shark fishing 4 days stright (no sharks) not done 😉

3/8/12 day 1 of fishing: got picked up from my house at 10:00 by caleb and devon we had a freezer full of 10 lb+ southern rays and long key on the mind. We hit the road and since it was late we had a clear shot to the keys. made it to long key early morning and drifted baits out and fell asleep. while i slept and watched the rods caleb and devon headed to the flats to catch shrimp and crabs and baitfish.
3/9/12 day 2 of fishing: Woke up the next morning reeled in the baits and fished the next tide for bait. I walked a bait fish on the top of the water down the bridge. The water was not as clear as it usually is. As im walking I immediately see tarpon rolling and drop a bait right where i saw them. a minute goes by and im not even paying attention when my line gets tight. I pull up and thumb the spool and this fish doesnt even know its hooked yet but when it does it jumps and breaks the line. It was a good 100 lb tarpon, I rig up and start walking again. The tarpon disappear and i keep fishing. nothings biting caleb fishes for snapper but they are all small, but he catches an undersized hogfish which seemed interesting.

We spend the day catching up on sleep until the charter boats arrive with their catches.
The charter captains hook us up with some kingfish, cobia, tuna and snapper carcusses.
We check the tide and it was a definite 7 mile tide. We fish 7 mile all night long without a single bite.....figures.
3/10/12 day 3 of fishing: After getting dropped off at my house I sleep all day. I woke up at about 3 P.M. and feel the urge to fish because 2 days earlier my buddy fished and caught 3 lemons while we were in the keys. He couldnt fish so i search through my contacts and call my buddy dante and hes down to sharkfish. We have no bait at all so he brings his net, we go to my usual mullet spot and get one mullet after an hour of castnetting, so we just decide to head to another one of my bait spots, first cast I get a netful of 4 sheepshead and one big mullet. Off to the beach. The moon is nice and full but the tide isnt my favorite to fish but we proceed. there is no waves the water is very calm, and im feeling good about this night. Dante was extremely tired because he had worked all day but he gets a bait out on the 6/0 and was able to sleep. I put a whole sheepshead on my avet 80 and drop it 200 yards.

The moon is high in the sky and feels right, but nothing really feels like eating that night I guess. 2 hours after dropping the bait the 6/0 starts screaming and drops the bait and doesnt come back. It was right next to dantes head and he doesnt even open his eyes i knew he wasnt up for this trip. At about 3 am i see a monster school of mullet running down the beach so i grab my net and calcutta. I didnt want to leave the shark rods but there was nothing i couldve done, i wake up dante and tell him to listen for the rods and he assures me, so i proceed, the mullet were being chase by snook which were chased by me, I get on bout 50 yards down the beach and head back to get a picture, when i get there my avet is rolling for i dont know how long and dante wont even move so i scream his name 300 times to wake him up and help in the commotion, I might as wel have just been solo, i grab my rod with snook and hand and as soon as i get to it it drops the bait . i get the picture and go out for more but the school moves on.

I walk back and get new fresh baits out, nothing touches them so i figured id pack up and grab the net and my calcutta and try and catch some more snook, I head into the pass and catch some whitebait and cast into the bridge. I met a nice old man who was fishing with a paddletail, on his third cast he hooked into a nice snook, he lands it and its a fat 33 incher so im feeling good about that, if i cant catch the sharks at least the snook bites on. i fish for 5 minutes after that and dante decides to wake up and head to the pass, he says he has to leave, once again...figures.

but i did get a good sunrise pic.
3/11/12 day 4 of fishing: I call scott up and say I desperately need to catch a shark. He says he does too, so I go over to his place at 3 and we head to our ray spot, we get 4 small rays, miss some big ones, so we go into deeper water, scott spots a huge 90 lb southern, im about 20 yards away and i see him going apeshit stabbing the crap out of this ray, then i see him start running and screaming, "Dylan!!! run!!", A school of blacktip are running at him at full speed, and hes running hard in about stomach deep water, screamong and splashing, i couldnt help but laugh as he deffends himself with a pitchfork, they didnt eat him, but he is as white as a ghost and says "we got enough bait lets go." hahaha.
We get back to his house eat dinner and we go to the beach fish all night and catch nada, tough luck but u know im not a quitter so ill have another 4 day report soon, might head out tonight, but well see, sorry there was no sharks but i tried my hardest, thought id give a report anyways to keep u guys updated.