Giant Red Snapper 25 miles offshore

Hello fellow adventurers! This 4th of July weekend, I caught my Personal Best Red Snapper while we went and visited my grandad in Port O’Connor, Texas!

As I have mentioned in a lot of my blogs and YouTube videos, Port O’Connor is my favorite! From saltwater fishing for big Red Snapper to beautiful beaches! Also, it has the best fishing atmosphere, it is just the saltwater anglers paradise! And this last trip down to Port O’Connor might have been one of the best! Smashing Personal bests and catching big fish, here is what happened: We got down there on Thursday afternoon, and made a fishing game plan. After checking the weather, we decided although it might be a little sketchy with the 2-3 foot seas, we were going to try to go offshore. We got all the gear ready, and got a good nights sleep.

The next morning we were up by 5:00 and in the water by 5:50. We headed down the Inner Coastal Canal, which was not that rough at all. Once we got past the Big Jetties and offshore, the tables turned, and the waves that the weather station predicted to be 2-3 foot were all about 4-8 foot. But, being in my Grandads Mowdy bay boat, and eager to catch some fish, we made the decision to keep going!

About 10 and a 1/2 miles out, we all needed to regroup and rest for a few minutes. There was a small oil rig just ahead, so we stopped there for a little wave break. After a snack and gatorade, we were all ready to continue to the ship wreck 22 miles offshore we planned to fish for Red Snapper, but first, I wanted to try something! I had seen this cool rig at the gas station for catching bait offshore.

After checking it out for a minute, I decided to buy it and bring it offshore with us. It was about 6ft of leader with about 6 or 7 flies sticking off. I attached a small weight to the bottom snap swivel, and tied my line to the normal swivel at the top of the rig. I put it in the water and let out about 50 yards of line. Then I shut the bail, and we trolled around the oil rig. Within about 30 seconds, I had a fish on!

After trolling with it a few more times around the oil rig, we ended up with about 5 Menhaden! A perfect offshore bait fish! We then headed on to the wreck, where we hoped some giants were lurking! When we got to the wreck, we realized the trolling motor was busted, which meant we could not put it in anchor mode. We also did not have a anchor, and there were no oil rigs near bye to tie up to, so we had to get creative! We turned on the sonar to find the exact wreck once we knew we were in the general area of the wreck via GPS.

Once we were right over the wreck, we drifted away from it about 20 yards. This way, our baits would not get hung up in the ship. We then through on chunk of Skip Jack and lowered it to the bottom. Once it was on the bottom, I reeled it a few times. This gets it suspended about 2ft off the ocean floor. Almost instantly I had a fish on! I just let him take the bait for a few seconds, then quickly cranked down to him till the circle hook was set. I then pulled my rod up, and cranked down to water, repeating this over and over until the fish was at the surface ( which took a while considering where we were fishing it was about 105ft deep! ).

We caught 5 keepers after that on chunks of Skip Jack after that first fish, when I had an idea. I put on one of the live Menhaden we caught at he oil rig earlier and dropped it down. Right away I felt a huge THUMP, and my rod began to double down! I began to crank down like I did on the others. Then, I realized this was a much, MUCH, bigger fish.

My dad ran in to the rescue! He grabbed ahold of the rod right before the fish pulled it out of my hands! After a quick regroup, I took the rod back from my dad. I put in my fighting belt, and that is when the fish really started to get mad! Stripping yards of line off the reel, this was obviously not the 9 pounders we had been catching all day! After a good 5 minute fight, the shiny body of a MASSIVE Red Snapper rose from the depths. After all that struggle, we landed it!

The official weight was a confirmed 14 pounds! That was the biggest fish of the day, and my new Personal Best Red Snapper! The ride home was a lot smoother, and when we got back, we filleted all the fish and had a fish fry! We then went and played an awesome round of golf at Victoria Country Club, and ended the night by watching the 50th annual Port O’Connor Fire Work show!

To watch our full Port O’Connor experience this trip, watch this video I made posted on my YouTube channel!

Thank you guys so much for reading, and make sure to visit my YouTube channel and smash that SUBSCRIBE button!

Also, make sure you check out the video I made on this adventure on my YouTube channel down below!

 

I hope you guys enjoyed this blog about catching my new PB Red Snapper! I will see y’all next time on Hudsons Fishing Adventures! By!