Overcoming the Odds to get a PB STUD 10 ft lemon 6-22-12!!!

I have been lurking on this site for a couple years now, and finally signed up. When I did I got an email from Will introducing himself and he told me about a guy by the name of James Norman and that he lived in my area and he and his uncle used to fish with the Jax Shark Club back in the 70's. Upon hearing this I was real excited to meet up with an old school guy with a ton of sharkin knowledge so I called up James and we immediately planned a trip for the end of the week (Friday night 6-22). We talked all week about location, bait etc and finally Friday came! So we meet at the beach around 6:30 and James had 7 whole fresh bonita right off the boat !! Needless to say I was PUMPED. We walk down to the sand to set up and see nothing but POUNDS AND POUNDS of seaweed EVERYWHERE . But we had come this far and we were gonna fish no matter what. Let me tell you that when I say James will do anything he can to give us a chance to fish I mean it because this guy got in a Old Town SIT IN kayak and yaked out two baits in that death trap in 4 ft seas with the wind screaming, and if not for him we would NEVER of had a chance to even fish. (thanks again James). Well he ran my 9/0 first and dropped it about 150 yards with a whole Bonita.

Next he ran his 14/0 out but all the weed ran over the lines and the 14/0 dropped got washed right back to the beach with-in 30 minutes. Luckily I had rigged a super heavy spider weight of mine and it stuck like a charm and we were fishing.

We sat around for a while just comparing rigs, talking about fish we caught. Then after a couple hours the storms started rolling in and the thought of packing it in was slowly looming in both of our minds and already James and I were planning our next trip. Then the sound that EVERY one of us lives for ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

We let the shark run about 75 yards while I harness up and then stick the fish, and it's GAME ON. This fish took us 600 yards south then 1,200 yards north and on my 9/0 with straight 80lbs line it was not easy to turn the beast but finally I got him turned and James spent about 30 minutes getting destroyed in the wash before he had leader. Then with only two of us out there we could not get this monster up out of the wash, but James got him up just enough so I could put the rod down and help him get it far enough up so we could get to the hook.






Since the shark took us about a half mile away from camp we had no measuring tape, but with my 10 foot Crowder rod up to it we figured she was around 10 or 11 feet and fat as I have ever seen. This thing was a true beast. Thanks again to James, it's nice to fish with a guy as dedicated as him, and he is someone who truly knows that sharking takes work and he is one of the hardest working guys I have ever fished with. Thanks a lot Will for the introduction!!!!