Panther Point (w/o pics) - 10/18

Since I couldn't make the PP trip this year due to family commitments, I decided to show my wife what the fuss was all about.  We hitched up the PB, threw the 2-person yak in the PB and headed to Seadrift Sat morning.  We arrive at PP and what a beautiful sight.  Unfortunately the wind was howling, so it didn't look promising and would probably be a lot of trouble to launch the kayak, get my wife in it and get to backlakes that Spuds, Fubar and I fished the previous two years, so I opted to move into PP lake.  There were a number of PB's back there and one had the small backlake blocked so we moved up the shore and anchored the PB on the north end.  Unloaded the yak, got my wife in it, then I get on and we paddled into some of the marsh.  I did most of the paddling hoping to see some reds for her to cast to.  We saw tons of mullet but unfortunately no visible redfish and her blind casting was futile.  However she just loved the experience and made many comments about seeing why I really enjoy the PACK trip there.

I decided to paddle back out of the marsh through one of the other channels in lieu of the one we entered.  We popped out of the marsh just west of our PB.  This is when the action started.  We were drifting where both of us could cast so I shot a cast past a small island.  My bait stopped as soon as it hit the water.  I thought I had thrown into some shallow shell and was stuck, you know the feeling.  However, when I tugged on the rod, the line moved, so I set the hook.  It was a solid fish and took off and came to the top with a massive head shake.  I told my wife, this is a big fish.  It took me a while to get in and soon it was close enough for both of us to see and I said, don't know my exact words, but message was that it was a big trout, one of the largest if not largest I've ever hooked (my largest trout ever put on scales was little over 6-1/2 lbs).  I got her to the side of the kayak and said we don't have a net, so I'll guess I'll have to slip her up on the yak.  My wife said you gonna keep her.  I looked at the trout in the water and said, No, we said we were catch and release.  I lowered my rod to grab the boga style grip so that I could release her without touching her.  However, the slack line allowed her to shake her head one more time allowing the jig to come loose and away she swam.

I told my wife, wish we hadn't left the camera, cause no one is going ot believe me and I would have loved to have gotten a picture of her.  My wife said, I'm your witness.  Don't know how large she was, just that she was a pig.  After that, we caught 6 or 7 more trout all nice size,  from 18 to 20 inches.  Then the bite just stopped.  I switched baits and finally caught another on topwater, then we decided to call it a day.  Bait used by me was texas roach colored flats minnow on 1/8oz jig, while my wife was throwing 3" new penny gulp on 1/8oz jighead about 8-10 inches under mansfield mauler.  The lone topwater trout was on bone super spook jr.

For those going on the trip, panther point looked beautiful as ever.  There is a small cut which makes the area we camped previously, a small island.  Guess thats a gift from Hurricane Dolly or other.  Water was slightly off color, but there was a strong wind, which got stronger during the day.

Good luck to everyone this weekend and I'm sure gonna miss not being there.  Spuds/Fubar - Catch a red or two for me. 

Also my wife just loved it, so I know we will making another trip back soon.  Sorry to be long winded.