Big Hammer Seven Mile 4/3/2012

At work with a bunch of madness I get a text from Will if I was down to head down to the keys that night, told him I get out at 1030 to pack everything and we will head down as soon as I get out. We get there get some rest and we get up early and head out on the boat in search of some bait. We got two stingrays and a cuda and then headed back in to rest and hide from Aprils blazing sun. As evening approaches Will and I are ready to head out for the hunt but our boat captain was exhausted and was not too excited to be going out again but with a little motivation we our on our way to our spot under Seven Mile. We set up and Will floats out a whole string ray on his 12/0 and with a little hesitation I decided to float out the whole cuda on my 12/0. About 15-20 minutes past and Will points out that my rod is being bumped, I grab it and look at him and tell him a nurse is messing with it, we decided to reel it in where we see the tail had already been sucked by a nurse and re float out in hopes of deterring the nurse. Another 20-25 minutes past by and Will points out my rods was being bumped again, I feel the line and feels like another nurse so I start to reel again to get past this nurse, as I am reeling I get slammed; I put it in free spool for a little then I locked it up and hit it hard, as soon as I hit it I am pinned to the boat with line peeling out of my 12/0. As soon as Will hears my drag he yells HAMMER to wakes up our friend sleeping in the cabin and together they quickly reel in the other rods and pull the anchor. At this point my 12/0 is almost at half and the fight is on. After a few obstacles and about an hour later we have the hammer near the boat and we make the decision that we need to force the fish in and let it go before she fights to her death, so I lock up and start pumping her in and Will grabs the leader almost loosing a finger on the initial grab because she was not too happy to be boat side. We decided not to take the extra time to measure it and didn’t get any great pictures because we tried to keep this fish health at best interest. Hope you enjoy.

Fighting her at the back of the boat.

Fighting at the front with the sun setting.