March 2016 report - mixed bag of sharks

3/2: It had been a long time since my friend caught a shark so I took her out on the mission. I didnt even bring a rod for myself. Put out a couple small chunks and a feisty tipper picked up the bait on the surf rod. Jumper and a drag screamer!

3/13: Skunked. Casted some chunks and every bait was jacked by fish that wouldnt even move a 4oz sinker. Went home after the slack tide ended.

3/14: Went back out solo to the same spot with a bigger bait. Not gettin stolen this time! I yak out about 100 yards and chill out. Slack tide starts and I get a slow roll. IT is steady, and slow. and it stops. The line goes slack and is sittin on the sand. I reel in the slack and then some more and more. I think the bait is gone so I decide to call it quits. As I reel in for the night, I feel the bait once it hits the edge of the sand bar, about 30 ft out. I decide to let it sit there. I get a nibble about 5 minutes later so I am sure I got bait. 5 minutes after that I get a good steady run, set up on him and I am hooked up! Ended up being a 8' female lemon. Skinny, like she just pupped. Had a fun time trying to leader her in one handed since I had my rod in the other hand. The sand bar went out a little bit and was about 2' deep. She was a little powerhouse in the shallows. Finally got a tail rope on her and pulled her up. She was tired so I just cut the hook off instead of trying to remove it. set up the timer on the camera and sent her on her way.

3/20: Went out on a spur of the moment, solo trip in search of a monster. I made a few calls but no luck for back up. I haul ass in the yak and get my bait out a couple hundred yards and return to shore. I feel a couple rain drop so I post up the umbrella. Then the rain stops and it is nice out! Bait is in the water at 8:05pm and the slack tide is coming up at 9:15pm. At 8:58pm I get some hits and I get a good run at 9:05pm. I set up on the fish and we are a go! But he is not the monster I went for. Ends up a 6'6' Sandbar shark. Not a drag puller but she put a nice bend in the rod. First time in a long time I got one of those. Next time I will make sure I bring two baits since I was out of bait 15 minutes into the slack tide! Some tourists came by for the show when they heard that reel scream and got a pic for me.

3/25: Good Friday was not very good. Skunked. Yakked a couple prime baits in some rough water. Had a small run and a spit bait on the short drop. Nothing touched the long drop.

3/26: Met up with Mr. Shark Bound himself and our buddy Gregg. It was like a BHC team reunion. They were bringing the surf rods so I just brought the 130 and the yak. I should have brought the surf rod. The guys went 1 for 6. My bait was not touched. Here's Chris with his first shark o his new SharkBound surf rod.

3/28: I ran out to get some fresh bait but I was not successful. The bait appeared to be thick in the beginning but quickly disappeared. I met Dan and Mike from the hammer wranglers and Dan gave me some bait. We talked for a while. Super nice and knowledgeable guy. On my way home I said "Hey, maybe I should drop one of these baits, why the hell not?" I called up Pete Barrett told him I had a bait we could split, fresh and bloody. He was slammed busy but said he could make it work since it was a late high tide and we had time. Baits were soaked, had a small run and a shredded bait. We were about to call it a night and Pete's reel started screaming. HE set up on the fish and knew it was not a monster. Good fish, and best part of all, it was Pete's first Sandbar shark, after 12 years of shark fishing! Good way to end the night. I need to get that monster next time.