NCCHARTERFISHING-Capt.'s Jeff Cronk and MIke Taylor-Crystal Coast, Swansboro, Emerald Isle

Sun. 12/17 Well, headed out to the shoals for a short while this morning to look for some striper and had Dr. Bogus aboard. Absolutely no bait and no fish to be found on the shoals so, we eased down the beach toward some gannets and bait. We hovered over a good school of 12 to 16in shad and dropped the deep jigs down... First drop and I had something large hooked up... thought it was a striper but it turned out to be a very large redfish. The length was approx. 45-47in. and the girth was 32-34in. not sure exactly what it weighed but it was definately over 40lbs. Anyone have an idea on a weight for these measurements.... I don't trust the fish weight calculators for large fish like these... it said the fish weighed between between 58 and 67lbs....for those two sets of measurements. again, I don't beleive that.... just curious if anyone has weighed a red with these measurements.... She had a massive belly on her.... We called Capt. Rick Patterson over and his father hooked p with one about the same size also on light spinning tackle. On the way back to the dock we stopped along the beach and managed to land about 10 trout with the largest at 2.5lbs and two flounder. Great morning on the water! Capt. Jeff Cronk- FISH'N 4LIFE Charters 910-326-7512..