Best Shark Catch - EVER!!! Wonder Boy

I've caught big fish and small fish. Fast fish and slow fish. Red fish and blue fish. Now I caught my best fish ever and It wasn't even my catch.

The Tarponator watched a bit of sponge bob, plastered some tooth paste on the bathroom mirror, had a bowl of cereal and then said, "I'm going to weigh myself and see if I can catch a fish bigger then me today." His weight, 71 pounds at the age of 7 years old.

I put his holiday gift, a custom light and strong rod, in the car along with his new harness and we were off on a father and son quest. To be honest, this was not a spontaneous event. He has landed a few tarpon and other beach critters and he wanted to achieve elite status of land base shark fishing. He spends time with dad on the beach and I think he is just tired of holding me down while in the heat of battle and carrying my gear. We new this would be a challenge for him so we started a father and son training regime to get him ready. A few push ups, squats, light functional dumbbell training mixed in with some shark specific exercise that included a large reel, rod and weights.

The plan was to go to the local beach and try our luck. Unfortunately, we got a late start and the parking lot was full. We said that we would drive north and scan the water for jumping sharks. We drove for about an hour on A1A and there was no sign of life. We stopped at a familiar haunt and was happily surprised to see the best thing a shark fisherman could see on a beach, double red flags. Unfortunately, the flags came down moments after the first cast was made.

We were popping man-of-war jelly fish while the bait was soaking mixed in with some running around. We hear the clicks of the reel, I run for the rod and he runs for the harness. Just like we practiced. Unfortunately, just a quick run with no climax. The Tarponator reels in the bait for inspection. Not one toothy mark. A second cast was made and we play in the water. The reel sings and we man our positions and history repeats itself. I decided to move from a 20/0 to a 12/0 circle hook. We played a game with some rope and we tied some knots to pass the time and he pulls me down the beach with a new knot that he invented. I see my rod tip bounce and we run to the rod.

He gets the harness and I get the rod. I tightened the drag and handed the rod to him. He yells for me to tie him into the reel and I shout to take the rod and start reeling firsts. He yells at me and says, 'I can't hold it and reel. TIE ME IN." So it is said, so it is done.

SHARK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Line is stripped off the reel as he is getting situated in the sand. Line goes slack and I think here we go again. The Tarponator quickly reels in the slack and then the line comes tight. The drag started screaming and the shark was flying through the air and splashing down. For a split moment, I thought to myself, what have I done. I made a mistake tying a 7 year old to a shark that weighs more then him. I only said this because he could not hold his ground and he was moving closer to the water, against his will.

Long story short - 7 year old spends 45 minutes putting a hurting on a 64 inch female spinner shark. Actually, it was bigger then 64 inches due to the bend in the sharks body. Shark was landed, de-hooked, tagged (#343775) and released and then everyone on the beach applauded my son and the life guard hoisted the double red flags back up the pole.

It was a great father and son day, but we should have had a third person with us to work the camera. I handed the camera off to strangers on the beach and did my best editing the footage to make a lasting memory for us.

Enjoy the Video.