Lost TWO monster sharks! Got some Sticker Beach Sharks.

The first couple of pics are from JD's fishing of south beach once again.

the gear

the jetty and pier

sad sight

government cut

shark baits out

Rosa

Made a trip to the keys Friday night with JD Fagan, we met up with Hammer on 7-mile bridge. He had already fished long key and got 2 cudas.

Puffers bigger than coolers

The sharks were literally everywhere, but most were too small. Hammer had about 20 hits that night by tiny blacktips that wouldn't eat the hooks and not a single fish hit Me or Fagans baits . Both JD's snapper fished and ended up with 2 snappers, one was 16inches the other I think was 14.

good scenery as always

I put down half of a grunt on the incoming side while the tide was going out. The rod started slowly clicking off, I set hook and the fish takes out slow drag, stops, and I bring it almost straight up and down, then the fish takes off like a bat out of hell and dumps like 30 feet under the bridge and out the other side. Again the fish stopped and I gained 20 feet and it took off again. This time it was out the other side and on a piling of the new bridge. We gaffed the line and tried to get it off the piling but the 40lb test popped. We guess large grouper or goliath

snappah

The tide started moving fast enough for me to put down my cuda. I quickly went to sleep, random times during the night I was awoken to small shark hits and Fagan hooking up on tarpon. My rod got hit and I was knocked out cold. They woke me up and I ran to the rod, tightened the drag and set hook as hard as I could without doing the running man. The shark made a great thrash on top and the loudest noise that could have ever been heard while fishing occurred, my 130lb test with no frays or anything popped on the hook-set clean, once again I learned the power of my pumpkin flavored 12/0, One monster was lost. I didn't seem to care, because within minutes I was back to being sound asleep. The next morning I woke up and thought it was all a dream.

Me and Fagan walked around the flats hunting rays. JD got a bite sized ray and I got a 35lb ray that dumped my sargus on full drag and I don't have a clue how I whooped that fish.

We cast netted some mullet and took them to channel 2, I had my biggest non-goliath grouper almost straight up and down and the hook came out. a 15-20lb black or gag. The mackerel and tarpon were all over there too...

We met up with Luis (Picua) who had a kayak and took our good supply of bait to Sticker beach. This beach has had a recent infestation of sandspurs, it is almost impossible to fish there lol

Our line up was 2 14/0's, 4 12/0's, 1 10/0 and an avet lx. Our bait was a 35lb ray, a 10lb ray, a 15lb cuda, small kingfish and tuna carcasses, and some mullet.

Hammer couldn't sit around without baits in the water, so he put some shoes on and walked out a stingray wing and a cuda head about 100 yards.

On my pumpkin 12/0 was a 20lb midsection chunk of stingray, super oily and bloody with a 3 hook rig. In the day time we could see a huge smokey stream in the water traveling south, this was the chum slick from my stingray and some of the other baits that had been put out.

We figured our reels needed a vacation so we gave them a relaxing trip to the beach with lounge chairs

The first rod to get hit that night was my 12/0, I was talking with Luis in his car parked further up and Fagan started screaming at us, a shark picked up my bait and was taking line at about 20mph out of the spool, by the time I got to the rod it was at half a spool and I was getting ready to set hook and the fish turned in and rushed right towards me, I couldn't catch up to the fish, it sweeped back and but off 100-200 yards off of my reel like a razor blade, it was over. Every characteristic of a huge hammer!

Picua's 12/0 had a slow, beginning to be steady run, but was inconsistent, he set hook a lot and worked a lemon shark on his 10/0, pictures are on his camera of that 7ft shark.

Hammers rod seemed to have a lot of seaweed on it and was slowly clicking out at about 1 click every 10 seconds or so. He proceeded to get some seaweed off of his line and every time he would try and pull the line closer to him, it would slip back out towards the water. He ended up reeling in his heavy heavy heavy line and finding a surprise. Over 100lbs of seaweed and a lemon shark that hooked itself right in the corner of the jaw and fought a clump of seaweed bigger than it.

7ft 3inch lemon