A Big Fish, Small Budget Spring Break
BY BEN ADRIEN T
he action started just moments after we truly arrived. As we paddled over the last sandbar just a quarter mile from the beach, my college roommate Neal Brantner’s reel sang out. A powerful fish pulled him precariously backwards. Working frantically, he managed to get his nose around and settled in for a long fight. An hour later and two miles down the beach, one last effort tamed the rare beast, a beautiful 55-inch cobia. Speechless and exhausted, Neal mustered up a grin that said everything. Just a month prior we’d been dreaming big, of traveling the world in search of great fishing. The only problem: We were broke. That hadn’t stopped us. Determined to enjoy first class trophy hunting on a college student’s budget, we planned, saved a little cash and finally waited out the interminable miles from Johnson City, Tennessee, to Grayton Beach State Park, Florida. Along the way, we schemed about surf launches and handling huge fish, smoker kings and maybe a sailfish. Armed with two heavy offshore reels, two smaller spinning rods, some king rigs and a cast net, we launched the kayaks and the adventure began. Before our trip would end, we’d get our exotics, dueling plenty of drag rippers and salting away memories that will last a lifetime. All this for a mere two hundred dollars each—cheap thrills.
Our humble home base at Grayton Beach State Park wasn’t the Ritz, but it offered everything a couple of young kayak anglers needed, even showers to rinse off the salt. Best of all, the brackish ponds leading to the beach were just steps away.
www.kayakanglermag.com… 35
PHOTO: BEN ADRIEN
PHOTO: NEAL BRANTNER
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