Aug 25 Unreal Ladyfish Blitz

I was so excited driving home about how to describe this night. Then I realized nobody is going to believe me. I caught my first Ladyfish around 1978. I caught dozens of Ladyfish in Texas in 2001. I caught quite a few Ladyfish back in the old commercial Ribbonfishing years of 1998 to 2002. I've caught 3 big ones, 4 pounders, in the surf at Ocracoke. I caught a spunky 3 pounder last night that was an eye-opener. So tonight I went Ladyfishing for the first time in my life......Here goes the numbers: My first cast I had 2 awesome, water busting strikes on a top water plug. After 10 minutes, I realized I better try to keep count in my head. For the next 2 hours, I had over 200 strikes. I had as many as 15 strikes on one cast! I had 55 hook-ups that pulled off line. I had 44 jumps. I netted one Ladyfish that went 3 pounds and I killed it before I could untangle it from the net. I had 6 more that I didn't net that I managed to shake free at my feet, including a couple of 4+ pounders. I lost every top water plug that I carried with me. On several occasions I looked straight down at a floating (dead in the water) top water plug and watched streaks of phosphorous missiles launching repeatedly at my plug until one finally got hooked up. I have no idea why my catch to hook-up or hook-up to strike ratios were so low. These babies were flying in and smashing a plug with 2 trebles. No strike was dull. Every strike was a water busting smack down. I know I lost many, many on the jumps because I had to use a heavier plug to reach them, most of the time. Not always. When they jumped, they would shake their heads so violently I could hear their gills rattle like a 140 lb Tarpon that is 10 times closer. All that head shaking gives them great leverage to throw those heavier plugs. Regardless, Cast after cast after cast produced strike after strike after strike. What difference did it make if they jumped off, they were all going to be released anyway! If a cast raised a fish, that fish would strike at least 2-4 times. If it was during a period when there were numbers of Ladyfish in the vicinity, casts with 6-8 strikes were normal. The fish were moving back and forth in an area about the size of 2 Football Fields. I never went more than 5 minutes without a strike. I think I found a new and challenging fishery! All of this while standing on a Dock! Total Catch for the Night: 7 Ladyfish up to 4+ lbs