Catching A 28 Inch Sea Trout In The Ditches

This afternoon I managed to catch a gator, a 28 inch sea trout in the ditches, a "hard hat" catfish and an oversize redfish that I lost around a brush pile.  Not a bad outing for only a couple hours fishing!

The North wind as blowing up a storm this afternoon which made fishing topwater baits almost impossible, so I decided to fish cut baits for Redfish and whatever else would take a bait.

I loaded up three rods and a cooler with a half of a large ladyfish that I caught a couple of weeks ago and proceeded to Peacocks Pocket road.

I planned to fish an area where I caught some nice reds yesterday evening but someone was already at the spot, so I moved up the marsh canal to another spot where I often see redfish cruising.

I chunked up a couple of pieces of ladyfish and put out two rods without any weights.

It didn't take long before a redfish hit the first bait I set out near an open culvert.  The red was oversize and felt like it was well over 30 inches but I never got a chance to take a measurement.

The fish ran up the marsh canal and headed towards a pile of brush where it managed to break off.

I quickly tied on another 5/0 Owner hook, cut another chunk of ladyfish for bait, and lobbed it into the middle of the marsh canal for another shot at a red.

I put my SJ4000 Cam on my visor in hopes of getting a video of another redfish catch and started fishing again.

The wind made it impossible to keep a tight line and when the next fish hit, it took a while for me to realize I had a fish on.

I turned on the SJ4000 Cam as soon as I saw something on my line and got this video of me catching a 28 inch sea trout in the ditches.


Surprisingly, the big sea trout did not put up much of a fight and after some sloshing around, I finally slid down the bank to get a Boca Grip on the fish.

I took a couple of quick "selfies" and this short video before releasing the fish to fight another day.

 

 After putting the rod out with another fresh chunk of ladyfish, the other rod took off and I thought I had another big redfish on but as the 20 pound Power Pro kept screaming off my reel, I knew it couldn't have been a redfish.

Whatever I caught was about to spool my reel so I tightened the drag to the max, and thumbed the spool to add additional resistance.  I thought the line would break off but the long run finally stopped and I started to pump in whatever was on the other end.

After literally 30 minutes or so of constant pressure and a lot of give and take, I finally got to see what was on the other end.

I saw the tail first, and immediately recognized it as an alligator.  The gator was about 7 to 8 feet long and it was in no mood to stay around me.  When it saw what was on the other end of his tail, it took off again and I decided to break it off.   

I pointed the rod at the gator and held on until the line snapped at the hook.

All the time I was fighting the gator I thought I had turned the camera was on, but when I got home I realized it was shut off.

I was ready to quit fishing and head for home but the line on my other rod was moving out and I thought I had another redfish on.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a hard head catfish which I promptly released.

It was getting dark and the wind never let up, so I packed up the rods and headed for home.

All in all it was a decent fishing trip, at least it wasn't boring..

Till next time, Tight Lines.