Scrubs,
Good to have you back man. I mean it...yeah, it was a new experience for me. It took me a couple trips, and then it finally clicked. I had to fork out for a new rod, which for me at the time was a big deal...but I managed to get it off of Rodney at a much reduced price. A big 'ol Fenwick inshore 8'6"...and a matching Abu Garcia 706. The selling point was the fact that I could use it for rockfish below the dams up here when they run. I look forward to that. Rodney compares them to reds...strong but kinda stupid. It was great because any time you hooked a snook off the catwalk you KNEW it was a snook because it would run straight for the fender ...reminds me of Jaws..."...this is a smart fish chief...a very smart fish...".
I was too preoccupied with other things to really do much fishing until about a month before I left. I look forward to going back though, and would like to go fish Pierce as well. Apparently...there are some nice snook to be had below the bridges in the keys too...but first off, I want to get some big rockfish up here.
Scrubs, I was talking about the carbon matrix drag in relation to catching a rockfish, which is technically an anadromous saltwater fish, stocked as a landlocked sport fishery. So I'll give you half a point.
I'd argue that there is another freshwater fish that requires a carbon matrix drag....large paddlefish. It's a shame they're so easily depleted. Unlike alot of folks, I think snagging for specific species IS sporting, when regulated. And a great way to create a fishery out of undesirables too. I use to snag TONS of bigheads in Illinois on my lunch break in college and knife them just to watch them swim off to their death. Fight like hell though...and the whole hooking them in the back or tail makes it all the more epic. The few paddlefish I've been able to snag which weren't monumental, maybe up to 30 pounds, were terrific fighters. I'd dare say a full grown 80-100 pounder hooked in the tail would be a terrific fight. They clear the water too, which is spectacular.
Mike,
yeah I'm not going to lie, I've been out there a couple weeknight evenings, when I'm the only guy on the north jetty. I wasn't as creeped out by it until Rodney told me about the rogue wave that hit it one time in the middle of the night a few years back and washed some people off and sent alot of people to the hospital. NO fatalities, but not for lack of trying. I did get to see an unscheduled shuttle launch off the pier at night back in April. That was tight.
No, Scrubs, I didn't get to go out deep sea. I'd love to do it for hte fight, but to be honest...when someone has to drive the boat, take me to the spot, and all that, I kinda lose a piece of myself. Also, I think the FIGHT in offshore is fantastic and I'd love to hook up with a big billfish, but alot of the species it just kinda seems like...you go to the wreck, and if they're there, you get them, you know? Tons of fun I bet, but not a whole lot of brains past just knowing where to go. I may be TOTALLY wrong, but that's the impression I get. I think billfish might be a bit different but for most, basically presentation seems to be drop it down there and wait. I can't wait for the tarpon to run in the winter. I'm definitely going back down for that. I think Rodney said his biggest at Sebastien was 155 pounds, but he says he's jumped ones way bigger that he could do little with and just cut the line so he didn't lose 50 dollars in microfuse to a fish he had no chance with.
Beautiful yellowfin btw. Good eatin'...
This post has already run pretty long, as always, but you were talking about the regs. Rodney has fished the inlet since the 50's and frankly probably knows it better than anyone, or just as well. he's modest, but I've seen the writeups about him in the Miami Herald and Orlando Sentinel as well as Inshore Angler and a couple other saltwater mags...his take on alot of what has happened to these regs, I respect, and makes sense. Alot of these fish, he says, have no been depleted by the anglers, so much, but by the predators that are protected from angling, namely the jewfish. I talked to a gentleman who snorkels the inlet on dead tide in the summer, and says there are at least 20 jewfish under the north jetty all over a 100 pounds and some nearing 3-400. They eat snook and reds, and in fact, rather often fish retrieved to the jetty awaiting a drop net will get slurped up, or if released carelessly from the jetty and in momentary shock, will get eaten in that state before they can react. I'm not saying we clean out the jewfish, but I think it is a bit foolish for a fish to be completely protected against harvest when it has virtually no other natural predators besides humans, and remains indefinitely and completely protected by regulations put into affect decades ago due to SPEAR fishing harvest, not rod and reel. It makes sense to me that a concentrated population of giant jewfish at a crucial intercept point like an inlet where snook and reds enter and leave the river and the ocean, could greatly affect the population if left unchecked. Lets face it, they're way better at what they do than we are, and it takes alot of meat to feed a 300 pound grouper. And last time I checked the slot limit doesn't apply to them. I may be wrong, but it made alot of sense to me.
,went back fishing in the early 80's & could'nt beleive how much it had changed,i go to the west coast of fla as the fishing is normaly better,need to make it back down there & walk that bridge in the dark & see if its still as scary 
