It was nice to be able to fish at the first stop there was hardly anyone in sight. I cast netted some pilchards and rigged them up to a spinning rod and let it sit in a holder while I casted a bucktail on another spinning rod and eventually I was able to get bait. It drizzled a little bit off and on and the beach became even more isolated after I took 2 shark rods out. It didn’t take very long before I got my first run and ended up missing the hookset on this one. Since this wasn’t a giant bait and the fish was running with it for so long because I was trying to find a light before I got to the rod I believe it was a lil’ mutt that tried to bite off more than it could chew..fine with me I didn’t want that lil’ mutt anyways and it felt like I still had a nice chunk of bait left on that line. I was getting ready to put a casted rig out then I got a run on the other bait I had rowed out. This time I let the fish take it a little bit longer quite a while and when it speeded up I set the hook and it took off fast and strong. Then the rain started coming down pretty good as I was fighting the shark. At this point I had no idea what species I had hooked then it started charging the beach so I figured it was a blacktip. But then it would run back out again hard and strong so if it was a blacktip it was a decent size one and that’s what it turned out to be..I never had one fight this good before, this one was close to 6 and a half..I measured it with my rod then measured my rod when I got home and he came out to 6’4” this beats my biggest blacktip by 1 inch. Not long after I released that my other rod went off again and I missed even though I let this one run longer than any of my other runs. The rain was coming down hard so I cut it short I was soaked and starting to freeze and my phone, camera, lights, ect were all about to be destroyed and they may be. Here are the pics, they are not very good it was a 1 person effort this evening
The shark is far more photogenic than I
That is a nice blacktip you caught all by yourself .Nice going, keep it up,, happy for you , 
Good catch for a solo outing
Way to go partner.I do a lot of sharking alone also. I don't know whats better the story or the fish. 
Way to go partner.I do a lot of sharking alone also. I don't know whats better the story or the fish.
Not that many have what it takes to go shark fishing alone. Many things can go wrong. Experience and courage is a huge fact here. Personally yet, i don't have that much experience to go shark fishing alone, but i'm sure that's about to change - soon.
I really like what the rain did to those pictures, and that is a solid tipper
Just an average fisherman.
Hey Tarpon J:
I am not convensed that you have a Blacktip there. I think what you have is a Spinner Shark. I might be wrong but it sure looks like a Spinner.
Norman Bateman
www.ncbateman1.smugmug.com
Nice shark very fat n healthy good catch
Hey Tarpon J:
I am not convensed that you have a Blacktip there. I think what you have is a Spinner Shark. I might be wrong but it sure looks like a Spinner.
Norman Bateman
http://www.ncbateman1.smugmug.com
That may very well be..the rain and darkness don't do my vision much justice I guess..but some people call em blacktips regardless
Here come the reports from Tarpon J. - as always - producing the solo shark. tarponJ = Soloshaker - Tips, spinners, lemons, tigers, bulls - I'm looking forward to reading your future hammer report.
Good luck
TEAM GETCHA GETCHA SHARKON
Solo MAGIC once again ,and Rain MAGIC on the pics as Mark indicated.Look and learn folks it takes a special fortitude to hit a beach alone venturing into the darkness ,without bait ,but with enough courage and confidence to produce .John is a budding young sharker with lots of potential for becoming one of the sports great ones.....COURAGE,DEDICATION AND HARD WORK are exemplified in John's catches .This man can accomplish anything he wants in life.Thanks for sharing John.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
Thank you for the very kind words Will and thank you to all of you guys out there, it is you guys who help me step my game up and I hope to be able to fight some of the large sharks I see many of you gettin' with the consistency you know who you are..while other folks are online talking about shark fishing you guys are out doing it.