(JUNE 2012)Awesome night of Sharking!

I haven’t been fishing much

lately due to my new work schedule, so when my days off this week matched up with Troy’s we decided to hit the sand. Earlier that day I hit up the local marina and scored a bunch of big snapper heads with lots of meat attached. I also thawed some plate sized rays so we would have plenty of bait. Troy had to go to his daughter’s softball game first, so I hit the beach about 7:00PM. I got camp set up, rods ran out, and was amazed at all of the bait in the water. There were ladyfish just hanging in big school destroying bait right in front of my rods. It’s about this time I realize I had forgotten my harness and only had my gut buster with me. About 8PM I get a run on the snapper head, let it eat, and hook up with a 6’ Bull. I don’t have pics of this one because I had a hard time getting the hook out and didn’t want him out of water any longer.
Right about 9PM get another run on snapper head, but this fish just kept on going! I let him eat, hook up, and can tell this is a nice fish. After about 20 min of fighting this fish with no harness I am dead! When I get the fish close I can see it’s a big bull, and barely get the tail rope on. I couldn’t even pull the shark up the beach, I had to wait for a big wave to help me move it 6”. I don’t know how I got the hook out by myself, but I got it out and the bull taped out at 8’….my new PB Bull!

Dragging it back out was ridiculous, and I was spent.
At this point I was exhausted from yakking, fighting the sharks with no harness, and having to drag them back in. I sit in my chair and decide to wait for Troy to show up before I run another snapper head out. About 10PM my ray gets hit, let it eat, and hook up. Damn another shark with no harness, and I just got my butt kicked by that 8 footer! This fish fought really good, and wore me out. I finally get it to the beach, and it’s a thick 7’ Bull. The hook was right in the center of the bottom jaw and I just couldn’t get it out . I cut my leader and drug this fatty back in the water.

By this point I am absolutely spent, and sit there for a while sipping on my poweraid. After about 15 min I decide I can’t just sit there with no baits in the water when the bite is on, so I run out another snapper head. As I am coming back in to shore Troy shows up, and I am so happy to see him!!! We get all the rods run out with snapper & ray and kick back…….but not for long! Troy gets a run and hooks up with a shark, and as I am waiting to leader his fish my 12/0 gets hit. I run down to my rod, let it eat, set the hook, and Oh my Goodness!!! This fish was pissed, and the biggest of the night….. with no harness! Troy lands about a 5 1/2’ BT and comes down to help me. I am dying trying to hold on to my rod and ask if I can borrow his harness. He takes the rod from me while I harness up, and says oh this is a big fish! This fish took line at will off my locked down 12/0, but never made any long runs. She just made me fight for every single inch of line I got. This shark was up and down the beach, going over all of our lines one way, and then back the other way. Troy was maneuvering rods while I’m going over them. Finally after a long fight we see my trace, and I start backing up the beach. I can barely see Troy and catch a flash of a long whippy looking tail. Then I hear Troy say those magic words, “It’s a HAMMER!” Once he got the tail rope on I ran down there and was looking at my first Hammer!!! We get the hook out, measure her, and snap a few pics, and notice about 6” of her dorsal was bit off. She was also tore up along her side, don’t know if it was mating or a bigger shark? She taped out at 9ft on the nose, and my new PB shark!!! We got her in the water pretty quick and she swam away strong. What an awesome feeling watching her swim away, and realizing I had finally caught a Hammer. We ran the rods back out, and laid down a little after 1AM. Troy got a small run that never committed, and that was it until the morning. We woke up to my 12/0 screaming, as I watched my light stick going over the first bar, and not slowing down a bit. As soon as I started tightening the drag, I felt heavy weight, saw a big splash, and it dropped the bait and never came back. There was no more action, and we just took our time loading everything up. What a night, it was awesome, and thank God Troy was there for my Hammer I don’t think I could have pulled that one off solo! This trip will definitely hold me over until I can fish again!!!
Troy has all of the Hammer pics & vidoes.

Hammer Fight Pics:






Hammer on the Sand













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