Pat and I launched the boat Saturday with the sole intention of hunting down a big fish. We had a strong but unfortunate first couple of hours while missing the first 3 fish we encountered. After a couple hours of nothing, we changed tactics and Pat immediately had a hook up. He got her to the surface and we both new this was a stud. After a rushed photo session in order to get her back in the water, we laid her on the board and saw 50.25!

I have been around long enough to know that if you start posting exact lenghts on the web, there will be plenty of doubters if the fish doesn’t “look” like the claimed length. Well, here I am already defending the size of the fish as I post this morning. This story is so cool, I just had to do it as this is Pat’s first PA 50, the only PA 50 we landed in 2018 and on the last trip of 2018. You can’t make this stuff up. (For reference, Pat is 6’3” and pushing 300.....not the size guy you want holding a big fish if you want the fish to “look” as big as possible.).

We had some rough luck with big fish this season. All 3 (or possible 4) fish that I thought may have a shot at making 50 were lost at boatside for various reasons. Needless to say, it was a very tense moment as we slid her into the net. Congrats Pat.....you finally did it!

Here are the best 2 pics we got. The fish proved to be quite squirmy for Pat to handle.

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Click image for larger version. 

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