Big Red, Big Trout

I fished with old friend Mike Stalvey, his son Michael and grandson "Bird" this morning and had a great day of fishing, catching up and swapping stories. They got in from Lake City last night for a planned day of fishing and after dining on seafood at the Crab Trap and getting to bed at decent time, we were up early this morning to be waiting at the bait shop to open for our live shrimp. We were in the water and running to Jolley River by 7am, began fishing and had only trolled a short distance when Michael hooked up and had a battle on his hands as the fish took drag, hunkered down, then took some more drag. When the fish rolled at the surface we knew we had a nice Redfish on the line and Michael expertly worked the fish, eventually bringing the 9.5 pound, 29" fish to the net. We snapped some pictures and released it to be caught another day. After all the excitement and "high-fives" we got lines back in the water and began inching along the grass line again, tossing live shrimp under Cajun Thunder's. Michael hooked up again, this time with a hard running, head shaking 19" trout; then Mike got in on the action with two more 18" trout, all hooked good and fighting mad. We eventually ran further up the river where Bird caught some croakers then we fished the docks on Bell River and were proud to see Bird's casting improve to the point where he was calling his spots and making pinpoint casts. Eventually, we wrapped up the day then headed home to some fried trout, cold slaw and baked beans. What a great way to "hook" up with old friends!