# First Legal Gag!!!! 4/4/2009



## Gone Fishin' Too (Oct 3, 2007)

A good friend of mine C-Monsters invited me to go on a quick trip to the Edge to dig for some groupers on his 23' Edgewater CC on Saturday 4/4/09. He had to be back at homebefore 2pm. We tried to catch some live bait on the way out and had no success. The water in the bay and pass were chocolate brown. :sick. Of course the wave forecast was off again :banghead as we headed out, so we put on the raingear and prepared for a wet ride. We got to a spot at the Edge and anchored up (from the bow). We got rocked on the hook pretty good with 3 ft'ers andoccasional5 ft'ers mixed in. The wind was blowinggood from the E SE.With no live bait, I dropped a pink 7oz jig on the spot and immediately got hookedup with a Big-Eye Snapper :letsparty. A second drop got a undersize red grouper. Then the endangered Red Snapper moved in!!!! We both caught plenty of nice size (all over 20") Red Snapper. I dropped the pink jig down again and got nailed!!!, then the line went dead, Crap!!!! that felt like the big grouper that I have never caught!!!! I could still feel the weight of the jig, so I lowered it back down.It got slammed again!!!! This time the sucker was hooked good. This one was heavy, it took a good 15 minutes to get it close to the surface. Once it got close to the boat it started running away and then I realized it was a shark, a BIG Shark!!! Every time it got close it would turn around and head back down. I was beat, and wasn't sure what we were going to do with the shark if we could get it to the boat, but I wanted my pink jig back. Finally I won the battle and brought the shark around boatside. I made C-Monsters reach down with the 12" ARC dehooker and try to save the jig. Unfortunately the jig was gone and just the 2nd hook was left around the ring in the sharks mouth.We were both impressedwiththe OkumaCedros Jigging rod and reel combo that I was using toliftthatshark to the surface. I would estimate the shark was more than 200lbs. With my favorite jig gone,we opened up a bag of frozen menhadden and dropped those down on the big grouper rods. All the sudden WHAM!!! , I'm doubled over and it didn't feel like a snapper and it didn't feel like a shark or AJ. HOLY SMACKS!!!!! It's a nice Gag Grouper !!!!!! We got it netted and it weighed about 12 or 13 lbs. Less than 5min later C-Monsters gets doubled over and he bringsuphis first Gag Grouper to the surface also!!! :letsdrink:letsdrink :letsdrink. His weighed 16 lbs or so. We could go home now to our families without the shame of not being able to catch a damn fish in the GOM that you could actually eat. So the pressure was now off and it was time for us to relax because we both had dinner. We tried a little longer to double our catch with no luck, we did manage a few mingos as bonus fish on some cut squid.The weather never did settle down and it was getting late and we left for a wet ride back home, it did not matter that it was wet and rough because we both had our first Gag Groupers in more than 1.5 years trying!!!! I would estimate that my Grouper cost about $4000 dollars a pound!!! :banghead:banghead Here's some pics:






















































































































<EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/16HpemeC2s4&hl=en&fs=1 width=425 height=344 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></EMBED>


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## naclh2oDave (Apr 8, 2008)

Good job on the Gag and big eye! Glad to hear that people are getting out.


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## Fiver (Nov 6, 2008)

congrats on the gags!


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

> *Gone Fishin' Too (4/7/2009)*withthe OkumaCedros Jigging rod and reel combo





> *Gone Fishin' Too (4/7/2009)*the 12" ARC dehooker


ha you sound like you are giving a shoutout to your sponsors. nice report.


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## prostreet78 (Mar 2, 2008)

nice gags


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## Gone Fishin' Too (Oct 3, 2007)

I wish somebody would pay me to go fishing!!!!! I'm just a Recreational Fisherman only though. It's probably a good thing nobody pays me either, because it's a rare occasion that I actually come home with the catch of the day.:doh:doh


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## prostreet78 (Mar 2, 2008)

nice boat


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Great catch and yes it is by far cheaper to go to the fish market and buy it but what fun would that be and you wouldn't get to ride the rodeo like you did either.


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## GONU (Oct 3, 2007)

Nice catch, hope the weather settles for ya'll soon.


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## amberj (Oct 1, 2007)

Great catch, nice pics and great story...


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## fmitchell (Oct 19, 2007)

1.5 years and $4,000 dollars a fish. yea! I fight that battle too. $3,500 in just storeage last year and only fished 2 days. Work - the gas prices - and the new snapper regs = Negatives that really spur theses questions / thoughts. 

One good day on the water = questions answered. Especially when shared with friends and family. 

Accept it - your hooked - join the club!

Great catch and thanks for the post.


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## VTman (Jan 12, 2009)

Good for you buddy! Awesome Gags!


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## C-monsters (Mar 28, 2008)

Had a great time out there.It was alot easier fighting the waves and spray on the way back thinking about those grouper. There may be another weather window Saturday...


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## cobe killer (Apr 13, 2008)

great job chris, :clap we'll put a cobe on your boat this year as soon as the weathermen give us a break.


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## Gone Fishin' Too (Oct 3, 2007)

<SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl15_lblFullMessage><SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl15_lblFullMessage><SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl15_lblFullMessage>Check out the small you-tube video at the bottom and some newpics!!!!


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## Fifty-Fifty_2 (Feb 9, 2008)

Love the pic of the CUTIE holding the fish. 

The little cutie in the first two pics that is,he's a KEEPER.

Keep on making memories.


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## Ocean Man (Sep 27, 2007)

Awesome, you should be hooked now.


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## reel_crazy (Oct 1, 2007)

nice work.... cannot beat grouper for good eats.. 

rich


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## parrothead (Oct 1, 2007)

Ya'll SUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :moon:moon Nice catch.Those be some good eats.So, when we going Chris ??

Scott


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## recess (Oct 8, 2007)

Great job guys looks like a lot of fun . I have always called it the "WOLFPACK" when the gags move in , it is usually wide open bite and we always break away from every other fishing that we are doing and start targeting only gags with the big baits. it always pays off for us. Cograts again on the great catch . When is the fish fry???? LOL

TIM


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## DAWGONIT (Jan 16, 2009)

Thanks for the report & pics 

Evan.


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## reelhappy (Oct 31, 2007)

alrighty it's about time! welcome to the club. now you have to beat that everytime you go out. they get bigger and harder to pull up! awesome job. see ya tuesday!

scot


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## The Duke (Jun 27, 2008)

Nice catch Chris! See you Tuesday.


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## angus_cow_doctor (Apr 13, 2009)

If only you had gotten the shark as well. If you get another one like that, try to tail rope it. If you succed, you got him! Just drag it behind the boat for a few miles then bring it in the boat. Shark is very tasty. Marinade in 7up for a few hours and GRILL! We caught a 400 pound hammerhead a few years ago. We had to back down on it for 9 miles before we could tail rope it. For those of you wondering, the shark drowns if it gets drug backwards for a long time....


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## bellafishing (Oct 1, 2007)

I jig with an okuma cedros rod as well. Are you using the new Cedros spinning reel? If so I'd like to know how it has worked for you. I was thinking about picking one up since I have been so impressed with the rod. I have a Black Daiwa Saltist spooled with 100lb braid that I use on the heavy conventional rod now.

Bob


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## Sean Summers (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice gags. Got to try reefcast for the wave forecast, never fails!! http://www.florida-offshore.com/index.php


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