Whew, I can�t believe it�s been so long.
So I've had an extremely busy time, both at home and work, so my update comes a little late, but here we go.
I, an uncle and a friend went out on Dec. 1st with Capt Lindy Hebert to try our hand on our first charter ride. Neither my friend or my uncle had ever fished with rod and reel before, and Lindy was quite helpful helping them.

We worked the birds on Sabine Lake for a while, my uncle and friend used live shrimp under a cork and I used a Mirrolure TopDog in white/redhead. My uncle got nice trout, but too close to 15� to call it legal, so it got thrown back. I had a couple of strikes on the topwater and finally was able to hook one, and while reeling in had a second trout strike that same lure! I only managed to pull one out and it had the 3 hooks of the treble in its mouth.
My uncle's first fish on rod and reel



We kept working the birds, but not more hots, so we moved on. I hooked on another trout on live shrimp on a different spot and then we went for flounder.
My second trout, didn't get a picture of the one with the Mirrolure.


My uncle caught a small one, again on live shrimp and cork and I hooked some small ones on a pearl/chart 3� Gulp shrimp. Too small to keep. Lindy and my friend were working with dead shrimp tipped jigs when there was a big hit on a rod. My friend wanted to catch something �on his own� so I left my rod and Gulp in the bottom and fought the fish for a few minutes, nice fight until the line broke� dang�

While analyzing if it was the knot or whatever my friend starts screaming that there is something in the rod, I yell back, well reel it in, he is there holding my line on one hand and his rod on the other� my abandoned gulp had been taken and the fish was not stopping. Line peeling of the reel and I worked the fish for a good 5 minutes until we see a big redfish tailing� more fight ensued until I landed my first ever redfish, 26� inches and I couldn�t be happier. Pictures and jokes about me not really catching it, because my rod was "abandoned".



Then there is another BIG hit on another rod, I told my friend to go fight that one since he had not caught anything. While talking him on how to do it and still working my rod I hoked up on something that wanted to toss me in the water� line coming off like crazy and I am just enjoying it. I handed the rod to my uncle so he could feel the power for a while. When the first run ended I started working the fish, meanwhile my friend is also working on his fish. There we are elbow to elbow with a double�



After a while his fish surfaced and we could see a nice black drum� they netted him and shot a couple of pics while I brought mine in�


another nice red! 27� inches


what is that on its mouth??? Hmmm,� yep it is the broken nylon and jig from �the one that got away� 20 minutes ago!


So here we are, with 2 nice drums, and one hooked twice, but landed once� into the cooler.


We worked there for a little longer, but nothing else. My friend wanted to see the gulf, so Lindy was kind enough to get us there� a lot of wasted time and some hardheads my uncle got, but nothing else. We went back and worked on the flounder. Boats were crowding the pass and we worked it a little till we found a good spot.
It seemed they wanted plum/chart color and I was able to hook up on a nice 19� and some smaller ones, my uncle got a couple of keepers and my friend was also able to land his first keeper of the trip �all on his own��


It was a nice day and Lindy was very accommodating with us.

Another nice flatty


I forgot to include my gear in the first post:
7" Shimano Voltaeus Med Action Rod
Shimano Carbomatic 3000 Spinning reel - received as a gift from an uncle. Seems like a very old model, but worked fine.
15#lb Powerpro braid line, did not use a leader.

My uncle was using his newly bought Shakespeare "saltwater kit" 7" MH rod and shakespeare reel with what seemed like 20# monoline.

Both or them are hooked now, and wanting to go out again... I have done my job

Nice fish and a well written story. Reds that size are sure fun to catch. Glad you finally got your first.

Congratulations on the catches, that was awesome the way you reported it too.

Looks like a ton of fun

It was fun!.
Pferox, back2fishing, thanks for the kudos. It was exciting, my first time fishing seriously, and being able to catch nice fish. Too bad on the undersize trout, but there is always a next time At least I got the "one that got away"

Congrats on the Reds, look like yall had fun.

Catching "the one that got away" is one of the best fish stories I have ever heard.

Nice report.....thousand to 1 to catch the same fish twice on the same day, you should of went and played the lottery that day.