I caught my first ever bull red on 11/7.



It's not a very good photo. The bull was swimming on its side by the time I got it onto the beach and I was in a hurry to get this pic and get it released. For an almost "dead" fish it came close to knocking me down with that big tail when I put it back into the water.

We had been catching big gafftops, 20-25" on dead shrimp on the bottom. I was fishing a 7' MH Tiger with a Penn 5000 when the bull hit. I thought a really big gafftop again until it took off running and line was coming off my reel fast. I had the drag set light and had to tighten it down carefully one notch at a time. The spool was over half empty when the bull stopped running. I turned the drag down another notch and lifted the rod tip. It took off again but line was going out slower. Slowly, I began to gain more line than the bull was pulling off. After about 15 mins I had it on the shore. A man from Austin snapped the pic for me. I measured the bull at 37.5". Now, I can understand the thrill the rest of you feel from catching a big fish.

I want to give credit to pferox for teaching me to be patient when I hook a big fish. Several months ago I would have lost this fish trying to force it in too fast. Jim, had counseled me to let big fish wear themselves out and it worked great.

For the day we ended up with 11 gafftops 15-25" with only 2 under 20". They are all in the freezer now waiting for a good day for a fish fry.



I learned a lesson on this trip. NEVER leave gafftop slime in your cooler for 2 days. It dries like glue and takes a lot of scrubbing to get it off.

Congrats on the red "Grasshopper". Next up is a 7 foot bull shark from a pier, on an ultralight rod.

Congrats!

I am ready for that 7' shark on 4lb mono. lol

Nice Red!

say... that place looks familiar.... where did you catch him at?

Caught the bull at a live fire naval artillery range. Ducked a few incoming rounds while reeling.

Congrats,nice red!!

Robert, congrats on the catch... I'm still waiting on hooking up on one.

nice catch man, i bet it scared ya when it hit, but its a good feeling.

Nice red and congrats, those gafftops aint no piggy perch either.

It was definitely exciting.

Awesome!

Congrats. I have had no luck with reds. Just 2 rats in the last week. I have done a 180, used to usually only catch reds on live mullet, now i only catch specks and flounder on artificials. Changing of the seasons i guess.

Way to go!