Saturday Oct. 24, 2026
Sailed to a local reef with Stephen as crew. No one there yet at 06:45, huh, chasing bass I guess. Of course there was a pot sitting right on my favorite piece (you can see my kingpin piece in my pic below - LOL!), but was able to get reasonably close. The tog came fast, but as usual, tons of shorts - had to have had a dozen comm keepers by the end of the trip, among at least 40 throwbacks.
Stephen did pull a just-keeper early on, then lost a true heavyweight that pulled him down into the wreckage early in the fight. Then I got a fat 6.1lb beauty which was better than any I caught last season (that in itself is a depressing admission).
A short while later Stephen hooks up - at first I thought it was just another bottom hang up, but it began taking drag pretty strongly. It made three powerful runs, but Stephen stopped it each time and started to gain line back. I at first thought shark, then the big head shakes looked very cow bass-like.
He carefully worked it to the boat, and looking down I thought I saw it as gray, so shark, very disappointing. BUT NO, once he got in gaff range - I saw something I've never seen in real life - a BIG FAT black drum - all of 40lbs! I carefully slipped the gaff into his lip and pulled it into the boat - geez, what a beautiful fish! And what a great job Stephen did on it.
Took some pix, then Stephen quickly put it back in the water and gently rocked it back and forth until it got enough strength back - upon which he released it and we watched the big tail disappear as it headed back to the bottom, very minimally injured.
So we ended with only two in the box, but a memory that will stick around for a while, that's for sure. Pix of the fish, the revival and release, and my tog, which ended up in a very nice marinara sauce, with clams and mussels.
Sailed to a local reef with Stephen as crew. No one there yet at 06:45, huh, chasing bass I guess. Of course there was a pot sitting right on my favorite piece (you can see my kingpin piece in my pic below - LOL!), but was able to get reasonably close. The tog came fast, but as usual, tons of shorts - had to have had a dozen comm keepers by the end of the trip, among at least 40 throwbacks.
Stephen did pull a just-keeper early on, then lost a true heavyweight that pulled him down into the wreckage early in the fight. Then I got a fat 6.1lb beauty which was better than any I caught last season (that in itself is a depressing admission).
A short while later Stephen hooks up - at first I thought it was just another bottom hang up, but it began taking drag pretty strongly. It made three powerful runs, but Stephen stopped it each time and started to gain line back. I at first thought shark, then the big head shakes looked very cow bass-like.
He carefully worked it to the boat, and looking down I thought I saw it as gray, so shark, very disappointing. BUT NO, once he got in gaff range - I saw something I've never seen in real life - a BIG FAT black drum - all of 40lbs! I carefully slipped the gaff into his lip and pulled it into the boat - geez, what a beautiful fish! And what a great job Stephen did on it.
Took some pix, then Stephen quickly put it back in the water and gently rocked it back and forth until it got enough strength back - upon which he released it and we watched the big tail disappear as it headed back to the bottom, very minimally injured.
So we ended with only two in the box, but a memory that will stick around for a while, that's for sure. Pix of the fish, the revival and release, and my tog, which ended up in a very nice marinara sauce, with clams and mussels.
