My first good saltwater fish

[bigdaddy590]

This weekend I was down at the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society meeting in Corpus. I decided to try my hand at saltwater fishing in the evenings. A buddy and I went Tuesday evening and he caught 2 hardheads. We went back out and he caught some whiting and hardheads. I still didn't catch anything but we saw a guy catch a 48" and a 40" black drum. So last night I fly solo and go to a pier. 30 mins in I hook up with one and 15 minutes later I landed it. I released it after a short confrontation with a warden. I was and still am pumped. It was 38 3/4" long.

[Chase This!]

Congrats.

What's up with the warden?

[Breezy]

Nice big ugly.

[Breezy]

What pier ? Red dot ?

[bigdaddy590]

What pier ? Red dot ?

Yup. Guys were wearing out smaller ones.

[BigRed323]

Nice.

What happened with the warden? Just saying you couldn't keep it because it was over size?

[bigdaddy590]

Congrats.

What's up with the warden?

Very long story. Basically I was going to give the fish away. I hadn't looked up the size limits myself but took a locals word for it. I was going to give it to a guy that helped me land it so I carried it out to his truck and we were measuring it when the warden showed up. He was a complete jerk for about 5 minutes. Then he acted ok. Basically he told me it was illegal and that it had 5 minutes to swim away before he wrote me a citation. I told him that was fine that I understood then he eased up. Over all a bad experience with a warden (every other encounter with a warden I've had has been great). But the fish swam away and I didn't get a ticket so it ended better than it could have.

That's the short story.

[bigdaddy590]

I've caught 2 king mackerel and a few trout and sheepshead on guided trips but this was much more rewarding.

[tx07]

That's a pig right there!

[Crazy Horse]

very nice...

[bigdaddy590]

What really got me hot is the fish was laying there on the tailgate on the ruler and the warden asked me what I was going to do with it and I said give it away. He then told me that he knew I was going to keep it and drive away with it. I told him that I didn't think the omni hotel would appreciate me dragging this nasty thing inside.

[Fooshman]

Nice.

[denowt]

Very long story. Basically I was going to give the fish away. I hadn't looked up the size limits myself but took a locals word for it. I was going to give it to a guy that helped me land it so I carried it out to his truck and we were measuring it when the warden showed up. He was a complete jerk for about 5 minutes. Then he acted ok. Basically he told me it was illegal and that it had 5 minutes to swim away before he wrote me a citation. I told him that was fine that I understood then he eased up. Over all a bad experience with a warden (every other encounter with a warden I've had has been great). But the fish swam away and I didn't get a ticket so it ended better than it could have.

That's the short story.

What really got me hot is the fish was laying there on the tailgate on the ruler and the warden asked me what I was going to do with it and I said give it away. He then told me that he knew I was going to keep it and drive away with it. I told him that I didn't think the omni hotel would appreciate me dragging this nasty thing inside.

Not taking his side and he didn't have to be an ahole about it, but he probably hears those exact excuses about a dozen times a day.

[Man]

Ouch...congrats on your first big ugly dude. He had the upper hand as it was oversized so he ran with it and let out all the frustration and had a little fun knowing he's got you lock stock and barrel.

[wassaw]

you got lucky twice in one night, congrats on an awesome catch and release!