Encounter with the Junkyard Dawg
Mike Bearden (in the dark blue hat behind the fish) and his 46
lbs. Jack Crevalle.
Sunday June 3rd about 6:00am, 5 of us, Captain Paul Batts and Deckhand
David Batts of Lil' Bert Charters, set out for the big challenge. We were
told that the day prior was outstanding with each reeling their limit of
Snapper. We took off out of Freeport at about 6:00am and headed out
to several markers between 12-20 miles out. One of the productive
locations was referred to as "Lil Bucs." We tried trolling for a while
and landed some King, Dolphin and Bonita. We also tried some drop lines
for some Snapper but no luck with that. Back to trolling, then I met
JACK! We were trolling with a Pumpkin Seed - Orange and Black Trolling
Squid Williamson Lures as well as a Giant "Tremblr" on 7ft trolling rigs
with 20lb test line. When this guy hit, he hit hard.
I fought this OX for over a 1/2 hour of reeling, pulling, arms aching and
legs shaking from fighting this thing while negotiating a balancing act
against 4-6ft breakers. At one point the captain thought that what ever
I had on the line may have snagged the line deep since there were periods
with no activity except the bow in the pole.
Once he started fighting again he went for long runs taking out about 80 -
90 ft of line. The captain began maneuvering of the boat around and in
some instances chasing this Heavy Weight Boxer of a fish by backing the
boat toward it. Once this guy was on the boat, my legs were shaking and
my forearms felt like they were about to explode. The "catch and release" program was
strictly followed with this fish. This catch was released and swam away with no indication of harm.
Types of fish caught that day:
Bonita,
Dolphin, King,
Jack Crevalle
Weather Conditions:
Occasional Thunderstorms with 4-6ft waves
Lil'Bert Charters
1611 Blue water Dr.
Freeport, TX 77541
979-233-2912
979-299-7186
Texas Gulf Coast
Fishing
