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| Atthewall
Crappie Username: Atthewall Post Number: 398 Registered: 11-2004  Rating: N/A |
I've caught several dozen snook in my life living in South Florida and those 20+lb snook have always been a dream of mine. Never in my mind would I have thought that chance would be in South Texas. All I had on my mind Saturday night was a nice stringer of reds and specs but.... My son Austin and I headed down to PINS this weekend. We managed to roll and setup at the 34 around 10 pm. Drifter hooked me up (Thanks David) by telling me to cast net at the newly dredged Packery Channel for fresh mullet. We mananged 10lbs of fingerlings with only 2 bull mullets but, it's good enough for a late night soak off the beach. We set camp, pop the tent and I yak out into 2ft seas. Tide is low, moon is full and the 3rd bar is breaking with a sideshore wind. I clear the 2nd bar without issue, timing the waves and hit the gut between 2 and 3. I wait out a few sets and hit the oars hard. As I paddle a couple of waves form and I punch through...things are looking good when suddenly, a wave over my head comes busting down on me and the yak. The wave knocks me over the back of the yak, my milk carton crate rips out of 4 cleats and I'm floating a couple of hundred yards off the beach. I felt my steel leader slide down my leg but the circle hook misses me. •••• this is fun! The evening goes by slowly since I lost the ability to yak baits "Safely" at night. I rig my pair of 11ft Fenwick customs with an ABU 7500 Big Game and Newell 338-J and cast bait from the 1st bar. The first wade gut is shoulder high and after the offshore roll over, I decide to not push my luck. As deep as the first gut is, I figured it's plenty deep in the 2nd for a night fish. No action, tide is low and slowly incoming so we decide to call it a night around 4 am. At sunup, we decide to break camp and roll down to the 40's, tide is high at sunup so I figure we can work the falling tide down south. I managed to find my milk carton crate 1.5 miles North of our camp. I toss it into the truck and managed to rig it up in the 40s minus 3 cleats. I get the 4/0 wide rigged and get a bait way off the beach. It soaks a fresh jackfish 4 hours without a hit, score nothing...zilch....natha on the deep rod. I have my 2nd Fenwick rigged with fresh fingerling mullet in the 2nd gut. Each cast is immediately hammered by hardheads. We keep at it, tossing lures between the waits but fishing is slow. Perfect water...a little too perfect but that's PINS. Late Saturday afternoon we decide to hit the Port Mansfield jettis for a night of full moon fishing. Out on the rocks at Port Mansfield I had one of the highest points in my fishing career suddenly dashed in the last 10 ft of a lengthy and long battle. Austin and I rock hopped right at sundown expecting to score on trout or redfish. I continually cast one long rod only to be rewarded with more big hardheads. At sundown we decide to start deep, roughly 200 yards from the end and work our way back into shallow fan casting. We finally fish our way up to roughly 100 yards off the beach, jumping rocks, hauling gear in our backpacks and lighting the way with a Coleman lantern. After about one million casts, I get a rock solid hook up, so solid my line screams off the reel as I hang on smiling from ear to ear. First thoughts, oversized redfish (bullred) and I focus on keeping a light drag with a high rod tip. Time to really play patience since I realized I grabbed the wrong reel in the truck and this reel is spooled with 8lb mono, No bueno when fishing open water in the Gulf of Mexico. Roughly 10 minutes into my battle I hand the rod to Austin thinking I hooked a bullred on a trout rod. Might as well let Austin feel a good fight. Austin gets a few real good runs when I notice this fish in now swimming full bore to the rocks at a very serious right angle. I grab rod from Austin and try as well as I can to keep pressure on this fish. He gets into the rocks in an attempt to break me off, but I keep the pressure on. I realize this isn't a redfish, redfish do not fight like this and this fish is banging his head rapid fashion against the line, cutting left and right changing directions rapidly trying to get a better angle on me and break off. His speed in redirecting his effort is unreal. This fish is literally spinning around underwater cork screw fashion, heavy body and the line just peels like nothing off my ABU Pro Max 3600. Redfish certainly don't fight like this and generally tire out after 2 or 3 good long straight runs. I'm into run 10 or 14 now and he's not getting tired. I work the line in, and as fast as I pile it up on the reel, off it goes in a fast burst of speed striping it all and then some. This fish is not jumping like a tarpon and my mind runs wild with anticipation. Finally at 10 yards I see a 3+ foot silver body swimming parallel to the rocks, long and thick and zing off goes another 50 yards of line in seconds. What in the world is this long silver fish? I finally work him in close again. Now he's swimming parallel to the rocks at 10ft and we finally get a good look at this fish.... OH MY GOD IT'S A HUGE TEXAS SNOOK!!!! I'm hooked up with largest snook of my life and my first Texas snook ever... what a pig!!!! This snook is 3ft long, thick as a young tarpon and sporting that very noticeable striped line, wide tail and long lower jaw. I've been hooked up close to 30 minutes and my blood pressure boils! I now have him in close and I start to work him into a small cove between a pair of rocks, rod high like a shock absorber, drag light, he’s coming in head first now, steady, steady…SNAP…the line breaks. I suddenly sit down in absolutely disbelief and shock. My line breaks right in the spot Mr. Snook managed to chaff up against the rocks. We finally gather ourselves (Austin gathers instantly) as I just sit and pout for a few moments. A few casts and suddenly Austin sets the hook on a fish. Out in the dark we watch this fish jump 4 times, shaking his head trying to free himself from the lure in his mouth. After a brief battle we land Austin's snook. He's small but that’s ok, he is a rare treat along the Texas Gulf Coast. We snap a few pics and release him back into the Gulf to grow and fight another day. Austin has one up on his Dad, a Texas snook and a very rare treat for any inshore Texas angler. One day we will turn the tide and Mr. Snook now owes me one. And the next time, dumb dumb Dad is going out with a long handled, oversized net. I probably would have lost him at the rocks, and I didn't have gloves or a heavy mono leader as well. My only option was to pull off my t-shirt and bulldog him up onto the rocks. I didn't want a handfull of RattleTrap and I certainly didn't want to reach around his gills, like a razor blade. Next time I'll change my plans. Hope you enjoy the pixels. I manage to teach Austin the fine art of the cast net. After a few missed opportunities he finally nets a nice pile of fingerling mullet. I’m still smiling.  The scene along the Texas Coast at PINS       A night time howler makes an unexpected visit during the afternoon   Mexican Brown Pelicans    Common Seagull  If I ever had to live my life as a bird, I think I would prefer to cruise the beach lowrider style. I know Jimmy Buffet is smiling somewhere  An Air station Corpus Christi HU-25 (Falcon). Flew in this bird several times back in my day and it’s good to see her again  Royal Tern  Kemp Ridley sea turtle  Atlantic Stingray taking a vacation in the Gulf of Mexico  As isolated as it is along the coast, many prefer to leave their tracks on storm blown floatsam  A Snook Moon  Mankind leaves its mark and Mother Nature does her part to clean it up  Austin’s first snook and I am one proud Papa  I managed a few specs Sunday morning as Austin slept in. Sunday morning I had yet another heavy fish at my snook spot. Line peeled off just as the evening before, head banging and hauling butt back and forth.....hooks pulled free I lost 2 very large fish this weekend and the second was on 12 lb test P-Line vice the evening before 8lb test. Paying my dues I suppose?  Sunday morning I hooked a small jackfish. As I fought the jack, a trout pops up from the rocks and starts fighting the jack with my Trap in it's mouth. After a few moments I've got both hooked and they start fighting against each other. The jack pulled off and the trout stayed on. Odd as heck and that's a first for me as well. The trout were on fire during the first 30 minutes after sunup then everything went into the sunup doldrums. Excellent blue water, tons of fingerling but nothing on plastic or chrome so we called it quits at 10am and headed back up to Austin. | ||
| Dale_moser
Moderator Username: Dale_moser Post Number: 136 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Good stuff Roberto! I wouldn't expect less. Fishing is alot like sex: Even when it's bad it's still pretty good! | ||
| Bigun
Crappie Username: Bigun Post Number: 589 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Way to go Austin and Rob! Way to show the whole man how to land a fish. Excellent pictures Rob! You got some skillz SON! Love that sea turtle picture. It kinda looks like a SNOOK! | ||
| Charles
Moderator Username: Charles Post Number: 456 Registered: 7-2004 Rating: N/A |
Nice recap! | ||
| Texfisher
Crappie Username: Texfisher Post Number: 372 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Great writeup Rob. I hate that you lost the fish but it sure made a good story. If you're richer than me I think we're related. If you're poorer than me I know we're related. My bass club webpage http://texbass.8m.com/ 
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| Redneck88
Bluegill Username: Redneck88 Post Number: 169 Registered: 2-2005 Rating: N/A |
sorry to hear bout you losing them 2 fish.good story though and looks like yall still enjoyed yallselves. "If it aint got whiskers throw it back." "I'd rather be fishing than talk to you right now." | ||
| Hawlin_bass
Bluegill Username: Hawlin_bass Post Number: 152 Registered: 1-2005  Rating: N/A |
great writeup and pics! Don't those kids just love to have a oneup on ole Dad. Both of you will remember that night for years to come. | ||
| Fishinaggie88
Crappie Username: Fishinaggie88 Post Number: 362 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Sounds like a heck of a weekend with the boy Rob!!! Love to fish and hunt. | ||
| Picou
Lunker Username: Picou Post Number: 1378 Registered: 8-2004  Rating: N/A |
Great recap Rob and wonderful pixel coverage. Are you sure that is a snook???   Congrats on a great trip with your son. Those times are the ones that will still be remembered a long time from now. My hat is off to you for being willing to include him in the outdoors... Way to go buddy!!!!  Thank you Lord for my family and the waters I get to fish
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