Got to go feeshin today.
 

Well the weather was crappy here for fishing, but a friend of mine was dead set on going somewhere and wetting a line today. The wind was blowing a good 15-20 knots today out of the north north east, so we were able to get about 2-3 miles offshore in his bay boat before it got real bumpy. We started off the day trolling hoping to pick up a few spanish macks, but ended up catching the biggest redfish I have ever caught in my life. i've seen a few this size before, but did not expect to catch this trolling a medium sized spoon through bait pods off the beach. He was released alive and kicking much to one of my buddies dislike as he was well outside of the 18-27" slot limit we have here in Florida. We didn't keep him out of the water long enough but to take a few pics then dunk him back to revive him and release. Didn't catch another fish all day myself, but I did land one monster redfish. Took me every bit of 20 minutes on a 17 pound spinning rod set-up(kingfish rig). We guestimated him to be about 36-38 inches and every bit of 20 pounds.

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...59a_278091.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...N/Photo174.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...N/Photo175.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...N/Photo176.jpg
laugh all you want at my funny hat, it keeps my neck from roasting out there.

looks like I'm going to have to step it up on the redfish size, ya'll are making my 20"er look small(I did get to keep it though). Looks like an excuse to go fishing

Nice redfish Ferm. The hat's okay. You should see what MJ wears when he does wear a hat.

I never used to wear a hat fishing, but I got tired of listening to the wife nag at me when I would get burnt on my ears. And this one was a fluke as we were trolling for mackerel when we got him. It truly did make the one guy sick to have to throw him back as he was definately a biggun. I'm just glad it wasn't a shark as they kept giving me a hard time while I was fighting him because it faught like a shark and looked like one in the muddy water. The real bummer was we would have had 2 of them, but the other guy didn't soften his drag up for trolling. He got nailed and as I was getting up to get mine it got nailed to. His poll doubled over and went pow due to his drag, but I knew to set the drag just tight enough to set the hook and got mine.

Nice Fish!

I got a goofier hat myself...they work.

rkc

Fermanator, you ain't gonna hear me makin' fun of NOBODY'S HAT!!...these days, I can't do enuff to keep the sun off the back of my neck!!...I river floated Fri w/a guy had one like yers, except it had a long, floppy cover on the back of it all the way down to neck of his shirt...that's what I want!!...

Hey...I didn't even make fun of this...
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90...in/NJ71140.jpg
Yours looks pretty civilized by comparison...

NICE Redfish!!...and smart move on resettin the drag...lost a stripe recently cuz I didn't...boo hoo...pat on the back for tunin' him loose, too...that's a good breeding size for fish later on...:clap:

My hat has one of those floppy covers all the way down to my neck, you just can't tell from the pic because the wind was blowing 15-20 knots and had that flap straight back. Picked it up at Dick's sporting goods for $20 over the summer as it came in handy while mowing to keep my neck from roastin.