South Carolina? I'm from ky originally but I dabbled around Sumter s.c. for a few years...
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


Yep its my alma mater, there are a few other SC boys on the forum


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

To this day I still say 5 points has the best St Paddy's Day party in America...and I've been to them in New Orleans, New York, and Savannah

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## LIM-IT-OUT (Aug 26, 2014)

I love fish flavored Gatorade to!!!!

and its cobia flavored even better!!!!


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

LIM-IT-OUT said:


> I love fish flavored Gatorade to!!!!
> 
> and its cobia flavored even better!!!!


Oh man I just drank that Gatorade a minute ago...had to run it under the sink to get all the slime off haha...I had a Sammich in there too but it got way to nasty, had to feed the birds with it

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## Night Wing (May 16, 2011)

Snapper and cobia (ling). Some mighty fine eating you'll be having.

Thanks for the report and the posting the photos.


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

Nice box of fish!


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Yessir...those are some awesome keepers from a yak!!!! Big ole congrats to ya!


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## Caddy Yakker (May 21, 2011)

Maybe it's the camera angle but that Gatorade looks short to me? Did you even measure it?
Nice catch! Wish I could of made it out but I guess I'll save my sows for a tournament.


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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Thanks Jason.
Caddy you're right I probably should've tossed that Gatorade back haha. I didn't get to go out today and the water is even nicer than yesterday! When do they have a Kayak snapper tournament? I'd be very interested 

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## timjb83 (Jan 23, 2013)

Nice job my man.. I'm ready to burn some calories and paddle my butt out there to listen to the sweet sounds of drag screaming! 

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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

timjb83 said:


> Nice job my man.. I'm ready to burn some calories and paddle my butt out there to listen to the sweet sounds of drag screaming!
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


I hear ya...the kings should be thick screamin drags very soon. Surface temp was 69.8 Saturday so it's almost time for some smoked king dip!

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## timjb83 (Jan 23, 2013)

Shark Sugar said:


> I hear ya...the kings should be thick screamin drags very soon. Surface temp was 69.8 Saturday so it's almost time for some smoked king dip!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


I'm in Texas til the 21st.... Once I get back, I'll be ready  shoot me a pm if ya need a buddy to net your fish! Lol

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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Haha will do. As long as weather cooperates I'll be out there at least 1 day every weekend

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## Blake R. (Mar 17, 2009)

The GCKFA tournament is next month, and I believe there is a snapper division this year.

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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Blake R. said:


> The GCKFA tournament is next month, and I believe there is a snapper division this year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


Thanks for that info! Oh yeah I wanna get in on that for sure! Just google it for the info?

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## Blake R. (Mar 17, 2009)

That will work. Also posted on their FB page, and there's probably a post in this section about it.

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## Shark Sugar (May 26, 2015)

Thanks Blake!

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