The Old Man of the Sea

Out after specs today & well surprise surprise!
Met the one of the Old Men of the Sea today!

Somewhere in the heavens Ernest Hemingway is rolling in laughter.

20 minutes to land him spooled me twice.
then took 5-6 pictures and cut him loose.
My tackle definitely proved itself today!
Wasn't geared up for anything that size.

Been there except different species in deep water back in my youth. Gets your adrenaline pumping. All kidding aside, nice fish.

Very nice and what a thrill. Catch it on a live shrimp? Good on ya!!


Pap

Pap I caught him on a live mullet, I usually go catch my live bait in a cast net the evening before or first thing that morning.

Fish On!!!! Goodin!

Awsome
Is that a Red?

For us mountain fishermen, what type of fish is that?

WOW!

EXCELLENT!

Zoom the hat David.

Got it!
With the fins down, I was having a problem.
Sea going Speckled Trout vs Mountain Brook Trout:

Actually Chief's fish was that big David. Wonders of Photoshop.

Now that you mention it!
Darn, I am gullible!

David,

Matter of fact I'll buy. At the current euro exchange rate I owe you $1.11

LOL good ones guys!
I was fishing for speckled trout, but ended up with a Redfish.
Any Redfish 27 inches or more is called a bull red down here.
This one was a about 50 lbs. I probably threw back 7-9 that were half that size that ran about 30 inches long or so.
I like the 17 - 19 inch ones, the big ones are fun to catch but they have a lot of blood lines in the meat.

Believe it or not they look similar to a striped bass in shape. Really nice fish brother.

Was so tired after fighting him to the boat had to use 2 hands to hold him up, the 2 buddies of mine were ragging me about it LOL!

Yeah man I know. Had many a heavy big eye & yellowfin tuna and marlin on for a long time on heavy tackle. They spool 500+ yards and you; almost reel em back before they take it again, and maybe again. Adrenaline is about the only thing that keeps you in the game.
Bet you wish you were 25 again, lol

Hey Chief,

Any objection to keep this thread going with big fish stories? I like the theme. Your thread and it's up to you. I know Randy has big fish to show and who knows maybe a throwback or two.

sure load'em up.

We did get out of the mountains once.............
My wife Z with Capt. Joey at North Padre Island, TX, in Sept. 2015. She could not hold up the 37" Sea Trout she caught.

Release or a keeper Dave?

We were fishing with my Brother in Law and Capt. Joey.
My Brother in Law is adamant that he releases everything.
I did get Capt. Joey to save a few of the smaller (around 20") sea trout and I grilled them with lemon and paprika.
My Brother in Law liked eating them, but he just doesn't want to keep fish. He usually takes his boat out on the Gulf and has some great catches, all released. We had bad Red Tide and high winds while we were there. We opted for the bay and a Pro to show us where to go. We each caught 2-3 sea trout over 36" that day, and a number of smaller trout. No Red fish for us, but others were catching them. Had an escort on the way back to the dock.

My mistake. I thought Redfish had a distinctive black dot on the tail. It looks like they can have dark splotches also.

2 of the red snapper caught this week.

Morning catch. had to make 2 trips cause of the limits. Threw back more than a 150 lbs. of fish.

Nice job Chief.

Yum!! Nice catch. Bait or lures?

Pap

Both. When feeding time came on it didn't matter.
We went to lures because it was faster.

OUTSTANDING!!!