After surfing all morning on the cleanup day, on the drive home, my phone rings. I get a phone call. Hey! Want to come up to Port Richey and do some fishing? Sure! Slightly exhausted I made the short extra 10 minute drive into the town.We quickly got bait from a local bait shop.Then we made our way to the bridge by the hooters and shells.

This area is near the Gulf of Mexico and is an area where strong flow of water occurs. Large bridges like this are great places to catch snook any time of year. We expected slow fishing on this low tide. After only catching a few 10 inch mangrove snapper the tidal flow and fishing slowed. We decided that we would try the middle of the pass expecting deeper water and better action. After walking across the oyster bar in knee deep water to the middle structure we then were floating jumbo free-lined shrimp. I started at the beginning of the structure and john was fishing the middle. John was about where the oyster bar point stuck out. Quickly he hooked a nice snook. The snook was surely sitting in the wash created by the oyster point. The fish ate with the slowing and stopping of the tide, but likely would have eaten at other times of this outgoing tide.

The fish thrashed on top of the water. John’s drag set tightly. He did well to keep the fish from swimming between the pilings. After tiring the fish John walked it down to the end where Ross any myself were, with hopes of figuring a way to get the fish to one of us. Realizing there was no way to get the fish, John began attempting to lift the fish with the 25 lb leader and even lighter line, against recommendations from myself. As he was lifting the fish, before we knew what had happened the hook pulled from the snooks mouth. The exhausted fish lay up side down between two piling. As quick as the hook pulled from the mouth of the fish john was climbing down the oyster ridden, nearly vertical piling to get the fish. “Jump in!” I shouted, since the water was only about 4 feet deep. “No.” John said. “Grab it by it’s tail.” I said. He was hanging on by a thread, one clump of oysters away from serious injury. John grabbed the fish. Still barely holding on John said, “Here take this.” to me. I layed down on the structure to get the snook. I lip grabbed, then tail grabbed it, bringing it onto the structure, helping to land this fish. What a catch! John’s slot snook in harvesting season is no easy feat. Below are some pictures of us with this amazing fish.