Thread: Just a few hours

My son in law Mike and I got together for a short trip this morning before the heat and traffic got up. Just went to the St Johns near the I-4 bridge and started just about sunrise. Pitching jigs at the bridge posts was mostly unproductive but I did get a good hit and told Mike "Here, you play with this for a while." It took over 10 minutes to see what was giving him such a hard time. A big Catfish that I'm guessing would have cleared 10lbs was the culprit, and it took 3 tries to get him in the undersized net that I carry. The rod was a 5' ul with 4lb line and a small spool reel. He did one heck of a job letting the big fish wear itself down and applying pressure when it looked like he could get away with it. Don't know what kind it was but it was much darker than the last ones I have seen. We picked around some more but found nothing to keep our interest so downriver we went.
We stopped by a bank that had done well in the past, changed rigs a bit, and set out to pick pockets along the Cypress and downed trees. This was a first for Mike. After a few basic instructions I settled back in the seat and waited for whatever was next. He dropped the rig close to the base of a Cypress and the little float was gone immediately, and his first Warmouth was on it's way to the boat. Pics taken and released, it wasn't very far down the bank that the same scenario was repeated. This time it was a good sized copperhead bluegill, also pic and released.
All told we had about 10 panfish of different varieties come to visit, maybe a few more that were small, and the big cat for the day. A meeting for breakfast with a friend had us pulling away from the now busy ramp at 9:15 and looking for the cracker barrel sign a few blocks away. Great weather and good timing with a few fish and good memories to boot, I was a happy boy. Mikes smile tells what he thought of the day. A few pics below and thanks, once again, for the visit.....Skeet