Boca Grande and Last Couple Trips

Met up with Trevor early morning and we loaded up the truck and headed down to Boca. We stopped at a few bait spots along the way with nothing to be found, so we settled for a couple big southerns that I brought from the freezer back home.

We arrived at the pass and saw very few people and very few boats. Put out a couple baits, but the strong current coupled with seaweed moved us from the pass quickly.

We packed up and moved to the beaches and were greeted with this. Ocean like glass. Beautiful.

We prepared for the long trip down to the beach.

The view from the beach was almost too good to be true. Turns out it was.

Boat decided not to go home in the rain, so they anchored and went for a swim.

Poured hard for about 20 minutes. Turned out to be a blessing. Cleared out the swimmers and the boaters.

Messing around with the SX and OM 12footer

Got out the big guns and got baits in the water.

I was lucky getting rays this week. GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Uh, where is the kayak going?

Trevor paddling out at sunset, this photo is going up on the wall.

Baits were out and we were beat from baking in the sun all day. High tide was at 2am, so we laid down and try to get some sleep. A couple clicks here and there but the baits sat for 4 hours with little action.

Around 1am, the 50W got picked up, let it eat and set the circle. About a 10 minute fight and the 7'7" Lemon was on the beach. He thrashed at us pretty good. Circle came out clean and the shark crawled back into water on his own.

VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/v/-AeFplJEYks

Now comes the bad part of the trip.
After the lemon we grabbed a southern that had been in the water all day and sitting in sun and stuck it out on the 50. About 15 minutes later, the rod got bumped and then it went absolutely ballastic. I thought the reel was going to explode. I watched the glowstick shoot towards the ocean like a bullet, it was 100 yards out in a short period. I pushed the reel towards strike and the rod folded over and I felt the circle hit the shark and miss. Heartbreak. It started and was over before I could think what happened. Brought the rig back in and a foot long section of coating was missing above the hook.

We had one ray left, so I brought the 50 back in and put it out with a double rig, just in case. Same spot as before. Ray was in water no more than 10 minutes and again the reel started screaming for mercy. It seems faster than the first, which didn't seem possible. It was my second chance. I let him eat and eat and more than 200 yards disappeared off the reel. I slowly tightened up this time, rod folded, and he sped up. Took heavy heavy drag for about 10 seconds. He was hooked this time and again the line went slack. I prayed that he turned and was charging the beach. I tried to catch up with everything I had, but realized I missed it again. At this point, I had lost all hope and just wanted to sleep. Brought the rig back in and the trail hook was gone. The crimp had slipped on the coated cable. I had double crimps on every other connection on the rig, but shark found the weakest link. For the second year in a row, I lost a big fish because of leader.

We put out the 50 again with a small ray, hoping I'd get a THIRD chance, but it didn't happen. That clicker will stay with me for quite some time. Will told me the story of the hammer that trashed his 14/0 last year. "It was going so fast, I didn't have time to do anything but put it in gear and hold on"
I have experienced it myself and it will provide motivation for the rest of my life. I WILL get my big hammer, but it was not the night.

We reeled in the morning and a nice sized bull took a chunk out of the giant ray I put out. 3 hooks and he cut with precision and avoided all three.

Packed up the truck and headed home in the morning, beat but determined, but we will be back searching for the monster soon.

Past Couple Trips

Getting a shark over the bar

The super rare Browntip Shark

Smile

Tipper

Went back home to West Palm for the BHC award ceremony. Got to fish with the Lake Worth Sharkers Tim and Eddy.

Hooked up

8' Lemon