Catch and Release

Sunday May 27th I had 4 folks aboard fishing out past Snake Key a mile or so in about 4 to 5 feet of water angling for some of those whopper speckled trout feeding on the little critters down in the grass.

Right away we caught trout and a bunch a baby sharks. Little 10in. sharks. There were waves of them. We`d catch 4 or 5 and then none at all for a while. In between sharks we caught trout of the `keeper` size of 15in. minimum. I always think how good they will taste on the dinner table that evening, but my folks were all catch and release fisherfolks.

And real good fisherfolks they were. All of them knew how to fish real well. I was releasing trout big enough to keep for about half the 4 hour trip when I started to think, "mabey they`ll give me one to keep". I ended up with the biggest one caught that day, 19 inches of fresh speckled trout for dinner that night.

As I was slicing up a pinfish for bait I looked up and there was a boat drifting across our bow with 2 guys in it fishing with their backs to us. They obviously didn`t see where they were drifting, so I called out "do you have any Grey Poupon" to get their attention and both men turned around and saw our boat anchored rather close by. Everyone laughed a little as the drifting boat cranked up the motor and pulled away.

We had slick calm water the whole trip which made our fishing a real pleasure. When we returned to the dock there was only 1 trout to fillet. Folks, there are trout all over the flats and cobia are in the area too. Redfish have made their way up to the oyster bars as well. When the wind is down and no rain in sight it`s a lot of fun out on my 24ft. pontoon hunting fish around the Cedar Key area. Call me at 352-221-5463 and we`ll go do it. thanks, Capt. Dan

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