box full of fish and could have beens....

​Started the day off by making the run thru pine island sound out towards redfish pass.  Lots of osprey, a couple bottle nosed dolphins were seen on the way out.  We made it out thru the pass and set up on our first spot in 60 ft of water.  A bunch of sand perch (squirrel fish) were caught and kept for live/cut bait.  Soon, the Lane snapper began biting with a flury of fish coming on board.  After boxing about a dozen, we made a quick move and set up on our second spot.  Here, we caught a nice JoltHead Porgy, lots of Lane Snapper, and some close to legal Red Grouper.  We had 3-4 BIG Thumps on the bottom that ultimately beat the anglers.  A long, drag screaming run that pulled out about 250 yards of line before coming unglued.  This was for sure a bigggg kingfish.  We continued to add some quality snapper to the box, ultimately boxing a little over 50 total. I gave the 5 minutes notice before we headed back in when the flatline again takes off on a steady long run.  Paul battled back and forth with the fish for nearly 1/2 an hour before we got a visual of the fish: A large 6-7 ft Lemon shark!  We got it boatside about a 1/2 dozen times where it would again take off on a drag screaming run.  We got it to the boat for a pic or two before sending him on its way.  With sore arms, we made the run back in thru beautiful, calm seas!