08/27/2023
Too good not to post… so a client comes in from the eastern shore of Maryland and says he wants to catch snook. Mind you, he has never seen a snook in his life, let alone catch one. So we set out with a clear goal to target big snook but neither us of, especially me, expected to hook into this absolute behemoth. Most people will never get an opportunity to catch a snook this big and if they do, most people won’t be able to land it. This fish did not make it easy on us; we got her boat side and in the net and she immediately shook her head and ripped a huge hole in the landing net with her gill plates. This is when the chaos ensued. She swam through the net and wrapped the power pole and motor and swam completely under the boat while still being hooked. So I immediately jumped in the water and swam under the boat to secure the fish. I managed to get a good grip on her bottom lip and pull her from under the boat and untangle the mess she got us in. Instead of taking this big fish out of the water in the heat of summer, I kindly but sternly “asked” him to get in the water also for the picture. Fish that big in water temps this hot do not survive if kept of out the water for the normal boat picture “photoshoot”. He didn’t hesitate and jumped in and we got this amazing photo of his fish of lifetime. The rest of the day everyone was smiling from ear to ear and in shock of what had just taken place. A day and fish I’m sure neither of us will ever forget.