Nice Drum-Reds

[HogginHank]

Here are a couple of pics of some of the fish we caught at Port Occoner TX this week. The Red is 41 " and the black drum is 34"..It was a great trip..

[HogginHank]

Here is the 34" drum..There were a lot more pics but most of them are on one of the other guys regular cameras..

[fabsroman]

Who is using the belt/gimbal for that 41" fish? We catch Rockfish bigger than that without a belt. Hell, we were catching yellowfin tuna one day without the use of a belt, gimbal, or fighting chair because we had way too many on the lines at once.

Hank,

Just tell me it ain't you!!!!!!!!! LOL

[HogginHank]

Originally posted by fabsroman
Who is using the belt/gimbal for that 41" fish? We catch Rockfish bigger than that without a belt. Hell, we were catching yellowfin tuna one day without the use of a belt, gimbal, or fighting chair because we had way too many on the lines at once.

Hank,

Just tell me it ain't you!!!!!!!!! LOL

YEP..Thats me holding the redfish. I did have a 5 1/2 Bull Shark on just prior to realing this red in but he decided to get into a marker bouy and break off. He was hurting my groin pretty good. This was my first time catching fish bigger than the normal 30" and smaller reds/trout/gafftop cats.."Emily" that hit the coast really jacked up the water there. A friend/guide that we were with said that there was "Blue Water" just at the end of the jettys and that they had limited out on king fish a week and half ago before Hurricane Emily hit the texas coast. I hope to go back in september and october. Some of the other firefighters on my shift go with this guide during that time and catch killer reds. There are a few of them that have 48" + reds mounted on the wall That is my goal for my next trip...I had a lot of fun...

[fabsroman]

Isn't catching the big fish a ton of fun.

Since it was your first time, I'll let you slide.

I remember the first time I went Rockfishing. I wasn't a big fan of fishing because I never caught a thing with my dad when we were younger and it was boring. My dad wasn't the best hunter or fisher I have figured out, but he was definitely better at hunting than fishing. Then again, his game was upland hunting and he was great at that. Fishing, terrible. Waterfowling, terrible. Probably because he didn't keep up with all the technology and tactics.

Anyway, back to my story. The first time I went Rockfishing was my second year in law school. The first fish we hooked up, I passed to my law school buddy and it was a 35" rockfish at around 20 pounds. I was cussing at myself because I had never seen a fish that big on a hook while fishing. Anyway, I got the next, and last, fish we hooked that day and it turned out to be a 42" Rockfish at 30 pounds. It took me about 20 minutes to reel it in and my forearms were on fire. Probably didn't help anything that I did an upper body workout the very night before. My friends were laughing at me until that fish's head broke the water. At that point, we were wondering how we were going to get it in the boat because the net wasn't big enough and we didn't have a gaf. My other law school buddy (i.e., the one that didn't reel in the other fish), being a charter boat mate out in the ocean for tuna, bill fish, and shark, leaned over the back of the boat and picked the fish up by the mouth with both hands.

Here is a pick of that fish.

[fabsroman]

Here is a pic of the tuna we caught the following summer.

[fabsroman]

Last but not least, I'll leave you with some fish we caught two years ago. Catching big fish can be contagious, because now my dad loves to go fishing whereas he used to say he hate it because he could never tell if there were fish in the water or not.

I used to think I understood that statement, but thinking upon it, I never know if the monster buck is on the next farm over or not until I see him. Same goes for the birds. Who knows if they are flying my way until I actually see them. There have been plenty of days hunting without seeing a single thing.

[fabsroman]

Hank,

Thought I would post one more time to say that I in no way mean to get into a pissing match with the pics or undermine your pics. Just mean to show you that having never really fished before age 26, I really enjoy it now and I think you will too. Hopefully, the pics I have posted are of future fish to come your way.

[HogginHank]

the pics are great . I do hope I get to do more fishing.. I got the "BUG" really bad right now..I have mostlt freshwater fished my whole life and this is probably about the 10 th time I have hit the saltwater..I sure hope I have more pics to come..Thanks for posting those up..Adios' for now..