18 Feb 2020…Vero…Got to get a new camera, date just goes where it wants on this one. Thug Alley… Went past the magic spot, made a long back cast with the Vudu Vixen. Solid bump, hard fight, deep, no jump, not sure of what it was. Saw the tail, knew that it was going to be a hard fight. Had an audience, a gentleman and his wife. Really great, because 3 weeks ago he asked me if there were any fish in the area. After way too many runs, got her to the net. Audience could not believe the size. Found the reason for no jumps. She had been gut hooked and broke off. Heavy duty bait hook deep in the gullet, took a while to get it out. Was just over 34 inches at the fork, was thinking about measuring girth and using length to calculate weight. Too risky, wasting too much time. Checked FWC chart, figured right at 15 pounds. Heavy rig for me, 15 # braid, 20 # leader. Good release, took longer than usual, had to be real careful with dolphin on patrol.
Nice snook — the new camera looks great, despite the dating issue!
Damn nice fish!