New Appreciation for SCREEMING REELS

[lizardsrule]

Went out today with a couple of guys to look for some redfish We hit a little area I had gone before, so as usual, I just brought some of my tougher rods reels, but not the big gun After fishing for about 5 hours, and no fish, we needed some more bait. Now mind you we started with 4 dozen live shrimp, and I didn't use any of them, because usually IMO it's a waste of time, the little fish just tear them apart. I've had better luck with artificials fishing for them so that's what I used. Anyway after getting some squid, and frozen mullets, and 2 dozen more shrimp LOL, they decided to hit Ponce inlet I was really not prepared for truly hitting some of the bigger water, due to my big gun rod being left at home . For those of you who know we were fishing the Dunlawton(SP) Bridge. This is the same place I had a fish pull a steel clip on a steel leader straight So we are tying off(no anchor) to the bridge and started noticing a little activity around one of the bridge concrete pilings(they are huge). I got my mullet out, and was about to tie on a piece of squid when I see a silver colored fish busting some baitfish right at the end of this pilings. I can't make out what it was, but saw enough of it to know it was a monster I believe it was either a really big Snook, or a Tarpon , my guess would have been a Tarpon. Well I grab my Johnson Silver Minnow(even though it was gold LOL) and cast it past the piling and retrieve it back past it, no takers. So I tried again, and low and behold the monster hit it, and the fight was on . I really thought I was gonna land this thing, drag was sceeming several times, but we were just giving and taking. After about 3 minutes(seemed like 10 minutes), it just snapped my 50lb Powerpro. Since it was taking drag, I was more concerned about it spooling me, but it just kept going back and forth, with some serious drag taken off, until I got it turned, and then the same thing. But alas I lost this fish, but it was one he!!uva fight for a few minutes anyways. I actually have a heavy 7'6' surf rod with 100 # powerpro I had just loaded up on it, but didn't bring it because I wasn't expecting this kind of fishing, due to limited space with three of us on a bassboat Well needles to say everyone on the pier, and every boat around us was watching intently, and I actually heard several aw chits when it broke off. I will land one of these stinking fish one of these days, just not today. I didn't catch a fish all day, but I had a GREAT DAY losing the fish of the day I kept saying after that, there aint no way I'm gonna get another chance like that today. Anyways it was truly a SCREEMING REEL MEMORY

Lizards

[Fishie1]

tight....big lines next time...

[texasbasser]

wow whata fish. it probably was a tarpon, with those screamin drags you mentioned. you'll get one someday, just keep fishin. did it jump?

PS
Be thankful you are able to fish great places regularly!

[ironman]

If your going to ponce inlet I will give you some info.... Throw a LONG topwater bait across breaking mullet and you will catch ALL kind and LOTS of fish, this may sound weird but try it and you WILL see.

[flfireman]

Glad to hear. Some of the guys here are recording monster snook in the surf and the river. Guy I work with has been nailing the snook within casting distance of the shoreline. Topwater snook action!!! Hell, Im thinking about setting up a rod/reel for this action.

[flbassman]

Nice! Probably a tarpon, make sure to use a heavy shock leader, they can chew right through a lot of lines....

[texasbasser]

yea, they have a clamp in there mouth that can snap some tough line. had it happen to me with 80 pound leader.i use 100 now and it mostly works.

[adamgambill]

Love them salty fish huh? My suggestion is a little number called a top-dog. You can get them in all kinds such as she-dog TD JR and The pup. All work wonders on red and trout.

[Christopherkeene9]

Now you know why I keep coming back to the salt, Eh! (Swordfish)

Yeah Ponce is some fun/nasty inlet. Be careful if you ever go through the inlet. 6ft. hole bounced around our rock solid 28ft. but we made it.

Get some zara spooks and top dogs and see what they can do for you!! The blues are running right now so make sure you have a few extras with ya.

Chris