This week I lost both of my Okuma spinning reels to defects, one on Thursday and one on Friday.  I dusted off some old Shimanos and put them on my St. Croix rods and respooled them.  Today I had to respool one of them again when a wind knot from Hell ruined my PowerPro line.  I also lost an eye insert on one of my rods this week.

I probably spent close to 40 hours fishing this week for multiple species… Trout, Redfish, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper… and landed 3 trout and one Mangrove Snapper.  I have had a terrible time finding the trout and redfish this week.  I fished from 8 inches of water to 16 feet of water offshore, where one of my keepers came from.  I waded, drifted, trolled, you name it, I did it with little luck.  I’ll post a picture of my trout once the tournament close tonight.

Tight lines…

But this morning was totally different.  The water was alive with bait fish and big explosions on the surface.  I got out this morning and had a DOA Shrimp in the water about 7:45 AM.  The first cast I lost a 20″+ fish at the net… the very next cast I landed an 18 incher.  A couple of casts later, as my DOA Shrimp was falling, my pole was almost pulled out of my hands.  It took drag for about 10-15 seconds then allowed me to get some ground on it.  At this point I couldn’t tell what I had only that it was BIG.  After another few seconds it blasted the surface… it was either a small Tarpon (20-40 Pounds), a giant snook, or the biggest Trout I have ever seen.  At just that minute I was watching in amazement as my DOA Shrimp is hurling back at me.   He spit it out and I think tried to threw it back at me.  Just like that… GONE  #%?^&!

I ended up with a couple of keepers and 2 ladyfish for Redfish bait next week.  Tomorrow I’m heading out with a fellow competitor because he is without a boat this week and is supplying beer.  I let you know how that works out tomorrow…

Catch Fish and Have Fun