# Sykes - 1/14 The Dedicated Duo



## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Had a terrible day yesterday, so I decided some fishing was in order. Nathan decided to join me, & Taylor was supposed to join as well, but he ended up bailing. Nathan & I headed out around 9:45 last night. First on our agenda was to meet Pompano Joe over at Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle so that Nathan could pick up a TLD15 from him, and after that we were going to pick up some menhaden for the long night ahead. Unfortunately, Gulf Breeze was closed at 10:05 when we got there, so we had no bait. Luckily Joe, being the awesome dude that he is, saved the day by offering us some bait. We ended up going over to Joe's to grab an assortment of frozen croakers & shrimp and then talked fishing for a while. After admiring pretty much every rod & reel Joe owns, we decided we needed to continue on with the mission at hand, which was to get our first reds of the year. With that being said, we finally got out to Sykes & were set up around 11:30 or so. The first run came within the first five minutes of getting baits out. Nathan's Sahara, which had a chicken rig baited with some small pieces of shrimp, started screaming. Nathan hooked up with a good red, but the hook pulled after 20 or so seconds. About an hour later my bait rod, which was rigged/baited similar to Nathan's, got a crazy run. I ran over to it, tightened the drag, & then hooked up. The 20 pound bull on the opposite end of my line had the current working on its side, so the fight was long and nerve-wrecking. Had a number of close calls with the pilings, but managed to get him landed after 8-10 minutes. Measured him at 37'', got some photos, & then lowered him back down. Around 2:15 we were just getting ready to head out when Nathan got his second chance of the night at a bull. Once again his bait rod was the one to get slammed. After letting it scream for 7 or 8 seconds, Nathan tightened down the drag & prepared for the 15 minute battle ahead of him. This was the longest battle with a red either of us have had in a long time, & it was filled with an infinite number of close calls, reel malfunctions, and plenty of running back & forth down the bridge. Finally Nathan managed to get the bruiser of a red on her side long enough for me to get her in the net. She measured at 39'' & over 25 pounds and was definitely one of the prettiest reds we've seen in some time. Got some great photos & then lowered her back down to the water to go burn up someone else's drag washers. Both very satisfied that we had landed our first reds of 2014, we decided to call it quits around 3 o'clock to head home & get some rest before classes in the morning. 

*Tally for the night*: 
*Nathan:* 39'' bull
*Me:* 37'' bull
*Taylor:* MIA

Tight lines everyone, and a big thanks to Joe for hooking us up with some bait! Our night would have been quite a bit more lackluster without his help!


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

Amazing night~! First fish of 2014 was a bull red! I have never had a bull give me such a hard time! He went for my trout set up! straight 15lb mono and 2 tiny circle hooks, that and the anti reverse failing and busting my fingers up 3 times made this the most painful and stressful fight with a bull, I will always remember this night, thanks again Joe!


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

MoganMan said:


> Amazing night~! First fish of 2014 was a bull red! I have never had a bull give me such a hard time! He went for my trout set up! straight 15lb mono and 2 tiny circle hooks, that and the anti reverse failing and busting my fingers up 3 times made this the most painful and stressful fight with a bull, I will always remember this night, thanks again Joe!


Heck yes it was! Glad we got to start the year out well together my friend! I give you mad props for landing that fish, but seeing your A/R fail the first time & your handle turn backwards at a 100MPH right into your finger was pretty hilarious. Hahaha.


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

ThaFish said:


> Heck yes it was! Glad we got to start the year out well together my friend! I give you mad props for landing that fish, but seeing your A/R fail the first time & your handle turn backwards at a 100MPH right into your finger was pretty hilarious. Hahaha.


Thanks man! Didn't think I had a chance at landing him until he was in the net, saw my spool 3 times... And it was pretty funny, I was laughing, swearing, and crying when my AR went out! What a way to start the new year!


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## Hawkseye (Feb 17, 2012)

Nice fish! It's easy to get caught up at Joe's...great guy and a reel collection that will make you feel like a kid staring at a candy display.


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## Dimebag (Jan 15, 2014)

Nice catch fellas


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## Fielro (Jun 4, 2012)

Nice Bulls, thanks for sharing


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Hawkseye said:


> Nice fish! It's easy to get caught up at Joe's...great guy and a reel collection that will make you feel like a kid staring at a candy display.


Thanks man, we appreciate it! & you're telling me! Thankfully I didn't have any money with me when I was there… Haha.


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## orbiting headquarters (Oct 30, 2013)

great job. I'm up for friday night if my son is....gonna be cold.
Been skunked for too long over at alabama point.


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## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

good looking bulls!!!


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

I knew my lucky boots would do it for us!


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## Smarty (Nov 23, 2008)

Cool pics there gentlemen :thumbsup:
Looks like you 2 had a great time as always. Way to start out the new year :yes:


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

Smarty said:


> Cool pics there gentlemen :thumbsup:
> Looks like you 2 had a great time as always. Way to start out the new year :yes:


Thanks smarty! We were honestly surprised to not see you there! We were literally the only two people on the bridge!


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## Randall2point0 (Feb 11, 2011)

Wirelessly posted

I didn't know GBB&T closed early, are these new winter hours?


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Randall2point0 said:


> Wirelessly posted
> 
> I didn't know GBB&T closed early, are these new winter hours?


Yup... sucks! But I suppose I can understand not wanting to keep the shop open all night during the winter when there's probably not too many customers coming in throughout the night during this time of year.


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## Cornflake789 (Oct 10, 2008)

Nice Job guys!!!


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## Sharknut (Mar 18, 2013)

Can you guys get some girls or tourists or something to pose with these reds - not saying you're ugly but JEEZ - you've already posted, what - 198 pics of your mugs? Just joshin guys - keep it coming. Glad to see you back and hope to catch up with you out there.


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## Dimebag (Jan 15, 2014)

Was thinking of going last night but wasn't in the mood to fish Sykes solo. The moon is Damn near full too thinking it might be good for some reds for sure.


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## DAWGONIT (Jan 16, 2009)

pretty work gents.
thanks for sharing.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Dimebag said:


> Was thinking of going last night but wasn't in the mood to fish Sykes solo. The moon is Damn near full too thinking it might be good for some reds for sure.


We went out last night. I'll make the post as soon as I can. The full moon was definitely good to me.


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Sharknut said:


> Can you guys get some girls or tourists or something to pose with these reds - not saying you're ugly but JEEZ - you've already posted, what - 198 pics of your mugs? Just joshin guys - keep it coming. Glad to see you back and hope to catch up with you out there.


Hahaha, here lies the problem. You know many good looking girls that would be willing to sit out on a cold-ass bridge all night with us? 

But thanks man, I'm sure we'll see ya out there soon!


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## Dimebag (Jan 15, 2014)

You guys headed out there again tonight? You are all on the north side of the bridge right? Gulf breeze side? Using shrimp or cutbait,


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Dimebag said:


> You guys headed out there again tonight? You are all on the north side of the bridge right? Gulf breeze side? Using shrimp or cutbait,


Not tonight man, we're in Jacksonville for the weekend. As far as bait goes, it depends on the night. One night it will be dead shrimp, one night it will be live ones, one night it will be menhaden, one night it will be our secret bait - just depends. Go out there & put a few rods out with different baits & see what happens! 

& yeah, on the Gulf Breeze side.


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## Dimebag (Jan 15, 2014)

Went out there last night with John and his son. No luck. Tossed out shrimp, mullet, menhaden and nothing was bating. Couldn't even catch any trout or baitfish lol..


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## orbiting headquarters (Oct 30, 2013)

+1 what he said ^
We were out there from 10-2, not even a nibble. Not giving up, will be out there again.


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

Dimebag said:


> Went out there last night with John and his son. No luck. Tossed out shrimp, mullet, menhaden and nothing was bating. Couldn't even catch any trout or baitfish lol..


Last two trips we went on all we caught besides the 3 reds were 1 white trout, bottom's pretty dead out there.


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## Pompano Joe (Jan 28, 2009)

You guys are The Bomb!!! Wish I would have gone. Cool pics!


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## Smarty (Nov 23, 2008)

ThaFish said:


> As far as bait goes, it depends on the night. One night it will be dead shrimp, one night it will be live ones, one night it will be menhaden, one night it will be our secret bait - just depends.


Isn't that the dang truth! Seems like every year for a little while it gets slow or even dead after the grunts get bigger and move on. When the grunts are smaller and numerous the bull reds are everywhere. I believe it might pick up soon though. Was checking for bait a few nights ago and saw tons of very small minnows everywhere in the shallows which means food for bigger fish to follow. Starting to see more live shrimp too but not many yet. I'm happy if I can just not get skunked and catch a snack. Fat dude has got to eat


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## ThaFish (Feb 27, 2013)

Pompano Joe said:


> You guys are The Bomb!!! Wish I would have gone. Cool pics!


Thanks Joe! We'd love for you to make it out there with us sometime.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

The dynamic Duo ! :thumbup:


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