Tales from the Tube

Kevin here, and I love fishing out of my float tube. Here are some pics from a recent trip.

The tube is ready for action!

Pretty shoreline

More pretty shoreline

Nice bluegill

Another one

Fish on!

Another fish on!

Little channel cat

Little bass

All fish were taken on a black trout magnet, 4# line, a Daiwa Fuego reel and a 5'6" St. Croix light rod.

Kentucky Catfish

Here's Kelly Hendren with a five pound channel cat. He got the fish in a small Kentucky pond on an 18' Japanese hera pole, 8# line and a #14 carp hook. Maggots were the bait of choice. Never doubt the power of the maggot! Here's a close up of another cat:

The hera poles are really amazing. They are telescopic graphite poles that are incredibly strong. There is no reel used, but they easily handled the catfish. I tried them out for carp the next day. I hooked one carp that promptly broke the 8# line. Note to self: use heavier line for carp!

Bonefish, Barracuda, Pompano... oh my!!!

This past February, Greg Esslinger (FTI Consulting) and his son Davis traveled to Marathon in the Florida Keys to celebrate Davis' 10^th birthday. 

Davis the avid angler and his father caught more than 40 fish the first day, including this pompano!

Later Greg cast four bonefish in the morning and landed three, the first of the season for Bus, including this 7-pounder below!

The final fish of the day was the magnificent 20 lb barracuda seen below, which Davis cast, hooked and landed unassisted after a 15 minute struggle!  The only thing bigger than the fish was the smile on Davis' face.  

Oooooooooooh Barracuda!!

What a perfect father/son outing!! Thanks for sharing, Greg and Davis and happy fishing!

BNKJ Family

Jeff Koch is all smiles with his red snapper caught while deep sea fishing in Destin, Florida!

The Kochs and their fish family!

BNKJ CPA Angie Koch and her family caught some beautiful red snappers on vacation last week in Destin, Florida.

Red Snapper season had just opened on June 1, so Angie and family chartered their boat, Sea Winder, a day later and took their three children (ages 13, 12 & 9) on their first deep sea fishing trip.

Seas were rough-- about 3-4 foot swells-- but the children (and adults) handled things well and they caught a lot of baitfish to kick-off their fishing frenzy!.  

Captain Stan headed out West and after a 30 minute trip their Red Snapper adventure began. The first fish was about a 10-12 pound Gag Grouper, but since that season closed, they had to unfortunately release it. Fishing got better for the Koch family after that, and at the end of 45 minutes of fishing the family had caught 10 Red Snappers! The biggest one was estimated at 18-20 pounds.

Fun vacation-- thank you for sharing! 

Huge Bass Caught on Plastic Worm!

Tony Turner, BNKJ friend and attorney at Cohen Pollock Merlin & Small PC, catches a bass at Piedmont Driving Club lake using a spinning reel and plastic worm.

BNKJ friend David Dubose catches a huge beautiful cobia in Hilton Head, SC!

The pristine backwaters of the Lowcountry's saltwater marshes, the countrless islands dotting the rivers and sounds that have been virtually unaltered by human hands, the fine people that make up the resident population of the Lowcountry, and finally the world class fishing that can blow the mind of even the most seasoned and well traveled angler make the Lowcountry fishing experirence a must!

One of the most highly pursued gamefish species in the Lowcountry during summer months is the cobia.  These fish resemble an unholy union between a shark and a catfish but are related to neither one.  They are prized as top notch table fare and revered as, pound for pound, one of the hardest fighting fish to venture into inshore waters.  While averaging between 20 and 40 lbs they can grow to well over 80 lbs.  In fact, the South Carolina state record cobia, weighing in at 92 lbs, was caught just last summer in local waters.  Thank you Jason Dubose (http://www.oldfield1732.com/) for contributinng this information and congratulations to your father on this beautiful catch!

Another Fish Tale

BNKJ friend Robert Charles had the pleasure of visiting Venezuela to

fish for payara last week. They fished at a place called Uraima Falls;

the "camp" was a group of thatched roof huts. Robert fished out of large

dugout canoes carved from a solid log and about 25 feet long, powered by

a 40 hp outboard.  The lures they used were large, deep diving magnum

Rapalas.

The fish on this trip were very powerful and the water has a very heavy

current, so getting the fish to the boat was quite challenging! Robert

caught 40 fish -- more than any other fishermen on the trip! -- but

still lost probably 90 or 100 other fish from either broken line (40

pound power pro) or pulled hooks (fish have very bony jaws and LOTS of

teeth so it is hard to set the hook).

It was a full day of travel each way from Caracas - 2 hours to Puerto

Ordaz, 3 1/2 hours by road to Paragua, and 3 hours by boat down the

Paragua River to the camp. What fun memories! Thank you for sharing

Robert!