Panhandle (3-29 to 3-30-2013)

Don (my new friend I met on a Florida fishing site) and I hit up Fort Walton down off of Santa Rosa blvd. I arrived at the spot around 11:30pm Friday night. Started setting up and Don showed up shortly after.

We got lines in the water and all settled in around 12:30am. There were a lot of bait fish in the water about 40ft out and i kept getting hit on big snapper heads that i had dropped 200-300yards out but couldn't get them to connect.

For the rest of the night we picked through catfish and Don caught a ray. The sun came up and i got a nice run on the 9/0. After thinking he had the hook i locked it down and skipped backwards about 12ft and could feel him there. Felt like a decent one too. then it went slack, and my line was dropping fast. Thinking he's swimming towards me i reeled hard to catch up to him and then finally felt the weight dragging on the bottom, stopped and my rod lunged forward and the fish was back! reeled down and felt it then it was gone again. Kept reeling in and I would feel the weight every now and then but it seemed like there was something dragging it towards me. Got my rig in and there was a shark on the end that went about 3ft.. maybe a few inches more. I think it was a sharpnose. quickly released it and got baits back in the water.

For the rest of the day we pretty much just napped and tended lines. Cut up that ray and tossed some out just before the second sand bar and they laid quiet for quite a while. My wife, Hannah, joined us around 2pm. Around 5pm, a wedding had set up just behind and to the west of us. As they were saying their vows my 9/0 with half a big sting ray gets picked up and starts screaming. I pick it up and wait, it stops, i feel it shake then start to go again, still wait, it stops again, shakes a bit then takes off like a bat outta hell! Tightening down on it quick and running backwards I'm sure she's hooked but after about 40 seconds it went slack and I brought in my hook with about 6" of ray meat around it....

After missing my 4th fish I'm feeling a little heated and confused on why they won't stick. I took the left over ray i had on the hook and stacked another piece on top of it to fill that 20/0 Eagle claw hook. It gave me a nice big hunk of bait and even though I crushed the barb off the hook, they stayed on just fine. Deployed that bait well beyond the second bar, about 250yard or more then fought the waves coming back in. When i got close to shore Don yelled to me and held up a bait, I turned and started towards him then got hit sideways by a decent wave and over i went. Into about 3ft of water and the Pro Angler went over top of me. Got up and dragged the yak out only to realize I just ate shit behind the wedding pictures! I got Dons bait out a few mins later and he donated some dry clothes that fit surprisingly well. Thanks Dude! Soon after I caught a decent whiting on my bait rod and we split it between mine and Hannahs long rods.

Around 8:30pm Hannah had to get going and i decided I'd start to pick stuff up to help getting out of there easier. I realised I never got a tag ready on the stick, so I get one out and rig it up. As soon as i do Don gets hit and looks like he's on, but he ended up missing the fish. About a minute or two later my long rod with whiting gets hit and its on! finally hooked up and I land a 73" female sand bar. Tagged and released. We get settled back down and i start to clean up again, get a new tag on the stick and my 9/0 takes off! i give it a second to choked down that ray then its on. after a good 35 mins, even on 50lbtest and a 9/0, I landed an 89" (7ft 5inch) Female sand bar shark. she looked super pregnant so i didn't want to take her out of the water. I tried to keep her in about 6-12" of water while we unhooked, taped and tagged her but for a second or two we had to pull her straight and half on wet sand. Got her released and after a few rolls in the shallow, rough waves she swam away strong.

I was finally able to get trash collected and gear stowed and was on the road around 11:45pm, headed home.

I still have to get more pics from Don and i have video of the fight and release of the 89" sand bar. that will be posted soon.

Catfish - 20~
Sand bar shark- 2
sharpnose - 1
whiting - 1
sting ray - 1