Weekend Report---Playin' With The Gags....

[Squid]

This weekend started off Saturday with a trout/flounder tournament out of Holden Beach Marina. This tournament was put on my some friends who just happen to be a pair of 11 year old kids.
Myself and Miss Squid teamed up with my friend Stacy and his girlfriend Casey on Stacy's 23' Kencraft. Began the day at the Little River Jetties trying to catch the elusive speckled trout. Fished hard all morning with only a few bluefish to show for it. Around lunch we get frustrated and go in search of some flounder. Find some but they are TIIIIINY. Amongst all of the 9" flatties, Miss Squid (a.k.a. Andrea) hooks up with her first redfish---a cute little 16 incher which had his tail all cut up.
Since the weather was SUPPOSED to be nice on Sunday we decided to redeem ourselves and do a little grouper fishing. Well the weather man was wrong of course as we hit a 2-3 foot choppy sea. Stopped at a spot about 27 miles offshore in 90 feet of water to catch bait on our way out. In the process of jigging some very nice cigars, we began having some bitten off before we could get them off the bottom. I knew what this meant and told Stacy to drop a grouper bait and hang on. His worm didn't last 30 seconds before the first gag of the day found its way into the box.
This made the decision easy and we dropped anchor. Myself and Stacy stood back and watched as both of the girls caught their first gags ever. Miss Squid was the first to strike with a short 22" fish. Then came another keeper. A couple more throwbacks. Another keeper. And so on.....
In the well, a couple of fat 15" beeliners that we had jigged up were staring at me begging to be dropped. I talked Stacy out of his Sustain 8000 and brand new Trevala F rod for a couple minutes so I could make my first drop of the day. Didn't have to wait long before it was inhaled by a cobia. Had him within 15 feet before I realized that he wasn't even hooked and was just clamped down on the back end of the bait. Sure enough he spit it out just as he came within sight.
Rigged up another 15" beeliner and dropped down again. This one was engulfed by a nice gag within seconds of hitting the bottom. As I was bringing this one to the top, Miss Squid starts grunting at the back of the boat. Just as mine comes over the rail, hers hits the surface as well. Both fish measured well over 30 inches, putting them in the 16-18 lb. class. (In the picture below, hers actually looks a bit smaller from the way it is bent.....don't let the picture fool you, though.) Really nice, fat fish.
This was pretty much the story for the next hour, boating well over a dozen fish. The best part of the whole trip was that myself and Stacy only put 1 fish a piece in the boat.....the girls did the rest!
After getting our fill of gags it was off to find a red to finish out the day. On the way, the wind picked up a bit so we only putted around for about an hour before calling it a day and heading back early.
All in all a great day on the water watching these two girls put the hurting on some gags!
Below are a few pictures.....more to come tomorrow when I get them from Stacy's camera.

Tight Lines,
Bryan

[O-SEA-D]

Great report and pics.

Looks like a great time of fishing with your lady.

Pretty work on your fishing Squid!!!

[SeaBiscuit]

Good stuff Squid! A weekend of fishing with the Missus and friends and a pile of fat gags to boot!

Nice report and catch

BTW, the reason that you and Stacy did not catch but one fish each is that the ladies OUTFISHED ya!

SeaBiscuit

[WAHOONBOX]

BEAUTIFUL SQUID.......ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.

EVEN THE GAGS ARE PRETTY AWESOME.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Good to see you guys and gals had a great weekend. Got any more pics of the redfish?
Holwachagot

[Dave Sikorski]

Pretty work. Gotta love when the bottom lights up like that.



-D

[BYRD]

Nice report. Glad you got out. Got my boat up and running, when you coming back up this way?

[Squid]

More pictures....

[weekender]

awesome day, great job on the groupers