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Capt Coto and Dino Adventure - No Hot Dogs But Da Biggn Didn't Get Away


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Alex and I decided that the forecast looked great - S to SE winds 5-10 knots day before the trip.....WRONG :(

We met at 0420....not 0419 or 0421...there were specific instruction to load and leave at 0420.

How nice it is to fish on others boats......I got up at 0300, sat with the dog, had my coffee and FOX news fix, made some sandwiches - pronounced "SAM-Ich" in old school Florida speak.....had a second cup, gather my rods, threw them in the truck, checked my WAZE, yep, 16 min to Alex's.....so, at 0402, headed over.....arrived on time his beast of a redfishes was in the street ready to rock.

Loaded up my gear (I was going minimalist) - only one small tackle bag, 4 rods - I felt naked, lunch, water, and my old SKOOL small cooler bag to hold the shrimp for da-pop'n cork....

Made our way across the alley, one stop at the Bait Babe, got old school shrimp in a bag, set it on a yeti ice pack, and off to sleep they went for the rest of the day....I took'm out as needed, they just rested in front of the bote.....

It was a fast rising tide, and with the south wind, it would come in even faster...so we were on the water by 0645 and on our way out...

Alex had the FMT chip and we ran the bars like landing a 747....easy peasy.....just follow the yellow brick road Dorthy....errr....red line :)

We hit a few spots, small snook, jacks or better, trips to win...cats abound.....We decided to not go North and stayed fairly local to try some spot I hadn't fished in years...and some new spots Alex had seen on his charts...

More snook, alex was fishing arties, I was pop'n da cork....and we moved several times....finally, I decided to "get into the game" and broke out the gulp swimming minnow, white on a plain jig head....

Alex was pinging a few fish with his Flapp'n shad, so I said, heck, why not....we were working a shadow line, "man, who ever thought of fishing shadow lines that day, glad we did" ;)

So, we are about 20 feet off the shoreline, Alex gunts out, "Da$%Mn" dude, just got popped, as we move along.....as I have an aversion to falling over on random occasions, I was tethered to the inside of the boat, and I was just tossing, up and behind where Alex was fishing....

As we passed by where Alex had just grunted, "missed him", my gulp, plopping in front of me slowly, suddenly rockets to the rear  fo the skiff......holy big snook batman...game on...

The line is screaming out, I had 10 lb test Suffix 832, 40 lb floor, my St. Croix Avid, and my newly spooled Penn Battle II, 2500.....

The big girl made a massive run to the mangroves, but, Alex, immediately swung the boat out parallel to the mangroves and into the open....she made a second run tot he mangroves and I was able to stop her again....we fought her a two or three more run, then, like a fishing elf, Alex jumped off the trolling motor, ran to the hatch, quickly grabbed the net, and was jumping from the gunnels to the front platform, trying to maneuver and get close for a netting....each time, the big girl would see the boat and make a run....after two near power pole misses for a cut off, Alex did the honors and she came aboard for a private measuring and release....of course, I was fishing last week, and no joy, but, at 31 inches and a big girth, she was pushing double digits easily.....

A few high fives.....a iPhone pic....and off she swam.....great day, finished with a nice upper slot trout, 1/2 doz mini's of snook and trout, Alex did about the same, one red rat (slammed the boat)....and off the water by 125 pm...including a stop by our own FWC....

 

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No, they asked for my registration, my drivers license, my fishing license, if I had firearms, PFD, life vest, fire extinguisher, flares, sound device, fish in the live well, check in the cooler, and confirmed Dino's prostate was OK. Then wrote me a warning.

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