Hello everyone. Back with another fishing report. My brother Glenn, our buddy Scott, and I got the the chance to fish on the vessel Calusa Gal this weekend. The owner and captain, Chris Ludford, is a long time fishing buddy. Actually he is the one that introduced to me saltwater fishing. Enough with the introductions.......FISHING WAS HOT!!!! Our first plan of attack was to try for an early morning cobia. We anchored up in 15ft of water near the 4A  bouy and started chunking. After a few minutes we heard the beautiful sound of the reel clicker going crazy when a fish runs with the bait. We were all filled with excitement. It ended up being a small sandtiger shark. Although this was not what we were after, it was a great experience for Glenn and Scott who had never had the chance to catch a shark before. Shortly after we hooked another small sandtiger about the same size.

We all decided to head for the spadefish grounds at the Anglo African wreck. We put the big rods and reels away and traded them for light tackle. This was the first time Glenn, Scott, and I had been spadefishing. So Capt. Chris gave a short briefing on how to land one. First rule: leave the rod in the holder until the spadefish has hooked himself, they like to nibble and play with the clam and you don't want to pull it out of their mouth too soon. After that you just enjoy the thrill of the fight.  We anchored up on a small wreck called the Anglo America just off the eastern shore of Virginia. There were spadefish as far as the eye can see. It was an awesome sight, one I had never had the pleasure to see before. It was well worth the wait.

The first fish was on in no time, Glenn grabbed the rod and all you could hear was the sound of the drag. It was a big spadefish , and for those of you that have never had the opportunity to fight one, I've got to say it is unbelievable. After a hard fought battle the fish won, and all Glenn reeled in was a straight hook. The morning looked promising! The next hook-up went to Scott, he landed it after a short while and it was a small spadefish.(If you look REAL close in the picture to the left you can see the monster......ha ha...just kidding Scott). As the morning went on we landed quite a few more but the tide was about slack and it was time to go in search of the elusive FLUKESTER (othewise known as flounder).

We headed to the the fourth island and started our drift. The tide was still going out just a little bit, which is exactly want we wanted. We had about 30 baby spot for bait and some jumbo gudgeons for back up. It's always good to bring a variety of bait, and always bring too much. There's nothing worse than having to leave a place that's on fire because you have run out of bait. So, back to the story, the flounder weren't as steady behind the fourth island as the last trip but we still had some good action. So after a brief discussion we all decided to go hunting for a better spot. We headed over the tunnel between the third and fourth islands and right away I hooked a 23" flounder. Capt. Chris put us on the meat again! We caught a few nice flounder on the tube, the last part of the trip we spent hitting various places along the bridge picking up a few here and there. Chris had to be at the fire station soon though so it was time to go. Chris went to work and we went back to my house to have a few cold ones and eat some fresh fish. It was one for the books. I hope all of your fishing trips are as memorable as ours was.