Dec 18, 2014
With a long period of very calm seas and school finally coming to an end me and my friend set out on our first trip in awhile. I had caught a few bullet bonitos for the perfect bait and we were ready. We set out three lines and probably not 10mins after we had the lines out we had our fist bite. It was a nice slow roll unlike the normal hit and runs we have been used to. After letting the shark eat I crank up the drag and pull tight. I immediately could tell the fish had some size and at first was not budging but then it felt the sting of the 14/0 circle and took of on a nice initial run (the first real run on my 9/0!) After about a twenty minute fight and a few last ditch efforts to escape we had our first sizable shark on the beach! She was a beautiful sandbar of about 6'6in. We didn't get an exact measurement cause it was just two of us dealing with basically our first large shark.
This beaut marked the beginning of what was to be a pretty good night.
After the chaos of the first fish we reset and started to relax but it wasn't long until we got out second bite but sadly it seemed the fish got us caught up in the rocks. I told my friend that if the fish is still on he might pull the line out and to be patient but after a while it was clear we no longer had a fish on so my friend went to trying to pull the line free. While he was doing this I got another bite and at first i thought it might have been his line tangled with mine but after a little it was clear i had another fish which had some weight to it. Sadly after only a short time the shark must have wrapped in the line and bit through the main line (I should probably start using a longer leader). We reset after the the confusion and began our wait again. My friends rod went off this time with another slow roll and after a few seconds we were tight to our second shark of the night!
Our second fish ended up being a large nurse (6'6") but it was our first nurse so we were still happy.
We ran out of bait thus marking the end of our first good night and every bait we put out got hit!
Dec 27, 2014
December 27 marked a special day for me, my 18th birthday. I decided we since the seas were fairly calm that spending the night shark fishing would be a good way to celebrate. I had one frozen bonita left over and luckily my friend was able to catch a nice spanish off the beach so we had a few baits for the night. We had one hit pretty early on but it took the bait and was never hooked. The second bite came and this time the hook found its home and the fight was on! The reel I was using was older and the drag was quite sticky and on the first run I was getting yanked towards the water. I got to feel the raw unmatched power of the animal and all I can say is wow. After some more tug of war I had the fish at the beach. It was another sandbar, this one bigger than the last!
This big girl measured in at 7'1" which made it the new longest shark we have caught! She was also considerably thicker than the first sandbar.
We got a couple other bites but couldn't connect and we only had one bait left. After awhile we start getting some pulls on the line and thought it might have been a ray so we let it eat for awhile before reeling but alas there was nothing on so we left it out even though we figured the bait had been sucked off. To our surprise we got another run awhile later and this time it was definitely a fish. My friend tightens up and the fight is on with another sizable fish. We eventually make it out to be a large lemon which is another first for us!
This one taped out to 7'8" and was another record for us! (sorry for the poor quality pics but none of us have a proper camera to use)
In all i couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday than with my friends and a couple big a$$ sharks!
P.S. It seemed all of the bites we had on the second night came on the rod furthest south and that maybe the sharks were moving in a south to north direction which was also the direction the current was moving
I hope you enjoyed the report and had a wonderful holiday like I have. Happy New Years! and may the sharks be with you.
-Ethan
Sweet report. Must have been hittin the sand hard at that sweet spot when the sandbars stroll on by. Kinda rare for east coast catch.
Tight work!
Here fishy fishy fishy.....
Catch a fish or catch a buzz!
Sweet report. Must have been hittin the sand hard at that sweet spot when the sandbars stroll on by. Kinda rare for east coast catch.
Tight work!
Thanks. I fish just down the beach from where you normally fish. I'm surprised you didn't get any
Last couple times I hit that spot, i just casted the surf gear. easy nights out. Tried a couple new places and the lil ones were fierce!
Here fishy fishy fishy.....
Catch a fish or catch a buzz!
Nice catch guys.Xmas presents, then birthdays presents,then a mixed bag of sharks including personal best ,sounds like all your gift wishes came true.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
Great catch guys!!!
Where were you fishing that time of year??
We were fishing off the pompano beach area. Hoping to repeat last years success this winter break.
Hopefully it cools down and some big fish move down south to us. I have not had a chance to fish much but I did cast a couple baits last night and fed the crabs. It was too warm for mid December!
Here fishy fishy fishy.....
Catch a fish or catch a buzz!
That was my thoughts exactly! Hopefully this front coming through will improve things. I did drop some baits last night as the front was coming in and got one big blacktip but no other hits.