It's Wednesday, the 17th of July 2002 at 9:00 in the evening. The forecast called for clear star filled skies. We had an incoming tide with winds out of the SW 5-10mph for most of the night.
After watching all of my customers pull in monster after monster snook. I had to see if I could finally get me a 20 plus pounder out of the harbor. Armed with my new Cape Fear 15 to 40lb class spinning and baitcaster rods along with my new ahab size 12 spooled with 80lb Fins braid as well as my 700 Calcutta spooled with the same line. I was ready to pull the meanest nastiest snook in the water out. Since the only weights I lift anymore is fish. I was ready for a real workout.
When we first arrived fishing was a little slow for about 10 minutes or so. We got out a little late for getting nice bait and only managed about 15 pinfish that had the size we needed. We all fished our favorite spots with much to do about nothing when I happened. Corry was in the back fishing with tackle that is usually unacceptable there. All of the sudden. Crunch!!! Corry is blasted by a huge snook. He pumped and reeled ferociously attempting to clear the fish away from the pilings on the light line. Cory did a great job and when the fish reahed the edge of the boat she decided she didn't want to be there and took off into the bay. Corry had to burry his rod in the water in order to keep the rod and line from breaking underneath the boat. When the Snook finally surfaced it was huge. A true Mogan. We brought him up and I lipped him with the Boga. He or she was a beauty that went a hefty ? I will let you all guess the weight of this one.
Not long after Corry landed that Huge Snook I began to get jealous. I was thinking "There goes my shot at another biggun." That is probally the largest snook of the night. We saw Capt Chris Whitman pull into the harbor with his friend Chris Zolman. They fished for about 30 minutes and then gave us the 8 or 9 threads they had left in the well. Within 15 minutes we had moved back into the hole where Corry caught his 18lber and the bite was on. I flipped a barely alive thread into the water and Slam!! She's a biggun. I pumped the rod and reeled down about 4 times and what do you know a true Mogan surfaced. When she realized she had surfaced she wasn't very happy and tried to bull me into the pilings. Since I was using the strong 15-40 Cape Fear the Snook was not able to get back down and I was able to tire her on top of the water. Total landing time was about 35 seconds. My first 20 plus lber was landed in less than a minute. What a surprise?
After high fiving everyone a couple of times I reached over in the well and grabbed another large threadfin. Just before I tossed my bait in the hole Cory was broken off right in the same spot. When I tossed my thread in there I looked back at the guys, smiled and said slack tide is not to bad is it. Right about that time I get a jarring jolt to the end of my line. I mean you can feel a fish breathe on your line when using the Fins braid. It sure is sensitive. Not knowing for sure if it was my bait going crazy or if a fish had just ate it. I paused until I felt a tug. Bam!! there she was. I slammed the 6/0 Eagle Claw live bait hook into her. I then pumped and reeled as hard as I could. She came right on up to the top of the water. Once again when she realized she was on the top near the boat she went crazy. She began to splash and jump all over the place but I managed to keep her on top with the heavy action Cape Fear. Cory Boga Gripped her for me and we kept her out of the water long enough to get the hook out and a couple of snapshots. When I released her. I looked down at her back and it looked to be a foot wide or more. Now I can be a better judge on those monster snook that we sometimes come across on in the flats. We fished for about 45 minutes longer and mangaged one more snook of 6lbs. Then Corry's mom called and said there was a hail storm approaching so we booked it out of there.
To conclude on the day I got my first 20 plus pound snook. I end up with two back 2 back. It figures, I am not complaining. Couldn't have asked for it better. I would go over the poundages but I will wait for all of you to guess the weights on the boards. If you are urning for
some rod busting leader fraying excitement then give Captain Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529
Until next time may you have line singing, leader fraying, and
drag screaming action!!!!
