SGS Heads South (Big Hammer lost & Big Boy Bull)

Last weekend Andrew, Bennett and my self made a trip down to the Palm Beach area. We got the car packed up and headed down Saturday morning at 4. Got to Palm around 9, ate a quick breakfast then headed to the inlet.

We arrived at the inlet to find a pretty calm surf, and a TON of jet skiers and boaters. They made it impossible for us to do anything involving sharks at the inlet, but the jacks kept us busy. We also did a little bit of spear fishing.



bait fishing is so much more fun in Florida. I dont care what anyone says, catching jacks on poppers is one of the coolest types of fishing, not to mention they make awesome bait.

After growing tired of the inlet we decided it was time to make the move to our spot for the night. We contemplated where we would fish, from Juno down to Lake Worth, we ran over it all. Eventually we settled on a spot a little ways south of the jetty. We got out to see a surf fisherman already there. We talked to him and he told us he was catching blue runners and jacks. He generously gave us a jack he had kept for bait, and he also told us multiple of his catches were eaten by the tippers before he could get them in. We took that as a good sign and began setting up camp. We all took out our baits, including my 12 with a jack on a double j rig. I made a short drop only about 150 yards. Right after i got back from yakking i threw out my saltist with a piece of jack and had a tipper on within seconds. We got him up into the breakers when the line hit a rock and snapped,at least we got to see him. As I was reeling up my cut line, my 12 let out a scream. All three of us sprinted up to the rods, I said Andrew get the harness, this fish isn't playing. Knowing he already ate the bait I hit the running man and immediately got turned around. I harnessed up and began to get ripped. This is definitely not a tip I said. About 1 minute later, my 400 yd topshot has disappeared into the water and the drag on my 12 is so hot you cant even think about touching it. For the next 20 minutes or so this fish continues to rip me. As we entered the last quarter of my spool my drag began smoking, and any water we poured on it instantly turned to steam. We looked down to see my 12 had less than 100 yds on the reel. At this point we all thought it was going to spool us,so Bennett tied a swivel on his 12 and we were ready to tie in. I wasn't about to let him spool me, so i told Bennett to spot me, I grabbed the crimpers and hammered down the drag as far as i could. Andrew got under the rod and we pulled the "Buban" and somehow turned the fish. After that i would gain 30 yards then he would take 50, eventually 1 hour 10 minutes later we had him about 70 yds from the beach when i was suddenly throw backwards. The line had been cut. We are almost positive one of the migrating blacktips hit the line, and ended up slicing it. It was a brutal blow, we were so close to landing it, but it was amazing just to feel the power of that fish. It was unlike anything I have ever hooked before.

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/ssisharkers/media/Mobile%20Uploads/3B9EFD48-034B-4887-895B-FBA0E3A11F90_zpsucaydbuc.mp4.html?o=0

http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/ssisharkers/media/Mobile%20Uploads/282CFDFF-79F3-42BD-8192-3C8FD0ED502F_zpsjkd8fwhu.mp4.html?o=1

^^^^^ are two of the 7 videos of the hammer smoking me.

After that we proceeded to catch a couple more blacktips on the spinning rods. Here is a picture of me and Bennett with a double header.

After a while we headed to the hotel to get some sleep. The next morning we got up and headed to the inlet again. We decided to only fish the jetty that morning for bait. We caught abunch of jacks. It was fun.


Around 3 we left the inlet, rode into West Palm for a bite to eat, then headed back to the beach. We set up around 4:30 and Ging yakked out a jack on his 10. Not 5 minutes later his line was laying on the beach slack. We thought he was cut, but as I picked up the line it got tight quick in my hand, I yelled hit him and ging reared back. Did quick work of this tip.


After we released his tip I rigged up another jack and took out my 12. I did the same drop as the night before.. about 150 yards. I was a little skeptical at first seeing my bait sitting on the rock slab that made up the entire bottom, but I had faith something would hit it quick, and it did. Less than 10 minutes from returning in the kayak the 12 let out a slow moan, much different from the night before. I hit the running man again and felt a good deal of weight, and out went 30-40 yds. Andrew and Bennett kept saying it was a foul hooked tip, but with all the head shaking and weight I had a feeling what it was. 10 minutes later we had the big bull right behind the breakers. I handed the rod off the my dad and ran down to help Andrew beach the fish. We dehooked her, (he had a 16/0 mustad w a mono leader in him too), snapped a few good pics, and sent her back on her way. This was my first bull ever, and a new PB for me. She measured 8'10"

After we released the bull, we only fished casted rods for the rest of the night. The surf got huge and none of us felt like flipping out there in the dark especially with all the blacktips.
We then proceeded to miss/lose/breakoff about 15 blacktips, but oh well at least they were real sharks.

All in all it was a great trip. I caught my new PB shark, and hooked one that would have dwarfed it. Even though we lost it, thats alright. All that hammer did was light a fire under my ass to fish even harder this year. Can't wait for the water to warm up a little up here and I can't wait to head back south again in April to fish my favorite spot of all... Long Key. Thanks for reading, and tight lines.