SNAPPER - October 30, 2021
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:29 pm
My brother and I made arrangements to meet up on Thursday to get everything placed on his truck so that we could leave fast on Friday after I got out of work. Come Friday, I clocked out at 3:00 pm and made it home by 3:30 pm. Once I was home, I went inside to get changed fairly quickly. Next I grabbed a few small other items and we were on the road just a tad bit before 4:00 pm. Our trip was roughly five hours, give or take. We arrived on the PINS beach line between 9:00 and 10:00 at night. Once we arrived to our spot on the beach, we started to get things ready on the yaks for the next morning. After everything was set up on the yaks, we slept in my brother's truck.
Let me back track for a second. A few years back, I was heading to a spot offshore. Along the way I ran across something that looked promising on my fish finder. I marked it but kept going because a group of us was heading to a spot. I kept on telling myself for the past few years that I would eventually come back to this marking on my fish finder and try it out. Now was the time I decided to try this location out that I marked in passing on my fish finder.
The next morning arrives and my brother and I began getting things together and thawing out the squid. The surf wasn't bad at all but it got even better as the day progressed.
Next we both started through the surf. The surf wasn't really bad at all. It was a little choppy past the surf. As we were going through the choppy stuff, we saw a huge pod of dolphins. What an amazing site to watch. There must have been around twenty of them.
As we kept going out, the water got really calm.
The temps that morning started off really cold, 40 degrees. As the day progressed, it was supposed to be in the 80s, which it did get there while we were on the water. The other thing that kept us warm was that we were peddling the entire time which kept our body heat going. We had a long paddle to go to get where we were going. I believe we peddled out around 7.5 miles, if my memory serves me right. That's not really long to go if you are in a Hobie (or if you are Prof. Salt, lol). Glenn can run circles around us for sure. He is a paddling beast!
Finally, my brother and I arrived at our destination. We searched around until we found what looked like something on the bottom. I immediately rigged up my line with some squid and away I went. I was using a 16 oz weight to get my bait down to the bottom. I didn't want any kind of current or even the bait stealers, triggers and spades, to get my bait before it made it to the bottom. After my bait hit the bottom, I pulled up two full turns and instantly I was hooked up! At first I thought that maybe I was hooked up to a shark because of the way this thing was pulling. My rod was bent over pretty good! After working the line up for awhile, I was able to vaguely lay eyes on the fish from afar. I could see it was a snapper. This is good because now I know there was snapper at this location. At this point, I can't tell if the fish was a keeper or too small. After a bit more reeling in, I finally got the snapper to the top. WHOA, HUGE SNAPPER!! I grabbed my net quickly and managed to get this one in and on the yak. Originally, my PB was 26" and some change. This was my all time personal best. In the yak it measured right at 30", a new PB for me. Later, once I got back to shore after keeping the snapper in the fish bag on ice, it shrunk to 29.75". What an amazing start. My first drop of the day and I landed a 30" snapper. The day was starting off strong.
A few drops by my brother later and he was on the board with a 23" snapper.
Don't get me wrong, there were small ones as well.
As time kept on going, we kept on catching. One after another, the snapper kept on coming. This place was on fire! After a good amount of fishing, my brother and I decided that it was time to make the long haul back to land and call it a day. We could have stayed out longer, but we didn't want to get back to Houston too terribly late in the evening. Instead, we decided that we had enough fun for one day. We left the fishing hole with three snapper each and one trigger that ended up at 16.25". Six snapper and a trigger is a good amount of meat to take back. We were happy with the results. There was no need to stay longer.
After a long peddle back, we were at the surf zone. The surf zone basically looked like a lake. We rode the surf in forward with no issues at all. What a great time and the weather cooperated. The water temps were amazing, 70+ degrees. The water clarity was at least 15'. I was shocked because after all the winds this area had been getting previously that the clarity was as good as it was the day we went out. After we got back to shore, it was time to get things packed up for the trip back home.
Here are the measurements of each of our largest snapper we caught for the day.
Now that everything was packed and ready for the long drive back, we changed clothes real quick and then paused one last time to take in the view before driving home.
My brother retired from the Army after 22 years of service last year. I was happy to be able to put him on such a wonderful trip catching an amazing fish. It was great fishing with my brother and catching up. We will definitely be doing this trip again!
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Let me back track for a second. A few years back, I was heading to a spot offshore. Along the way I ran across something that looked promising on my fish finder. I marked it but kept going because a group of us was heading to a spot. I kept on telling myself for the past few years that I would eventually come back to this marking on my fish finder and try it out. Now was the time I decided to try this location out that I marked in passing on my fish finder.
The next morning arrives and my brother and I began getting things together and thawing out the squid. The surf wasn't bad at all but it got even better as the day progressed.
Next we both started through the surf. The surf wasn't really bad at all. It was a little choppy past the surf. As we were going through the choppy stuff, we saw a huge pod of dolphins. What an amazing site to watch. There must have been around twenty of them.
As we kept going out, the water got really calm.
The temps that morning started off really cold, 40 degrees. As the day progressed, it was supposed to be in the 80s, which it did get there while we were on the water. The other thing that kept us warm was that we were peddling the entire time which kept our body heat going. We had a long paddle to go to get where we were going. I believe we peddled out around 7.5 miles, if my memory serves me right. That's not really long to go if you are in a Hobie (or if you are Prof. Salt, lol). Glenn can run circles around us for sure. He is a paddling beast!
Finally, my brother and I arrived at our destination. We searched around until we found what looked like something on the bottom. I immediately rigged up my line with some squid and away I went. I was using a 16 oz weight to get my bait down to the bottom. I didn't want any kind of current or even the bait stealers, triggers and spades, to get my bait before it made it to the bottom. After my bait hit the bottom, I pulled up two full turns and instantly I was hooked up! At first I thought that maybe I was hooked up to a shark because of the way this thing was pulling. My rod was bent over pretty good! After working the line up for awhile, I was able to vaguely lay eyes on the fish from afar. I could see it was a snapper. This is good because now I know there was snapper at this location. At this point, I can't tell if the fish was a keeper or too small. After a bit more reeling in, I finally got the snapper to the top. WHOA, HUGE SNAPPER!! I grabbed my net quickly and managed to get this one in and on the yak. Originally, my PB was 26" and some change. This was my all time personal best. In the yak it measured right at 30", a new PB for me. Later, once I got back to shore after keeping the snapper in the fish bag on ice, it shrunk to 29.75". What an amazing start. My first drop of the day and I landed a 30" snapper. The day was starting off strong.
A few drops by my brother later and he was on the board with a 23" snapper.
Don't get me wrong, there were small ones as well.
As time kept on going, we kept on catching. One after another, the snapper kept on coming. This place was on fire! After a good amount of fishing, my brother and I decided that it was time to make the long haul back to land and call it a day. We could have stayed out longer, but we didn't want to get back to Houston too terribly late in the evening. Instead, we decided that we had enough fun for one day. We left the fishing hole with three snapper each and one trigger that ended up at 16.25". Six snapper and a trigger is a good amount of meat to take back. We were happy with the results. There was no need to stay longer.
After a long peddle back, we were at the surf zone. The surf zone basically looked like a lake. We rode the surf in forward with no issues at all. What a great time and the weather cooperated. The water temps were amazing, 70+ degrees. The water clarity was at least 15'. I was shocked because after all the winds this area had been getting previously that the clarity was as good as it was the day we went out. After we got back to shore, it was time to get things packed up for the trip back home.
Here are the measurements of each of our largest snapper we caught for the day.
Now that everything was packed and ready for the long drive back, we changed clothes real quick and then paused one last time to take in the view before driving home.
My brother retired from the Army after 22 years of service last year. I was happy to be able to put him on such a wonderful trip catching an amazing fish. It was great fishing with my brother and catching up. We will definitely be doing this trip again!
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Way to go Blake! Very great report and pictures to make the whole report jump out at ya! Loved it.