I’d rather talk about the A first. Hungry fish spotted attacking bait tight to a shoreline. Paddle over to plan and position for the stealthy ambush. Smartly, I didn’t stake out but rather allowed the breeze to nudge me into position for the shot. Forty foot shot was taken, the shot hit the target, the redfish did its part, now off to the races. Since I hadn’t staked out, the fish took me into a little deeper water and away from sharp shell that dotted the skinny water.
I like to try and generally mostly succeed managing redfish off the reel, but this fish had other ideas. Great, a fish on the reel is easier to handle than off, but again, this fish had a different plan. December is a good month for a sleigh ride and that’s what I got. Snow, water, reindeer, redfish, what’s the difference at the end of the day. I got the grand tour of the Freeport marsh before I finally was able to rein in this red.
A little north of 12 pounds weighed in the net. My net is well less than 2 pounds soaking wet so I figure close to eleven pounds. My measure only goes to 25” (I had planned to remedy that) but this fish was at least 6” beyond the 25”. Anyway, I kept the fish on the boga grip in the water for a while to allow the red to revive after that battle, snapped a final photo or two, and off it swam away.
Me, I never really fully revived and should have pulled the plug and called it a day. As it is with the better redfish they seem to take something out of me. The rest of the time I tanked up on vitamin D and got some exercise. No fish were harmed except a 12” flounder that got a moment in the air before going back into the water.
I can think of only one bigger redfish I caught in the marsh about a mile away and five years past. If the quantity was lacking the quality of this fish was there.
