Gary Holmes from the Memphis, Tennessee area met his son Brian who lives in Knoxville for a 6 hour fishing trip. The family fishing trip was a way for a father and son to come together and share the thrill of catching a few fish.
Our charter left on time and we headed south of Orange Beach. The sea conditions were almost perfect for a spring day. We had a gentle southwest wind at 10 mph with 3 foot rolling waves. The day was perfect for fishing. We stopped and started fishing after a short 1 1/2 hour ride. As usual, the Red Snapper were biting and we ended up fighting a few of them. We were trying to catch the elusive Triggerfish. We were in luck. It just so happens that Brian and Gary were excellent anglers. They both trout fish with fly-fishing gear across the country. Our light tackle fishing gear allowed them to have some fun catching some nice fish.
The fish were biting like crazy. We moved to another spot and Brian hooked up a large Red Snapper and all of a sudden, his line started going sideways, away from the boat. It was a shark. Luckily, the shark turned loose of the snapper and we got nothing but the head to show for it.
We kept fishing for Grouper and again, Brian hooked up on something big. The light tackle with 30 pound test held up well. Brian had hooked a monster shark. For over an hour, Brian fought this monster fish and we even got a good video that we are going to post on youtube. We got the shark up to the boat and gently released the 200 pound man eater.
There was an Osprey that landed on the boat and ended up giving us some good pictures. He rode all the way in with us.
Sometimes you just never know how wonderful of a day you are going to have. We really enjoyed fishing with the Holmes family today.