Fishing Forum

<br /> I'm spending about 4 weeks at Eglin Air Force Base preparing for a series Patriot Missile Flight tests. I had Memorial Weekend off, so the family came down to visit. Saturday morning we head out with Captain Buddy Groomer on the Indian Outlaw. We started out catching bait at the Destin Harbor bridge. I think the girls would've been content catching bait all day. Bait was thick and we caught mostly threadfins but had a decent mix of cigar minnows in there. Bro and I were itching to get out after the reel fish. We started our troll just outside the Harbor mouth, and very quickly we had a fish on. A nice Spanish. About 10 minutes later all four rods went down and we were able to hook up with three of them. After a nice bit of team work, and a heck of a fight by little Amanda we boated 3 nice keeper + Kings in a hurry. Now that we had the meat I'd wanted, and knowing the sailors moon hurt the bite, we headed out with grouper rigs tied on. After about a 15 mile run, we stopped at a reef and immediately started catching fish... only one problem, we couldn't get to the Grouper, because of that pesky endangered species, RED SNAPPA. We probably caught 20 Snapper, with a fair amount of them keepers. Too bad the season doesn't open until today. We finally caught a few grouper, but no keepers...when WHAM. My rod bowed completely over. I knew it was a shark, and a big one. I knew we were running short on time, and so my brother and I tag teamed the shark while my sister, girlfriend and bro's girlfriend begged us and the deck hand not to bring the Shark on board. After about 35 minutes we got the brute to the boat. I instructed my sister on what angle to snap some pics from, but i don't think she listened, because all the tail section is missing. The fish was 7-8 ft in length, and I have no idea how much it weighed. The First Mate said it was a Bull Shark, but after looking at the pics, I'm not sure that is a Bull. I dont know, and don't really care, it was a great memory shared with my brother.<br /> The Gulf was clean and beautiful in and around Ft Walton and Destin. Come down here while you can. We have had no experience with oil since I've been here, and lets hope that continues.