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Panhandle Report - 11'10" Tiger (MAY 2011)

Diesel Sharker · 2011-05-21T23:30:18Z

Lance and I left work Friday evening and headed for the Florida Panhandle. We couldn’t check into our beach house until Saturday at 3pm, so we made a pit stop at Pensacola and decided to drop a few baits in the bay over night. Got baits in the water at 2am, and at 3am Lance is hooked up with the 1st shark of our trip...6' Bull... He re-rigged another ray and at 5am, his reel goes off again. This is his new biggest bull shark at 6'8"... It had been lightning and thundering all night, and by the time we released the bull, the wind was blowing 30mph from the north, rain was coming down sideways, and the lightning was everywhere. We decided to pack up and hit the road to our final destination. Saturday As we got to the beach house, this is what we see from our back patio... Once the storm blew over we tried to get some baits in the water. Got both 80w's rigged up with 10lb chunks of jack. Lance took his out first and even with a massive weight with stainless legs, the current was so strong that we couldn’t keep the bait down. We decided to put up the big reels and I ran a 12" ray for my wife on her 50w. It sat for hours until we decided to reel in and go inside. While she was reeling it in, the ray got hit. Line got very heavy and started moving in the opposite direction of the current. Shark ended up letting go of the ray, but the teeth marks in the bait were spaced about 1" apart and were just a straight line across the ray...no bend in the bite mark. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us a little more tomorrow. We will be going out in full force. Sunday We went to Indian Pass today and had 5 baits in the water from noon until 5am. Only had 1 short run, but the shark dropped the bait. We did catch about 40 big gafftop though on pieces of cut mullet. The beach is looking a little better today though, so we are going to try again. Water temp has dropped 6* in 2 days. That’s not helping us either. Monday Weather was still rough today, so we decided to keep the girls happy and took the day off to go to Panama City. Had a nice vacation day and it was nice to get a little rest. Tuesday Well, we finally shook off the skunk today with a 7'4" nurse shark. Not really what we were expecting to catch on the 10lb jack head that was in the water, but it was neat to catch a new species and it was also Lances new personal best. Day started off perfect when I snagged a 20lb ray within 10 minutes of getting to the beach. I rigged it up whole and took it out. An hour later, it makes a short 5 second run and goes slack...I was cutoff. Lost the best bait of the trip and a $20 leader. Soon after, the wind started blowing hard and the temp never got out of the high 60's. Around 5, lance’s 50w started on a slow roll, and we all forgot about the cold for a few minutes. I stuck the hook while Lance was putting on the harness, but all he felt was a heavy weight until we got the shark up on the bar. Laziest fish we have ever caught until it was up on the sand. It then did about 25 barrel rolls trying to get itself tangled in our leader. Congrats Lance on the new PB... We ran new baits and got out of the wet clothes because by now the temps were in the low 60's and the wind was laying down. Lance took a cool sunset pic with his avet, and then we bundled up and waited for the evening bite. Didn’t turn a click for the rest of the night. Wednesday Today was a little better. Water was flat but it was still pretty cool. Lance started off the day with a 5'4" black tip that ate another big jack head... An hour or so later my wife finally hooked up on her new 50w and pink rod...5'9" black tip... Things were quiet until the sun went down, and then I ended up landing a 6'8" lemon with a cut tail... Lance ran out new baits around 2am and all were hit throughout the night but not solid runs. They would take about 10-15 yards and then drop the bait. I am going to try making some longer sliding traces today for the big baits. We did end up getting this little guy right as the sun came up... We found a place in the bay that holds a lot of rays, so we will be making bait tomorrow. The weather is finally right, so we are going to give 'em hell for the last 2 days of the trip. Thursday Today’s bait haul was a huge success, but came at a price. Lance and I launched the kayak in the bay with a gig and 2 rods with weighted hooks. We ended up with 7 rays and 3 of the 7 are over 30lbs each. Now the bad.....the biggest and last one we snagged ended up sticking me right in my palm. I ended up going to the ER to make sure none of the barb was stuck in my hand, and the pain pills were nice also. Just before sunset, Lance started getting rigs ready and took out all the baits since my hand was still hurting. Just after the sun went down Lance landed this fat 7"10" nurse caught on a big ray... Soon after I told him we should drop a bait in the first gut just for the hell of it. Not 10 minutes later the reel starts s...

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Diesel Sharker

(@diesel-sharker)

New Member

Thanks for all the comments guys. Does anyone want to take a guess at what this shark weighed? It was just 2 of us, so getting a girth measurement wasnt possible. It was also sitting in more than a foot of water because the 2 of us couldnt pull it out of the water anymore than that. Here is a pic of us dragging it back out for the release...

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Topic starter Posted : 05/23/2011 8:58 pm

peewee

(@peewee)

New Member

alot more than me lol :lol:

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Posted : 05/23/2011 9:03 pm

william

(@william)

Member Admin

Great report and way to tough it out through all the bad weather and even the ray barb could not deter you HARDCORE!!You were richly rewarded with a huge Tiger. Congratulations!!!

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

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Posted : 05/23/2011 11:42 pm

Diesel Sharker

(@diesel-sharker)

New Member

Thanks Will. I know you have seen alot of big sharks over the years. Any chance you can give me your guess as to what this fish might weigh? I wish we would have been able to get the measurements we needed to get an accurate guess.

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Topic starter Posted : 05/23/2011 11:51 pm

william

(@william)

Member Admin

It looked bigger then 11 ft 10 inch with a really massive head -kinda looks like the same size head as mellissa Showman's 13 footer tiger in the 2008 Shorebound Tourney .That shark probably weighed between 725 lbs to 800 lbs.That is a great catch and the fact you set it free is even better- you may come back one day and catch her when she's 13 1/2 feet long and 1200 pounds.

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

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Posted : 05/24/2011 12:05 am

jonathanbryan

(@jonathanbryan)

New Member

great job right there guys keep doing it

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Posted : 05/24/2011 9:33 am

UKsharker

(@uksharker)

New Member

Great report, awesome tiger!

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Posted : 05/26/2011 10:00 am

JDHAMMER

(@jdhammer)

Noble Member

Great catch,guys.

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Posted : 05/27/2011 7:36 am

Blacktip Hunter

(@blacktip-hunter)

Prominent Member

Very nice tiger! Way to go!!

"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction" (Proverbs 13:3).

Visit us online: http://blacktiphfishing.org

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Posted : 05/30/2011 8:28 pm

sharkfetching27

(@sharkfetching27)

New Member

That is an awsome catch guys your team is truely hardcore!

good luck fishing ya'll

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Posted : 05/31/2011 5:29 am

sharkinsonny

(@sharkinsonny)

New Member

-----------------------EPIC AND WHAT EXPECT FROM YA'LL

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Posted : 06/07/2011 11:09 am

clack clack clack

(@clack-clack-clack)

Noble Member

thats a big tank right there

DIRTY SOUTH SHARK HUNTERS
2012 1st place BLACKTIP CHALLENGE
2011 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION 2nd year in a row
2010 BHC biggest hammerhead shark on 80 lb test
2010 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
2010 BHC 3rd and 5th place biggest shark
2010 april sharker of the month
2009-2010 Rookie of the year

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Posted : 06/08/2011 10:20 am

John Hebisen

(@john-hebisen)

New Member

That is just still a awesome job you guys did.

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Posted : 06/10/2011 9:51 am

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