First trip of the year...BIG surprise!

[bwgarrett3]

Baseball has kept me so busy this spring that I made my first fishing trip today with my dad. We went after some stripe on the river. After catching a few stripe I had a big fish break my line. I retied and hooked into another big fish. 20 minutes later I landed the first rockfish pictured. After landing that one I waded back up to the same spot and hooked the second one pictured. I handed the rod to my dad and 30 minutes later I grabbed it by the tail and carried it to the bank.

Both were caught from the bank, with a small spinning setup, 8lb test line and a 2 inch Rapala.

 

[bwgarrett3]

33"

 

[bwgarrett3]

38"

 

[CATCHDAWG]

Very cool, they are a blast to catch! Bet it was a challenge on light tackle, congrats!

 

[TheLBLman]

You gonna need a bigger stringer.

 

[Carlos]

That's awesome!
Way to go!

 

[bwgarrett3]

You gonna need a bigger stringer.

Yeah. We put two stringer hooks in each of their mouths and hooked them to rocks. Haha

 

[timberjack86]

Congrats!! Hiawassee?

 

[bwgarrett3]

Congrats!! Hiawassee?

Emory River

 

[redblood]

Thats amazing to catch fish that big in such shallow water!

 

[bwgarrett3]

Thats amazing to catch fish that big in such shallow water!

I knew they ran up that far but never expected to catch one that big, let alone two!

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

Nice!

 

[Lt.Dan]

Congratulations.

 

[thirdwilliam]

awesome

 

[Wooden Arrow]

Thats amazing to catch fish that big in such shallow water!

fun to catch them on top-water plugs when they go shallow like that.

 

[bwgarrett3]

fun to catch them on top-water plugs when they go shallow like that.

Yes! Topwater is a blast. Took a spook up there this evening but the water was up and muddy. It was a struggle.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

spooks are fun, but i caught far more fish rippling the surface with salt-water Redfins... used to feed myself in times of "professional

 

[CATCHDAWG]

spooks are fun, but i caught far more fish rippling the surface with salt-water Redfins... used to feed myself in times of "professional

The largest percentage of the Rockfish I've caught have been on Redfins. I learned years ago to put good hooks on'em. A big fish will straighten out those cheap galvanized hooks they come with.