# If you want reds in PCB, Cpt. Leake is the man!



## Money man (Jun 26, 2010)

After trying my hand in the surf, on the jetties, on the pier and not getting the results I was looking for, I decided to call on a pro. I had spent some time reading the salt water forum on the GON board and after reading HOQ’s report on catching red fish on a top water bite, I knew that was the trip for me. 
HOQ introduced me to one of the nicest guys I have met in a long time. He runs a full time/ full service fishing guide service out of Panama City Beach and his name is Captain Justin Leake. He grew up in the bay and knows it like the back of his hand. He told me that he was running a 14 foot john boat at the age of 6 and would disappear for hours at a time in the bay when he was 9. He knows these waters and he knows these fish. Here is his website.   http://panamacityinshore.com/ and his phone number is 850-258-7780

The thing about saltwater fishing is that there are so many choices. I knew I  wanted to catch some fish, I knew I wanted to put my boys on some fish but I also knew that I didn’t want to drag them out at sunrise onto a 2 hour ride in the gulf on a party boat and bottom fish. It just wasn’t what I was after as far as experiences go. When I read about the top water fishing for red fish trip in the evening, I knew that was what I wanted and the price was right too. Captain Leake has a beautiful new flat’s fishing boat that is very comfortable to fish out of. With drinks and snacks included, we met at the boat ramp beside the Hathaway bridge at 5 in the afternoon and took off. A few minutes later, we were at our destination and dropping anchor.

A lot of people have asked about the oil in the area. We saw tarballs on the beach and they are pulling boom out toward the jetties to stage for all out war on this stuff. Here are some pics of specialty boats and equipment that is being set up I the area near the pass.



















After dropping anchor, Captain Leake explained what our strategy was going to be and where we should fish and how we should fish. He had this down and with one rod out, after what seemed like 2 minutes, it was fish on! He handed the rod to my youngest who proceeded to almost be pulled out of the boat. I told him to hold onto that rod because while it was in the boat, it belonged to Justin but if he let it go, we owned it! I am 39 years old and had never caught a red fish and here is my 10 year old getting his first red right before my eyes. It is enough to put a big ole smile on your face as a dad.

That fish pulled hard!






A few minutes later and there she was, his first red fish. 






High 5’s all around the boat and a big ole smile and it was back to work. Justin threw the lure into the right spot, a crash on the top water and the fish was hooked. This time it was my 12 year olds turn. He too had never caught a red fish and was ready for the battle. The sound of that line ripping through the drag is something that dreams are made of for little boys and grown men alike.






Here he is with his first red!






After making sure both the boys had fish in the boat, of course, it was dad’s turn. I mean…hey, fair is fair. I finally pick up a rod after watching the technique Justin is using and toss my bait out there. It was just a few minutes and the sound of the water crashing as the red fish hit my top water lure is still with me as I type this. I don’t have any video or pics of the fight but let me say that it was awesome. 

Here is a pic of my first red fish.






This round robin of catching red fish went on for hours. At one time, we were surrounded by dolphins that were trying to get in our boat and get our fish. I think the kids liked that as much as catching the fish. We had one dolphin come right up and put his nose in the boat trying to get our double reds that we had just landed. Then he just sank down about 3 feet off the boat and we could see him sitting there, waiting for us to release our fish. A quick family pic and we had to release them on the other side of the boat to avoid being dolphin dinner.






Captain Leake was great with my kids, he was patient and had a teaching heart in showing them not only how but why we were fishing the way we were. 

Mason in the school room, learning what red’s like.






















Go away dolphins, you are chasing our fish!






Caleb on more fish.






Another…






The sun was setting and the tide had just about finished doing it’s thing.






In the end, there were lots of fish caught and neat things happen that we didn’t get pics of but will stay in our memories. We had 1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish. Now I know what the inspiration was for Dr. Seuss!


The Spanish Mackerel that came rocketing out of the water up 12 feet in the air right besides our boat, the two blue fish that I had on at one time that hit my lures like a hungry wolf pack, the dolphin putting it’s nose in the boat and the site of him smacking one of those blue fish that we released less than 3 feet from our boat. The sun set, my boy’s smiles and the high five’s from the Captain. He is a new father now himself and he said “I can’t wait till I can do this with my son.” I have to agree, this trip was better than any party boat I have ever been on. Calm, relaxed, good weather and we caught fish. I might sound like a commercial and I hope so but if you are heading down to Panama City Beach and want an absolutely awesome time, contact Captain Leake. Let him check the tide charts and tell you when the best dates for fishing will be. He actually told us we were a couple days early for the best fishing but we didn’t have a choice, we couldn’t stay forever down there. I think the only person in our family who was truly disappointed was my wife. You see, she had figured this would be another boring bottom fishing trip with rough water and blazing sun. Little did we know what adventure was waiting for us. I am not a betting man but I would wager that our next trip we book with Captain Leake, the wife will opt to join us rather than head to the stores for some shopping and that my friend is a testimonial!

I have some video that my son took on his cell phone but we have to figure out how to get the file off of his phone. Maybe I can add it if we can figure it out soon enough.


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## Shine Runner (Jun 26, 2010)

Absolutely awesome!


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## Hooked On Quack (Jun 26, 2010)

Told you so...



Glad you and the kids had a blast!!  They'll never forget that trip and hopefully many more!!


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## jsimages (Jun 26, 2010)

im heading to pcb in the am and this trip you took is exactly what im looking for when i there. thanks for the story ,pics and recommending capt leake. im gonna check his website and contact him when i get there.  great memories man


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## Money man (Jun 26, 2010)

jsimages said:


> im heading to pcb in the am and this trip you took is exactly what im looking for when i there. thanks for the story ,pics and recommending capt leake. im gonna check his website and contact him when i get there.  great memories man



Call him now and have him check the tide schedule to see which day is going to be best to fish, the tide is the key! It was a blast!


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## Money man (Jun 26, 2010)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Told you so...
> 
> 
> 
> Glad you and the kids had a blast!!  They'll never forget that trip and hopefully many more!!



Yes you did HOQ. I knew my oldest son was having fun when he was texting his mom these run on sentences with play by play actions of what was happening. It has been a while since I have gotten hugs like the ones I got from them when we finished up.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us and prompting me to call Capt Leake.


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## ryanwhit (Jun 26, 2010)

Looks like fun!  Great memories for sure, thanks for the report!


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## Money man (Jun 26, 2010)

OK, finally figured out the video issue. Here we go. Thanks for the kind words folks. Good memories, good times.

Man, I need a better video camera than my blackberry.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jc4TOp6jBC8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jc4TOp6jBC8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


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## biggabuck (Jun 26, 2010)

Looks like yall had a blast my trip is on the 9th i hope everything is still ok when we get down there.


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## Hooked On Quack (Jun 27, 2010)

Money man said:


> OK, finally figured out the video issue. Here we go. Thanks for the kind words folks. Good memories, good times.
> 
> Man, I need a better video camera than my blackberry.
> 
> <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jc4TOp6jBC8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jc4TOp6jBC8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>





MM, awesome footage!!  You HAVE got to carry your wife on the next trip!!  I've been Flats fishing since 1981 and carried Dawn for the first time last year, and again this year and she really enjoyed it, plus she thinks Justin is HAWT!!


So glad ya'll hit it right, your boys did a fine job wrasslin those Reds!!

Memories that will never be erased...


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## Money man (Jun 27, 2010)

Hooked On Quack said:


> MM, awesome footage!!  You HAVE got to carry your wife on the next trip!!  I've been Flats fishing since 1981 and carried Dawn for the first time last year, and again this year and she really enjoyed it, plus she thinks Justin is HAWT!!
> 
> 
> So glad ya'll hit it right, your boys did a fine job wrasslin those Reds!!
> ...



Yeah, I could see her dilemma when she dropped us off at the boat ramp when she saw Justin....I thought she was going to join us. 

Truth be told, it would be safer had she come along instead of went shopping. I am glad the trip was not much longer than it was, when I called her to tell her we were on our way back to the ramp, she was standing at the Coach Purse display somewhere. I told her to hurry to meet us!

Woo, that was a close one.


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## Hooked On Quack (Jun 28, 2010)

Money man said:


> Yeah, I could see her dilemma when she dropped us off at the boat ramp when she saw Justin....I thought she was going to join us.
> 
> Truth be told, it would be safer had she come along instead of went shopping. I am glad the trip was not much longer than it was, when I called her to tell her we were on our way back to the ramp, she was standing at the Coach Purse display somewhere. I told her to hurry to meet us!
> 
> Woo, that was a close one.







The fishing trip is ALOT cheaper than turning da wimmins loose shopping!!


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## Jasper (Jun 30, 2010)

Money man said:


> The sun set, my boy’s smiles and the high five’s from the Captain. He is a new father now himself and he said “I can’t wait till I can do this with my son.” QUOTE]
> 
> Now, that's what it's all about! Great pics, thread and especially great job on spending time with those boys. They'll never forget that day. You're a fine role model, sir...........


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## Hooked On Quack (Jul 2, 2010)

Hey MM, let's coincide our trips next year so you and I can split an all day trip, and then send the wives and your kids with Justin on an evening trip!!


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## Money man (Jul 2, 2010)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Hey MM, let's coincide our trips next year so you and I can split an all day trip, and then send the wives and your kids with Justin on an evening trip!!



Well, I like the idea of saving money on the day trip we would be splitting but I am not sure I am diggin the idea of putting Justin and our wives together in a small boat.....all alone. That might negate the savings we had.


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## olcaptain (Jul 3, 2010)

Just saw this. Wow!! What a great day!! Well done to all!!!


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## Hooked On Quack (Jul 3, 2010)

Money man said:


> Well, I like the idea of saving money on the day trip we would be splitting but I am not sure I am diggin the idea of putting Justin and our wives together in a small boat.....all alone. That might negate the savings we had.





Send the boys too, Justin will be too busy looking after them and the gals!!


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