badazzchef

This is a 2 part story so I decided it best fit in General discussion rather than inshore reports.

Yesterday B3245 (Barrett) and I decided to make our ritual Monday run out to catch some fish. This time we took my good friend Chef Brody Olive from Villagios in Orange Beach. Well after a a good plan to meet up at my house about 9am on Monday Barrett makes it by 10:30:banghead sparing the story of why he was late...we decided to fish anyway. So with 2 dozen live shrimp and 2 dozen previous living shrimp we headed out to the jetties with big hopes. OK fastforward 3 hours later...

Obviously we had no fish whatsoever so we decided to get as close to the Perdido Pass bridge pilings as we possibly could. The current was ripping so with 20oz of lead we dropped down to catch some sheepies. We had a few bites and lost some shimp so that was good news to us! Anyway after a another lost bait I was determined to catching a dang fish! I dropped again and then promptly snatched the heck out of the rod....FISH ON! Well this fish comes up from 20 feet fairly easy until he sees the boat then he starts dogging down...Of course I am getting gried from my boat mates because this fish is actually doing a number on me. Well I see color and the familiar stripes but I cannot help but notice a large sheepshead that is "larger than life" hit the surface. I tell Barrett he is going to need to get the net and he sees the fish. After a string of excited explatives he nets my personal best Sheepshead and after some high 5's in the cooler he goes...fast forward again...

One fish for the day and we decide to leave at 4pm head in and head to clean the boat. I make a comment that that is the largest sheepie I had ever seen. Barrett agrees and the the question arises..."What is the State record for sheepies?" So after a phone google search we get an amazing answer of 12lbs 15oz...Well I hope you are all thinking what I am thinking...Thats It?

So all of a sudden my "larger than life" fish gets a raise! I am certain that he weighs about 12lbs and I get excited...Barrett gets excited too so I call my old friend Karon AKA Coryphoena for advice.

Her Advice was simple...bring it in to the Natural Resource Building in GUlf Shores and we will weigh it and she would use it for science and other studies...the "catch" was that I had to wait until 8am the next day...

Who can wait that long? Not I...I went home and weighed that fish every way I knew how and the best I could get was 9lbs! Well I was ok with that and gave up on it being a record but I was still interested in donating the fish to science...

PART 2

Ok so i get over to Karon today and take her my fish. we comment on what a nice size HE was and she shows me a picture of her 10lb fish on her office wall...:bowdown anyway after a careful weighing she gets a confirmed weight of a little over 7 lbs! Yes I know I am crazy to think a fish was even close...but dang he was a big un! So anyway for those that don't know all fish have earbones in the skull called otoliths. Karon had shown me some from Redfish which are huge id say about the size of a nickel. She stated that the Alabama Big Eye Tuna had otoliths about the size of her pinky nail. THe drum family relies on sound much more that tuna do so I guess they need a bigger otolith. Otoliths are used to age a fish. The otoliths have rings similar to a tree trunk. She took down all the fishes stats and put his otolith into an envelope and it will be shipped and used for research and training.

I spent a couple of hours in a Mecca of fishing research today. Karon introduced me around and I got to hear all sorts of information that just blew me away. They have several ponds and in one of them are a bunch of redfish. We threw all the innards in and watched the redfish have a field day. The resource center uses the pond to let under-privaleged kids have a chance to catch a fish! All in all I had a great morning catching up with Karon. Unfortunately I have some bad news for you single guys...

KARON IS GETTING MARRIED:clap

And she is marrying a pretty cool guy! A lucky one I must say. I just hope he can cope with getting outfished by his future bride:moon

Here are some pics:



I have a size 13" foot so like I say he looked like well to me his is a trophy



Damn He dont look so big anymore!



What a "bloody mess" A British photographer would say!



Alot of dang work for these little things. That is the pair of otoliths from the sheepshead!

Thanks Karon for a great day

fisheye48

thanks for the invite!!!! oke

badazzchef

Thanks for doing me a favor so I could go!

fisheye48

its ok...i will take some sheepie filets or cooked sheepie...whichever is better for you :letsdrink

cert-315

Nice dude, that is one big a** sheepie, record or not! Gimme a holler when your ready to fish the bay or nearshore gulf, I got the boat, gonna be huntin Cobia as soon as the water warms up a lil!

69Viking

That's one of the best"1" fish reports I'veread Chris, nice catch! Great update on Karen too, she's been a bit of a stranger on the forum since her new job and now we know why!

jim t

As I said in my text...I could tell from the picturethat wasn'tCLOSE to astate record... plenty of 'Bama women have feet bigger than the one in the photo. Have you been to Tuscalooser in the spring? When they break out their <STRIKE>kayaks</STRIKE>, er... "sandals"?Heck Chris, your feet aren't CLOSE to a state record!

Great story though...

Jim

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Ultralite

good report chris! nice fish...

i knew it was a good one by the sound of excitement in his voice...

Chris: "what's karon's number? i just caught a huge sheepie..."

Mike: "I'll call her and call you right back"

ring, ring...Mike: "hey sista from another mista"...

Karon: "hey brotha from another motha"

Mike: "what's the state record for sheepie?"

Karon: "12.15 oz....oh yeah, I'm getting married in Sept."

Mike: "congratulations"

Karon: "chef is texting me"

Mike: "okay...good...luvya, meanit..."

lingfisher1

Great report Chris. Nice sheepie.

I guess if Karon is getting married then that guy was approved by Buster so he must be Okay. Tell Karon we miss her and to give us a call. I will pm you my number.

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Ryan
Kill em all. The grill don't know the difference.

MGuns

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Nice sheepie dude. That?s a monster.