I am fishing with Mario Hernandez today, he is of my best friends and surprised his son for his birthday, he is with Omar and his son little Omar. I've been fishing with Mario for 20 plus years we have caught allot of fish together but today I have to do it for his son. All Mario Jr. wanted a Snook for his birthday! We are in Whitewater Bay looking for his Snook but also a big Tarpon. On our second stop it all came together, on Jr. first cast he hooked a big Snook. He fought it for a few minutes and as it got close to the boat it jumped off. Man was he bummed. On his next cast he was hooked up again only to a Trout this time. The next 45 minutes was non stop hook ups 3 and 4 at a time. They worked the spot hoping for a second Snook but it didn't happen. We spotted some diving pelicans so we went and netted some finger mullet that the Tarpon might eat. We moved on running North and kept hitting all my spots although the Snook weren't eating. Mario Jr. casting for Snook hooked a 13 inch Mangrove that fought pretty hard, while Omar Jr. was catching Ladyfish. We moved out to the Gulf of Mexico looking for the incoming tide and hit some creeks. There wasn't much going on until the tide started moving and then we got into the Trout again. it was time to go but Mario Jr. had to make one more cast, don't you know he hooked another Snook. He was a little excited and maybe forced it a bit and the fish came off again. I ran to a flat and tried pulling the fish out of the trees by using cut Ladyfish, after 20 minutes the line started to move slowly. This was definitely not a Redfish, I said its probably a Sting Ray. The rod doubled over and Mario Jr. got the rod and fought the big Ray to the boat. We kept at it and shortly after Omar Jr. caught his a Redfish. We moved around some and found the big Tarpon laid up on the surface. By now the winds had came up out of the west and these fish weren't playing. We sat there for 1 1/2 hours casting at them with lures, live Mullet and tiny Ladyfish and there was no interest. It was a shame because that would of topped off our day. on the was in I stopped at a couple other spots still hoping for 1 Snook. Mario Jr. hooked a big Snook this time it came up shook its head and was gone. I told them 1 last spot its getting late, Mario Jr. makes a long cast and get's hit again, this time the fish runs into a tree and bust us off. Everyone is bummed about loosing a couple Snook but we had a great day of action. These kids will be hooked on fishing for life!
