Went on vacation last week and took a little inshore fishing trip with my buddy. Captain warned us that the fishing had been tough lately and the first 2 hours certainly were. Tiny nibbles eating bait and all we had to show for it was a skate at our first stop. The 2nd and 3rd spots were empty. At one of those spots I lost a 10ish pound sheepshead right at the boat. Didn't cut the line, didn't bend the hook, didn't do anything wrong, just popped off after a few minute fight. Real kick in the pants after how the morning had started.
Headed to our 4th spot and it did not disappoint as we spent the rest of our time there. 5 mins after arriving I was hooked into a good black drum.
About 23" and most importantly within the slot limit to bring home
My buddy caught a couple smaller keepers and then the real fun began. Hooked into a big one that made several drag ripping runs. Took 10 or 15 minutes to get him to the boat. He was about 30" and over slot so back to the water he went after a few pics. Note the tail on him. That thing sure could provide some power.
Bite slowed for a little while but we caught a few more keeper drum, a couple toadfish that went back, and a pigfish that we were able to keep. We got back on them shortly before we needed to leave and my buddy was able to get into a stud too.
All-in-all we caught the 2 big ones, 6 keepers between 15 and 23 inches, 2 toadfish, the skate, and a pigfish. The drum were a ton of fun, especially the bigger ones, and they were delicious. The pigfish was on the smaller end but the meat was fantastic. We chose to go the blackening route for dinner for all 7 fish and man was it fantastic! I should have taken more pics of the finished product but these will have to do.