Ric, had the smb picture been doctored, the fish would have been MUCH larger!!!
The little girl in the picture caught her redfish while fishing the jetties on a Galveston partyboat. I was with a group of conference-goers on that partboat, and happened to be standing next to the little girl (she's from NC, coincidently, visiting her grandparents in Texas City). She hadn't caught anything all morning when, all of a sudden, her "pool cue" fishing rod bowed downward over the boat railing. I barely caught hold of the rod before it was wrenched from her fragile grip. For the next 20 minutes, I held/secured the rod while she operated the winch, er, I mean "reel". It was a lot of fun watching her battle that fish. We (her family and others) were able to see the fish as it neared the surface. However, due to her short stature and the height of the boat railing, she didn't see the fish until it was gaffed and brought on deck. To say that the fish "made her trip to Texas" is an understatement.
Just another example of how fishing can make life-long memories....
