# Bob Sykes tonight



## rweakley (Aug 23, 2012)

Anybody have a good feeling about the bridge tonight? I don't. Problem is I was supposed to go out with my son on a boat tomorrow, but the weather doesn't look like it will permit that. I don't get a whole lotta time off lately so I don't want to dissapoint. But there will be almost no moon and clouds rolling in around 11. I was just wondering if it would even be worth the gas to get out there to make up for not going tomorrow?


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## MathGeek (Mar 31, 2012)

rweakley said:


> Anybody have a good feeling about the bridge tonight? I don't. Problem is I was supposed to go out with my son on a boat tomorrow, but the weather doesn't look like it will permit that. I don't get a whole lotta time off lately so I don't want to dissapoint. But there will be almost no moon and clouds rolling in around 11. I was just wondering if it would even be worth the gas to get out there to make up for not going tomorrow?


How old is your son? Depending on his age and disposition, often a fishing trip is more about time with dad than the actual odds of catching fish. My habit is to always give an honest assessment of the outlook and let my children decide whether to go fishing or not. Sometimes they just want to get out and hang with dad with a slim chance of catching fish, and sometimes, they'd rather stay home if the odds do not look good.

In any case, it can be very disappointing to a child to have dad cancel. Much less disappointment if the decision is theirs. If a child wants to go fishing, then a dad should take him, regardless of the odds of catching fish. Who knows, tonoght could be the night you both remember 30 years from now, and it may or may not have anything to do with the fish you catch.


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

Agree completely ^^^^


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## EmeraldGhostJr (Aug 21, 2012)

Agree with MathGeek, however I think is supposed to howl tonight as well.


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## Charlie2 (Oct 2, 2007)

*Fishing with Kids*

Bundle up and go for it. If it gets too bad, he'll want to quit and come home.

Who knows? Just before the bad weather is often a good time for catching.

If it starts lightning; go home. No place to be for man or beast! JMHO C2


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## BeachRealtor (Nov 9, 2012)

*Quality time*

My boys 8 and 10 don't care if we are catching slot reds or pinfish using hotdgos. They just want to go and feel that bump bump fish on. Still looking for some good spots in the Miramar Beach area that I can let the boys fish safely. The East Jetty is just not safe considering their age and size.


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## rweakley (Aug 23, 2012)

Turned out to be a fun night! Glad I took the advice to let him choose. Nothing was biting at all on the bridge on either shrimp or cut bait. Then we had a guy run up to us asking for our net who hauled in a really nice bull red. Don't know for certain, but got the feeling like they were gonna keep it  They were Asian so communication was difficult. Well as they only fish we saw seemed to want menhaden instead of what we were offering we packed up and moved on to another spot nearby. My son caught a croaker right off the bat, right before we were told to leave private property (oops). So we moved on a bit. Cut the croaker up and tossed it out. My son ended up with an undersized red and a catfish, as well as his prize: a 22 inch red that was his first ever! And I caught an 18 inch barely legal red!

Now I just gotta work on my fillet skills! I spent about 30 minutes on those two fish while youtubing it up for instructional videos!


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## MathGeek (Mar 31, 2012)

Great job dad! 

Your fillet skills will improve. Redfish can be challenging. Before I had a good set of Dexter Russel fillet knives, I got by fine using a 6" buck knife for the first cut through the scales separating the fillet from the backbone and an inexpensive Rapala fillet knife to separate the fillet from the skin. I don't like electric knives at all for redfish, it's too much work fighting through the scales. Even now, we don't really catch enough fish that really *need* the set of Dexter-Russel knives, but they're nice to have on those days when there are a number of redfish and drum and similarly challenging fish to clean. For a handful of fish, the 6" buck knife and a cheap Rapala fillet knife do fine. 

My children really appreciate it when we make a big deal about serving the fish they caught, especially a memorable redfish.


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