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There were still a few hours of daylight left when the final bell rang at Alabama\u2019s Elberta High School last Tuesday. So, Gardner Love, a 17-year-old student there, hurried home, grabbed a fishing rod, and hopped in the family boat. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur 20-foot [bay boat] was tied at a dock we use near my house, so I went there and started fishing in Soldier Creek off Perdido Bay,\u201d Love tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cI was looking for seatrout or redfish. But there are some small tarpon around, and I thought I saw a snook one night a year or so ago, so that\u2019s always something to try for.\u201d<\/p>\n Love had never caught a snook before, but he knew he had the right gear for it. A part-time deckhand for a local charter boat, he was using a spinning setup with 8-pound braid and a silver-chartreuse Devil Soft Bait<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a weird soft plastic jerk bait, but it\u2019s great for shallow water fishing,\u201d says Love. \u201cI was going way up the creek where it\u2019s weedy and full of snags, so that lure is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next: <\/strong>Why Every Angler Needs to Fish the Everglades for Snook, Redfish, and Tarpon<\/a><\/p>\n He fished his way up the creek, catching and releasing a few small seatrout. Then, around 5 p.m., he headed to a knee-deep area full of marsh grass and shoreline cover that looked prime for redfish.<\/p>\n \u201cI made a cast and the lure hung up in a tree,\u201d he says. \u201cI jiggled the rod a couple times and the lure fell out and hit the water. As soon as it landed there was a big explosion from a strong fish. I thought it was a tarpon from the way it hit and pulled.\u201d<\/p>\n But shortly into the fight, the fish jumped. Love had seen enough photos of snook that he easily recognized the dark lateral line along the fish\u2019s flank. The snook jumped several more times before Love was able to work it close to the boat.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw that it was barely hooked, and I didn\u2019t have a landing net,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, I stepped overboard into knee-deep water, grabbed the fish, and put it on my boat deck. Then I hopped back into the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n After landing the fish, Love immediately called his dad, who told him he\u2019d meet him back at the boat dock. Snook aren\u2019t common in Alabama waters, and his dad was eager to check it out. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were both excited and figured it might be a record because they\u2019re so rare to see in Alabama,\u201d Gardner explains. \u201cWe put the snook on a fish stringer to keep it alive, then took it to a nearby marina to weigh it.\u201d<\/p>\n The marina\u2019s certified scale registered just over 7 pounds, which is nearly 2 pounds heavier than the current Alabama record<\/a>. That fish also was caught from Soldier Creek, according to James Swarthout, the state fisheries biologist who officially weighed and measured Gardner\u2019s fish.<\/p>\n