June 2016: Bulls, Tigers, and new best fish...ALONE!

6/3: Hit the sand with a bunch of people. More social than fishing. Not much action for a while. Adam had a screaming run and though he got cut off. Then he felt the fishy. Crazy black tip hit a big bait and almost became bait but it was late so he was done for the night.

Then a few minutes later I got a solid run. Turned out to be an 8'7" Lemon. We hung out for a little while longer since there was still some bait in the water. No more hits.

6/5: Hit the sand with Adam and Cujo. We had baits in through the high tide and not a single click. The guys had plans to leave at midnight but started a little earlier. We had already had some rain and the water was picking up a little more. As Cujo packs some stuff up, he asks us if either of us would like a........ BANANA! No WTF!!! He didnt know know any better. Adam left, then Cujo left. at 11:57PM I heard Cujo's truck fire up and take off. Now I am SOLO and that damn banana is far away. At 12:02am (now 6/6/2016) I hear that sweet clicker clickin! I get harnessed up and ready. When I have a solid run, I get tight on the fish. She's angry! Rippin some drag! She's heavy and strong. I get some line back between the high and low gears. then when she gets close, she takes line again. I fight her through a wicked squall. Now I have her close to shore. I can see she is a solid bull shark. The water is rough and there is a good sand bar and a solid ledge I need to get her over. This is where fight number two starts. I tried to go heavier on the drag and I almost got dragged in! Eventually, I get a set of three waves that give me just enough to get her in and on her side. I was unable to do the one handed tail rope in the rough water so I ran the rod back to the spike and ran back to rope her. Now I can catch my breath. She tapes out at 8'7" . Fat, Really fat! She was heavy. I didnt move her more than 5 ft with that tail rope. I got a shot of the fish and some selfies for proof. I tried to set up a camera on the mini tripod on the cooler but the ocean wanted to take it all away. I get her back in the deeper water and once she gets her bearings and swims off strong. While lookin at pics it occurs to me that I had caught an 8'7' bull on 6/6/2015! What the hell are the chances of that! This is my new personal best SOLO catch. Man it is tough! The conditions didnt help LOL.

6/10: Hit the sand with Adam and Tom. Get a couple baits far and one short on the surf rod. Current is rippin to the south. Adam gets a couple short runs. I get a good slow run and a drop. Tom gets a 46" barracuda. Bam, fresh bait!

Adam and I both bring in shredded baits and put out some fresh ones. An hour later I get a good run. I set up and get tight a on good fish. After a couple minutes, Adam is hooked up! We land both fish. It is a little hectic but I told them if we got two fish and three people, thats 1.5 people per fish, easy peasy! I got an 8'2" FAT bull and Adam got a stud 9'3" Tiger. We remove hooks, release the tiger, and then the bull. While I am releasing the bull, the tiger swims right back up to my feet. IF I hadent stepped out the way, she would have smacked me right in the leg. We spend a couple minutes with the fish while they get some more oxygen and then the tiger swims off followed shortly by the bull shark. Unforgettable night!

6/12: I hit the sand with Crystal and Adam. We put three baits far and one short. Adam hooks up and gets a 9ft Tiger.

After we release her, he runs another bait short and far. The bait that was short was hit by crabs. Crystal's rod gets a screaming run. Turns out, something got tangled in the mono topshot about 50 yards out. The line was shredded and split but not broken. I cut and retied. ran a new bait out. My reel goes off with a good medium solid run, no stopping. I get tight on the fish and upon hook set, I lose her. She bit thru my #19. It was single strand. I had used both double and single strand 19 without issue but from now on, it is nothing but double when the big fish are around. A few minutes later, Adam get a solid run and sets up on a sold fish. Turns out to be a stud 10'2" tiger. She's a beauty. We get the hook and pics and hang with her in the water for a minute or two before she swims off into the darkness. Another awesome night even though "I went home sick" as JD Hammer would say. These monster fish are super hard to get. Now I have a broken hook, 700lb mono chewed through and wire chewed through.

We Had been out a handful of times without luck. Small fish came in and started stealing baits or shredding them up and leaving a small chunk on the hook. T storms ran us off the beach another time. Took a week off and when the weather cleared up, I got back to it.

6/24: A couple couldn't make it but I said F' it, it is calm, it is Friday and I am going fishing alone. I got a bait out before the sun dropped. I ran a second bait short. I got hit two times on the short drop and the bait was gone after the second hit. I switched to casting rigs on that rod. Got hit on the long drop and I got ready to do battle. Took a minute to set up on the fish b/c she would take some line and stop and go again. After another minute, I applied a little more pressure to see if I could get her to run away from me, and she did. I set up on her and the battle had begun. This wasnt a small fish. She was pulling some serious drag when she felt like it. I had to catch myself by grabbing on to the sand spike for balance/support. I said "Dont be a hammer. dont be a hammer!" At one point the fish was making a slow out and to the north so I used that time to reel in my surf rod. When I had the fish in close, my headlamp died so I tried to grab another from my bucket and almost got pulled forward and sideways. Note to self, do not try to turn when harnessed up, not even a little! She almost took me over, sideways. I got my balance and maintained control while I leaned back and grabbed another headlamp. Once I got the fish in the shallows I could see it was a hammer! Now I was in GO mode! I had to increase the drag now that I was almost full spool. She would drag me around and I would have to lower the drag. This happened a few times. I wish I had myself on camera. Must have looked like a strange fish dance LOL. Water was pretty calm but I was able get her close within a wave and leader her in. From that point it was just over two minutes to tail rope, tape, and de hook, and start the release. A group of people walked up and the whole "OMG, WOW, etc started. I threw one kid the tail rope and another the camera and told him to get some pics. A couple pics came out excellent. Sat with the fish for a minute and she smacked me in the head and took off! She was a heavy 10'8" . My best SOLO fish and now my best fish over all!

I didnt get the ten foot tiger I have been after but I had one hell of a month with 2 Personal Best Records set! Perhaps I am destined to chase monsters alone!