'Huntress and I headed to Ft. Morgan Friday evening to meet up with Geronimo, his daughter, and his nephew and see if we could convince a couple bull Redfish to come home with us. Geronimo had rounded up some bait the day before and was busy casting his net to grab a couple more last minute baits when we got there. The tide was just starting to come in, and according to reports we got from a couple other anglers around, things were looking good for us!

We unloaded our gear, strapped it all down on our fishing carts, and started out towards Geronimo's "honey hole", about a mile down the beach. It was a long haul to get there, but we were immediately rewarded with a spectacular sunset!


Almost as soon as we got there, the fish turned on...we started out with a couple nice bluefish, then the bull reds took the field! 'Huntress and I had never caught redfish before...the strength of these fish is amazing! None of the fish we caught were within the slot limit, so we all had to be content with the one oversized fish allowed, after culling a couple in favor of larger fish.

One fish, Two fish...Redfish, Bluefish...



Melinda's redfish measured 28 inches, and weighed 11 pounds, the bluefish was 20 inches long, and about 2 or 2 1/2 pounds. She caught a red that was a couple inches longer, but the first one was already dead, so the bigger one had to go back.

My red was the last fish we caught before we left, he was 38 inches long, and 25 pounds...


The haul back up the beach was a long, tough hike, but we made it just in time to feed the swarms of hungry mosquitos! All in all a good day's fishing, and a couple great first redfish for TexasHuntress and I!

Geronimo, thanks again for having us down...it was a truly great and memorable experience!

Looks like fun!! I bet those Reds did put up a great fight!

Ya'll couldn't find anyone better to go fishing with ? Those are some stud Redfish, I bet that was a BLAST !! Great pics...

When I had the first red on the line, I made the comment that it was a volkswagen.

DoA and I, both, are a bit sore from the outing, but it was a total blast! I'm already anxious to go after them again.

Nice.

It was my pleasure. It was one of the best trips out there that I've been involved with. I think between the two of us that we caught eight reds and three blues. If I didn't have to get the kids home there's no telling how many we would have caught. Think about it. We only actually fished for about 3 hours. The only regret that I have is that we never had time to socialize a little bit. Maybe next time we can actually sit down and talk a little.

Here are a few more pics. Click on the link and scroll up. I hope yall enjoy.

http://pensacolafishingforum.com/fishingforum/Topic195646-17-1.aspx#bottom

That is awesome!

Definitely some fine looking reds !!

GOOD FISH YALL

Great job! Sounds like a blast! Geronimo is good peoples!

Seems like the big reds are here earlier this year, that's good news. I'm curious, how did you keep those redfish alive enabling you to cull? I never could figure out how to do that.

We only culled one and it wasn't hard to do. You see, when you're catching one every 3-5 minutes, they are still very much alive. You just reach down pick up a smaller one that's full of life and then return him to the gulf. Also, there's a 30 yard wide cut that's running across the point right now. It's probably 500 yrds. long and it's flowing. The only way to fish the point is to wade across it. Anyway, if you wanted to you could make a big stringer to keep one alive in that cut.

Cool, now I know where your secret spot is And, I like the stringer idea better than the pick one up out of the sand idea.

When it comes to fishing, I don't have secret spots. I don't mind telling anyone. In my link I posted above with my pic's I told everyone where they were caught. I figure that if anyone is willing to make that long walk then I don't mind telling them where to catch them.

Last week I dug a small pool with my hands, close enough to the surf that it would fill up with water, and the fish stayed alive for a long time. You may want to give that a try one day.

...fair warning...that cut is about 3 or 3 1/2 feet deep and about 25 feet across @ high tide, and when we started packing up to leave, I was just about to cross it when something came through it right in front of me. It was dark, so I didn't see it, but I heard it, and it was substantial . I believe it could only have been one thing, and all the species of that one thing that would've been in that close are known biters!

*LOL* ...I didn't say anything about it to Geronimo or 'Huntress until after they'd crossed, too!