Destin Sea Monster

destin

So...my girl kept hearing about all the big bulls I'd been catching off the beach in Destin, and she decided she wanted to tangle with one herself. I happily obliged. We hit the beach in Destin right at sunset and got set up. I knew it was going to be a great night when our first two runs were like hooking up to a BNSF locomotive and trying to hold on...both ending up in breakoffs. We finally got one we could slow down on the 3rd run. She's fighting this thing like a pro! Pull up, reel down...don't reel against the drag...all that crap...I didn't have to tell her a thing. She must've been born with it.
I kept telling her, "This is probably a shark," and was gearing up to snap an "in the water pic" then cut the beast loose. Then I saw the golden back and the spot on the tail. So I run back to "base camp" to switch the cutoff tool for the fish grips...but I can barely get them to close around the jaw! No joke...this bull was kin to Bodacious.
I had my gator board with me, but it only measures out to 39 inches. Crap...the tail hung off by about 6". So we tried to weigh it...but my scale is only rated for 40 pounds. It bottomed that thing out without hesitation. It was just one of 6 bulls she landed that night. This one, the biggest, at about 45 inches, two at 38, two at 35, and the baby at 32. Needless to say, she is HOOKED on beach fishing now...and I'll never complain about a fishing date.

So...ya'll want to see the pic, right? Well, I was in half-hitch today, and noticed a photo contest they're having...so I entered. Here's the link. Go check out the photo, and do me a favor and vote for the knockout blonde holding the monster red. http://woobox.com/gtke2n/vote/for/2170303

Panhandler80

Could just be me, but I"m not able to see the picture. I tried to "like" on my wife's facebook acount in order to see page, but it sill never came up.

Maybe you could post the pic directly to FS site, or post the link to the pic.

Klinger

Panhandler80 wrote: »

Could just be me, but I"m not able to see the picture. I tried to "like" on my wife's facebook acount in order to see page, but it sill never came up.

Maybe you could post the pic directly to FS site, or post the link to the pic.

:Agree

acarb

Done

WhiteArvil

Nice fish....voted. Thanks for sharing

LilOrange

Nice fish. I was able to pull it up on Facebook after I "liked" the Half Hitch page.

SetsTheOne

Sweet catch. Never tried off the beach but pics like that make it look pretty amazing. Any tips would be great...bait, where to put the bait. Thanks

375murb

SetsTheOne wrote: »

Sweet catch. Never tried off the beach but pics like that make it look pretty amazing. Any tips would be great...bait, where to put the bait. Thanks

:Agree
Headed that way for the first time usually fish out of Clearwater. Any bait tips would be great. Other than that beautiful fish!