Dog Days of Summer 7/11 & 7/14

Since August 15th of last year I started logging my shark trips just to see what it really takes to catch a land based tiger shark in my region. Tigers are quite uncommon around this area although based on recent catches there seems to be a minor resurgence within the past year, perhaps a result of the oil spill to the north displacing them down here. Forty trips and 178 baits later, the log ended on the 11th. The run came at 2:20am, four days prior to the full moon. It was a slow run on a big bait that was dropped 350 yards offshore. It took around 40 yards on the first run and made short powerful bursts throughout the fight but was no match for a locked 12/0. I told John it had to be a big bull or tiger. Once in the shallows it thrashed hard under the moonlight. I'll never forget it. John shouted, "you're not gonna believe it!" She taped out at 8'3", a bit on the skinny side, but like most tigers had a large head. She swam away perfectly through the still warm waters with a bright glimmer cast from the moon overhead.

What a great looking shark..there's nothing better than seeing stripes on the end of your line! I just had to try for another one so I caught some bait on the 13th and on the 14th I went back to Tiger Avenue with July's full moon rising.. except this time I was solo. I got baits out at sunset...a 15lb bait on the 12/0 sent 400 yards out and a 10lb chunk on the TLD25 70 yards out.

I changed into dry clothes and then started watching a movie to kill time. Something in the surf caught my eye 30 minutes into the movie as the full moon lit up the beach. It looked like a dorsal fin so I ran to the waterline to get a closer inspection. It was a HUGE lemon cruising the first gut! I followed it north for awhile until it headed offshore. I went back to my movie.. not 5 minutes later I see the dorsal again. I run to it with the camera this time and see that its a smaller lemon about 6.5ft. I snapped a quick pic right before it headed offshore...

With lemons cruising inside the bar and a tide quickly rushing in, I knew a clicker was going to go off shortly. Sure enough the glowstick on the 12/0 shot out fast and steady. Surprised that the short bait didn't get picked up first. I let it eat good then hit it with a strong hookset. Fish on but felt small. Amazing how these smaller sharks can down 15lb baits without dropping it. A couple minutes later and I get a blacktip on the beach.

After the release I rigged up another leader for the third bait deployment of the night. As I inched the kayak toward the surf, the TLD25 went off. Great timing! I cranked the lever to full drag and let the shark set the hook. Fish on! Slow and steady. Felt heavy. It dumped 150 yards of braid on the first run. I told myself years ago I wouldn't put out anything smaller than a 12/0 and now I remembered why. I got it near the sandbar within 25 minutes but then it got a second wind and dumped another 100 yards. Ahhh! It went like this for a while.. I would get it back to the bar and it would take off unfazed. Twenty minutes later, with the help of a wave, it beached itself. I acted faster than usual as things take longer when there's only one pair of hands. I removed the hook and used my tagging stick to aid in the measuring process. Most of the fish was in the water so I used the cooler as a base to take a few self timer shots. A feisty 9'5" female lemon, my largest to date and more than likely the lemon that was cruising the gut earlier...

I spent the next half hour rigging and redeploying the two rods. I got back into dry clothes and continued watching the movie with a nice sub for dinner. The west wind never let up and forced the tide to come up even higher. No runs for the remainder of the movie. It was getting late so I started packing up when the 12/0 went off. This fish felt heavy from the start.. it did not pull a ton of drag but was still a 20+ minute fight. When I saw it near the sandbar under the moonlight I thought I had another tiger until the second dorsal protruded the surface. It was a lot harder to beach this one with the tide heading out but I managed after a few attempts at the tail. This guy measured exactly 9' and closed the best solo night I've had..