some guys luck!

the day started out like any other.. up early for no reason and tired as hell. took care of some things for work/school and then headed back home to take the dog out. after a quick 3 hour nap i was back up, loaded and ready to hit the sand in search of that monster!

I had a bag of frozen lady fish for bait. the plan was to find some rays and then target sharp nose on the long rods to use as well. i started in Navarre, stopped at all my honey holes and all i saw were mantas.. mantas everywhere! can't use those, so i moved on. ended up a Pensacola pier. saw a few round rays in the shallows but they are a SOB to try to snag from a pier. no luck there. got the gotcha lure out and started searching for some spanish. went all up and down the pier and couldn't find them anywhere. i stopped and started talking to some kids and they were trying to entice some cudas that were under the pier, i look over and there are three very large cuda in the 4ft range. Perfect! after 45 mins of chasing these things between the pylons trying to get them to bite we gave up. I even made a deal with one of the kids, if he caught one, I'd get the head.

so off i went. it was getting late and i decided to go check in on my buddy down at ft. pickens. met up with him and they were getting set up. water was distorted and dark so i couldn't see any rays and the divers were of no help either.

Next stop was bob sikes bridge. as soon as i got there i saw a school of cownose cruising the surface! threw out and as soon as my hook hit the water they spooked and went 7 different ways. by now it was dark and spotting them was almost impossible... alright, off to the beach.

Got back to the beach and decided i was going to fish here all night. set up west of pensacola pier and my buddy from class showed up to get his shark on! ... with no bait. well he had some small pinfish, but no shark bait. We set out the long rods, one with pinfish and one with lady fish and then started getting the heavy gear set up. the idea was to catch some sharp nose and blue fish on the pins and lady fish and use them for bait. not long after i brought the cooler down my CUI is bent over and screaming! hook up and land a 5ft black tip. a little big for bait so it goes back in a jiff!

I had to drop a duece, as usual, and there are no bathrooms around this area so i drove over to the pier. i decided to walk the pier and see if anyone had any rays or sharp nose on deck that i could snag from them. nobody had anything but a couple catfish. I got to the end and started chatting and this kid pulled up a bluefish. then another! i asked if he wanted them and he said yes... Darn! then he said he's going shark fishing tomorrow night and wants to use them. fair enough. I told him i was hoping he didn't want them because I'm sharking tonight. His eyes kinda light up and he said i could have both! He'd be catching them all night anyhow. 8)

i get back to the beach and after a few missed runs, my buddy Matthew tells me i should get the next one so he can see how its done. very well. next bite and im on it... missed it. ok, second bite, score! got a 30" sharp nose! pinned an 18/0 circle through the nose and sent it out on the 12/0 and a blue on the 9/0. soon my 9/0 just drops and the line goes slack. i run to it and tighten it up... nothing. after leaving it another 10mins i reel it in to find just the head of the bluefish... i rig up the other and we get it back out.

not long after my 9/0 makes another run then goes slack. Matthew jumps on it and im yelling at him "REEL REEL REEL! ITS COMMING IN!" after a good 45 seconds i realize what happened. "ok stop" i tell him and grab the line. i keep tension on it as he reels slowly and sure enough, something ran into the line and there's a clean 45* slice in my main line.

well there goes the 9/0.

my 12/0 got a solid run. but somehow i missed the hook up. brought in the bait and my sharp nose was still there, all in one piece with just the slightest hint of teeth marks on the tail. it was weird. i threw it back in the yak and took it back out. this time instead of going past the end of the pier i stayed about 300 yards out, which is just before the T starts on the end of the pier. as i was comming in i noticed my buddies light jumping around on shore and it looked like he was running back and forth. i get almost to shore and he's standing there, then my CUI doubles over and starts screaming! "get it!" I yell as i push harder for shore. he's on it and hooked up, screaming reel and line dumping by the second. i get on shore and he yells, "there's already one on deck!". i think "oh cool, we got another sharp for bait" then look down and there's a monster red laying on the sand with the hook in its mouth. he said he just landed it as the cui took off. I hurried and un hooked it and got it back in the water and on its way. meanwhile, he's fighting something big on the long rod!

he finally gets it close and I leadered a massive bull red! 42" tip to tip.

we got a couple pics and sent it on its way!

he ended up having to leave around 4am. He was taking his kids kayaking at 7am. so there i am sitting on the beach watching all my rods in a line doing... nothing. birds are starting to come out and the sky is turning orange. I look at my watch and its 4:48am. I thought about how my tiger sharks were both hooked around 5am and text my buddy Don "5am tiger time!". just then i hear a BRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... BRRRrRRRR... comming from the 12/0. another Brrrrrrrrrr... i walk over, get my belt on, seat the gimbal and point the nose towards the bait. it start to take line so i undo the line from under the free spool lever (we run the line under it to keep the line from being pulled out by waves) and let it go. it takes a good 30 yards of line and then I engaged the reel, it quickly came tight and i reeled down hard, took a couple steps back to get most of any bow in the line out and make sure that circle hook was set good! Line starts peeling off the 12/0 quicker than a ray burns up my little calcutta. after a 25 second run it becomes a stale mate, then it turns towards the pier! luckily it didn't make it to the pier. to make a long story short, just after 6am i beached an 8ft bull! a by stander came down and started taking pics while i was landing it. He was nice enough to send them to me!

she was a little heavy...

perfect hook set! gotta get it out!

too bad there were no overall shots without water on her. but here she is.

also forgot about his little manta. they are devils.

after i got her released i decided to load up the shark gear and take the yak to look for some baitfish to use next weekend (spanish, blues a barracuda maybe?). so i launched just west of P'cola pier and headed out and around it. I fish the pier every now and then and appreciate yakkers and boats not getting too close so i did my best not to be that guy when i passed but i really wanted to get in on that school of spanish. I set up to the east, about 100 or more yards away (well out of casting distance from both angles) and found a school of hard tails. nailed two then a blue runner... i didn't prepare my yak to fish out of it, just run shark baits, but when i opened my center hatch to toss the baitfish in i found a box of 2/0 treble hooks i used to trap rig mackerel with for halibut in California. well, i took one and attached it to my wire leader and pinned on that blue runner.

At first it wanted to float and act like it was dying or something... but a few good jerks and a steady troll it came back to life and was trolling very happily behind me about 40ft. i got almost inline with the pier (trying to make sure i was far enough away) when i felt some taps. like my bait, a 10" fish, was being attacked by pinfish or something. i slowed down and let it drop behind me then BAM! rod goes bendo and line starts peeling off the reel! 15 mins later my Shimano clarus, calcutta 200 and 20lb wire defeated a 45" king! my first official fish off a yak since moving here in January! i did not have a gaff, so i had to grab it by the tail.. no liping these guys!

I guess i could say, I'm pretty lucky to be me.