JD and JD- Fat sharks... a mission and a story.
PLEASE READ BEFORE SCROLLING DOWN TO THE PICS, THE STORY IS LEGENDARY
The JD's never tire, between Fagan fishing 2 days straight on the wet and tormenting keys bridges and Hammer fishing hard on some equally wet and tormenting bridges in Jupiter , they managed to come together and figure out a way to fish. They made plans, packed up a truck and headed down with the kayak South to the keys.
JD Fagan took out 4 rods on the beach. 15 minutes after bait drop, Hammer hooked a big shark on 2 dolphin carcasses on one hook, it jumped clean out of the water, about 7ft and spit hook.
JD Fagan hooked the next shark, the fattest spinner shark you have ever seen ate a double hook rigging with a dolphin carcass and a whole eel.
While I was talking to Hammer on the phone around 9:30-10 pm, he told me he had to go, Fagan had just got hit and was hooked into a big shark. I called back in an hour expecting them to have the fish landed, but no one answered the phone. I called back around 11:40, still no reply. At this point I was just left wondering.
The next day after school I was informed of the mission and story that had taken place the night before. Turns out that the big shark got stuck somewhere after somewhat of a fight. Keep in mind this fish had picked up half of a sting ray so it was no hush puppy. Hammer would not give up on this shark, he got into his kayak and took a gaff and knife out to where the line had been stuck. He gaffed the line and tried to get the line free but it didn't seem to be budging. He then decided to gaff the other side of the line that was stuck out towards the ocean shark between the rock and the shark, the line would still not come off so he cut it and tried to blood knot the two lines back together. The other line had slipped and he was holding on to a live shark that was wrapped around his paddle.
This is where it gets interesting, a couple of blocks offshore was JD and a fat shark clearly over 8ft, this shark was not done fighting, every attempt he made to paddle in 5 yards or so the shark would take him out another 10, he would only gain as the shark tires. There were times when he felt powerless and back on shore Fagan was yelling at him telling him to cut the line and paddle back. But Hammer was determined, no matter what it came to, he was destined to show that shark who was the boss. Retired and bossing around sharks .
He got close to shore and thought the shark was done but that wasn't all the shark had to offer. At one point the shark went for a 10-15mph run back out to sea and spun the kayak around completely and was dragging him and the kayak back out at sea sideways and barely was able to keep from flipping over on the kayak. It wasn't looking good at all by this time. He faced the paddle towards the shark hoping that maybe the line would slip off, but it wouldn't so he just decided to use every ounce of his strength and bring the shark back in, swaring at it with every curse word you could think of at this point . He was completely done, he told Fagan to come in the water and get his shark and drag him back in.
It was tail roped and brought in. The shark was so feisty and so fat, until it was taken out of the water they thought for sure it was a monster bull shark. But to their surprise, it was the fattest lemon shark you have ever seen! In an attempt to take pictures, the shark wasn't about all he publicity, he smacked the camera out of JD's hand so fast and so hard that Hammer asked: Where is the camera? and before the camera even landed, both of them looked around everywhere for it then a splash was heard.
Could it get any worse? Maybe. Fagan ran after the camera and quickly removed the memory chip from within. The memory card wouldn't work on his computer nor Johnnie's computer. Hammer told him to see if Walmart could develop it. The cd that Walmart gave him wouldn't work in their computers for some reason, but they brought it to me and with a little toggling of settings, I had it figured out and saw these monster fish.
Basically It was a double JD effort, had it been one of them alone this shark would have never been landed, but together they are hard to beat!
Now here it is! Both of these sharks were so fat they could be mistaken for bulls
What a tipper!
Now for that fat ass lemon!
Just an average fisherman.
Freakin Awesome!!!! I should have gone LOL!!! JD told me the story this afternoon and I was like NO WAY??????????? Props to you guys. Great team effort and just a great story. This is one for the Discovery Channel. Hammer you are the man!!!!!! Man those Sharks have some serious girth on them. Great catches fellas!!!! Congrats again!!!!!

Gets my vote for one of the top three "Story of the Year".That tipper bully lookalike is a fatty and the lemon looked like it swallowed half a porpoise.You just never know what Jd Hammer will be doing from one fishing trip to the next, his fishing stories are truly stuff of legends and could fill several fishing books.This particular story reminds me of the time Rene and Jd hammer(aka Jimbo by close friends and family) SWAM OUT to 20 feet of water and retrieved an 11 ft hammer that had died after a long fight while fishing from Newport on a Penn Jigmaster with 30 lb test.
A lifetime dedicated to the pursuit of big sharks and fish , the fishing GODS shine down on the humble focused and dedicated few.My hats off to you two gentlemen -Congratulations.
HERE'S A LINK TO THE RENE -JIMBO RETRIEVED HAMMER
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=249&p=664&hilit=Rene+and+Jd+Newport+hammer#p664
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
all i can say is that jd hammer is the man, and that the lemon he fought out thear on the kayak is more his shark than mine. he was out thear for a solid hour paddleing and fighting this big shark, and all i could do is stand thear and hear him way out in the kayak yelling yea ha, yea ha. and yelling at that shark for what seemed forever. it was truly an amazing catch. and something i will never forget. congrats on that battle hammer, you whooped that shark.
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