Hunting giants-catching jacks

Hooked up with always faithful bridgeman and friend since forever Lui and my 19 year old son Danny to fish the bridge and continue our hunt for that elusive giant hammer.As usual pack my truck the night before and on the road by 5 am to pick up my boy at his mommas house and then a rendevous at the Marlin cafeteria cubana for that black go juice-CAFE CUBANO and some pastelitos to power the engine.We met up eat ,then pick up 13 dozen live shrimp at our usual haunt,,,,head down to and it's an overcast morning but becomes beattiful picture perfect by the afternoon.Yes the old friends snowbirds from the north have arrived faithfully once again EJ from Kentucky ,Steve from Chicago i think, Jim from who knows where and a few other retired guys who join us to leech some local know how and offer a hand and good friendly conversation.

My son Danny on the left,EJ with his 8 lb mutton-center and Steve on the right.

My boy hooked up to a fish that kept manhandling him all morning_big ray i think

Lui as always into the snaps and snappy boy next to him.

The macks were thick and cutting off everything without wire leader on it.

The fishing was starting to pick up as the morning wore on the mackeral were fairly thick and the yellowtails were also biting but not like two weeks ago.I spent a bunch of time riggin up my son and helping him with ideas on getting into the fish so my focus was on helping him out and not so much on fishing myself.When the tide turned we went down to the flats to freeline some moonfish in the hopes of catching a few fresh cudas for shark bait and we were rewarded with a couple of 10-15 lb specimens.

My son Danny with a nice sized cuda he caught for the night time shark feed.

Danny and i with EJ's mutton.

Nice size snapper for this bridge.

Lui continues to catch mackeral
By this time it,s the late afternoon and we've caught all the cudas we need except one 30 lb torpedo that put my son through his paces and he involuntarily let it go with a treble hook stuck in it's jaw.EJ who was leaving the bridge informed us that Lui was into a thick school of jack crevalles andto hurry back to base camp for some reel busting action with the jacks,When my son and i get there Lui and two more guys were fighting jacks and soon we're casting live shrimp,pinfish and yellow bucktails at the maurauding brutes.Right a away we get into the fish and we're having to run back and forth with the net to help land everyones fish.

Danny with one of his jacks.

It was mayhem for a short while -anything that hit the water was hit.

Group picture of the jack squad

More jack squad

That night we were tired from fighting so many big jacks from 5 to 15 lbs and we settled down,my son fell fast asleep as we cooked up a nice dinner on Lui's coleman stove and then when the tide started outgoing we put in our shark baits of fresh cuda.On my 14/0 I ballooned out the head section of a cuda to just before the light poles and broke off the balloon to sink the bait.Later that night about an hour before the tide was to change i got a hit on the 14 and when i set up the fish was moving fast and the break (or Dog) would not catch momentarily and finnaly when it did the shark took maybe 50 yards of drag and then started going sideways and i ran rod in hand in the opposite direction to keep my line clear of the light pole.So i got him turned but he's a fast swimmer and going left and i far right all the way to one of the new platforms,,,,,then Lui tells me he's inside the poles and i run back to the left to get straight with the shark but then to my horror i notice the shark is not inside the poles but still outside and has taken a turn around the right side of the pole.I never would of run to get straight with the shark if Lui would not of told me the shark was allready inside,,,,,,,OH WELL!!!You can't win em all.The shark was wrapped around the pole and we could not move him so we put the rod down on clicker to wait and see if he would undo himself but no cigar,it wa futile.No more shark hits only a couple of nurse sharks was it.

Way to the right of the light pole on the platform trying to angle out.

Next morning i free lined a 7 lb jack but no takers

Strong fish even in the current.

A picture before leaving for home.