Luck of the Bri-rish

Today I decided to toss out the ol' fishin' plug on my lunch break.

As I walked down to the seawall, I could see seagulls feeding off bait fish about 200 yards away. Since the tide was flowing toward me, I figured it would only be a matter of time before the bait school (and the fish feeding on it) would reach me.

In the meantime, I casted out into my usual ladyfish spots without a bite. At some point I was so bored waiting for the bait fish that I just stopped fishing and watched the seagulls dive bombing the school.

After about 30 minutes, I realized that the bait fish were not coming toward me. In fact, they seemed to be going the other way. That reminded me of something my father-in-law once told me: bait fish always swim into the wind.

The wind was blowing into my face, which meant the bait fish were going the opposite way.

Bah.

I was about to pack up in disgust when I heard a fish hit the water behind me. I decided to investigate.

I walked along the seawall, looking into the water with my super-spy polarized glasses. I saw a few mullet, and then what I took to be a larger mullet, but which was in fact a snook. Right there. I jolted to a stop and the snook saw me and swam off.

I walked further down the seawall and waited about 3 minutes to see if the snook would come back. I couldn't see any wake in the water or any other obvious signs that he had returned, but decided to cast in anyway.

First cast, nothing.

Second cast, FISH ON!

With the first leap from the water, I saw that I had caught the snook. Three more leaps later, I had it up against the dock and hoisted it toward me. Right as I got it over the dock, the snook thrashed and broke off the line, fell to the planks at my feet, and then froze. I reached down, pinned the snook to the deck, and pulled out the Yo-zuri.

I'm afraid that I don't have any photos to show you, but the snook had an amber tinge to it, perhaps from inhabiting the Hillsborough river. I did have my tape measure along, and the snook came in at exactly 19 inches total length. Yes, I've caught bigger ladyfish, but it felt so great to land my first snook of the year. This catch was especially meaningful to me after losing two big fish in a row. I knew there was a reason I wore my green tie to work today.

I tossed it back, and shook my head. The Hills never ceases to perplex me. I guess this means I'll have to keep fishing it.

For the record, the Yo-zuri I caught the snook on today was the "Blue Tiger" which has a top of blue tiger stripes and silver sides. I was using the 3/8 oz size, which is one size larger than the one I normally use.

One more thing: for comparison's sake, the snook I caught today barely pulled any drag off my reel. That just gives you an idea of how big the fish was that I lost last Saturday, the one that peeled half the line off my reel before I could turn it around.

Yes, it still burns.