WILL, GREAT MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH!!
My team is working hard for one or some of us to get back to the beach at least one more time! I live the closest at 406miles to the Florida State Line. So money and time is becoming an issue but the team is working hard to pull together and give it one more shot.
There has been some amazing sharks caught during the tourney. I have to say the 12ft 10in Hammer and the 9ft 2in bull are both the biggest of those species that I have every seen officially measured! I have really enjoyed seeing the younger fisherman do well during the Tournament. I don't know to many people here but anytime someone catches a Personal Best (and giants they have been) it is an awesome accomplishment and one I always enjoy being able to be apart of and share in their joy. I especially enjoy the success of our new generation of sharkers.
Good Luck Everyone!!! The clock is ticking!
Perfect timing for that speech for me Will because I get out of school for the semester today at 4:00pm! I will be fishing the next two days nonstop on both coasts, then as many days as I can get my crew to man up and fish with me until the tournament's end.
Message to all: DON'T BE SURPRISED IF SOMEONE LANDS A MONSTER ON ONE OF THE LAST DAYS OF THE TOURNEY!!!
Techhhhhnically a sting ray is a shark so . . . just saying . . .
I'm kidding everyone! :-p
Maybe sounds better like this:
Techhhhhnically a sting ray is a shark bait so . . . just saying . . .
I'm kidding everyone! :-p
Thats right,I just hope it holds up,and if it don't I still had a great time and plan on fishing this tournament every year.Thanks Will and everyone who works so hard to make it happen.I only wish we could fish all month,best of luck to all the teams.
Great speech Will!!! Very motivational for all those teams out their still fighting to catch their own personal monster. I really enjoyed fishing the BHC this year and will be back to do it again next year!!! I hate that I could only fish it for a few days but that is just the way it is when you live almost 900 miles away from the nearest Florida beach. I tried everything to be able to get back over there but it just isn't possible. A couple of my teammates will be giving it one last shot this weekend and I wish them and everyone else the best of luck. Their have been some AMAZING catches this year that have just completely blown me away and it's not even over yet. I know their will be several more remarkable, well deserved sharks for those who are indomitable. Perserverance will always pay off. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!!! AND CONGRATS TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE LANDED SOME REMARKABLE SHARKS!!!! I look forward to seeing what else shows up on that Florida sand 
Great speech Will!!! Very motivational for all those teams out their still fighting to catch their own personal monster. I really enjoyed fishing the BHC this year and will be back to do it again next year!!! I hate that I could only fish it for a few days but that is just the way it is when you live almost 900 miles away from the nearest Florida beach. I tried everything to be able to get back over there but it just isn't possible. A couple of my teammates will be giving it one last shot this weekend and I wish them and everyone else the best of luck. Their have been some AMAZING catches this year that have just completely blown me away and it's not even over yet. I know their will be several more remarkable, well deserved sharks for those who are indomitable. Perserverance will always pay off. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!!! AND CONGRATS TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE LANDED SOME REMARKABLE SHARKS!!!! I look forward to seeing what else shows up on that Florida sand
I feel your pain SharkGirl i am stuck in western PA and would love one more shot at it.It was a great week of fishing and I hope to make it every year from here on out .Good luck to all teams that can still fish.Wish I was there.
theres been some big fish caught this tournament! congrats to the team with the 12'10'' hammer! MONSTEROUS
TEAM PALM BEACH SHARK SLAYERS
Captain Mike beached an 111" hammer 5/5/2011 hooked on Lake Worth Pier and beached. Tackle 80# dacron on 50 year old 9/0 which blew up with 20 yards to go. Fish was foul hooked. Mike worked hard on this one. Nice job.
Submitted for: pier catch, 80# tackle, team points
hook up
the fight is on
the hard fight on beach reel broke
Full Lengths
Tail Shot
TEAM LAKE WORTH SHARKERS
Awesome job on the hammer Mike. Glad the 9/0 held up long enough for you to get it in.
Caught a nurse earlier in day, probably around 7 foot. Biggest shark on 30lb (making my own category)
Didn't measure it, just counting on pier catch.
Lost a pretty big lemon after Mike got the hammer, still upset, but it happens
Congratulations to all teams on some very impressive catches .My hats off to teams still out there battling til the end and unwilling to give up .Very nice hammer Team Palm Beach Shark Slayers.
With one week and one day of competition left most teams are still out trying for that miracle fish that will propel them into the first place slot.Although the winds produced by this late spring have produced high waves on Floridas east coast there are still many teams on both sides of Florida fishing hard through the high surf and now the rain also.My team has put in some time on local and faraway beaches and bridges with mixed results and no monsters as of yet,but we will continue to challenge ourselves and will continue to work hard to put some big fish on the board.Win or lose my main focus has always been to see the anglers fishing the BHC succeeding in catching there biggest sharks ever and everyone excited about the next hookup that could mean taking over the lead.People ask me how I could fish my own tourney, and I simply tell them I am not in it to win it but instead to try and push the competition to excel to there very best.WHEN AND IF I EVER CATCH THE BIGGEST SHARK IN THIS TOURNAMENT I WILL DISQUALIFY MY CATCH I will not take a win from anyone.I win watching all of you catch big sharks ,having fun on the beach with family and friends and that is compensation enough for me,that is true gratification for me. So I want to make it clear to everyone that my intention is to promote the sport,promote the BHC and propel the anglers competing in it to catch there biggest sharks ever and to hold an event that is enjoyed and appreciated by the anglers in it.
Taking the lead in a tournament and winning prizes is nice but I believe the best part is seeing the fishermen working hard ,overcoming hardships and snatching victory in the face of defeat shows that our battles are worth fighting.I want to make a request here for those fishing this tournament to become more vocal on this thread.Tell us what this tournament has meant to you and your team.The human element to me is the most significant -the fight to overcome,the fight to excel and the price we often have to pay in sacrifice -that distinguishes a winner.Describe how many days and nights you had to fish to finally find your Monster Shark.Describe how many places you had to scout to find that special beach that produced big for you.I for one would like to see Rico Diamandi describe the fight in his own words what he thought when he felt the pull of that giant 12 ft 10 inch hammer ,I would like to see him describe his emotion when he saw that giant sickle fin come up out of the water,,,what did he feel when that shark seemed like it would not stop,what did he feel when finally he was able to start gaining line after an 800 yard initial run?This is all part of the adventure and high of land-based shark fishing so feel free to describe your fight and your search for MONSTERS.
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
So far my team and I have learned many lessons that we would not have learned just fishing for fun. Fishing in this year's Big Hammer Challenge has taught us that some years are much different than others when it comes to temperture, wind, water temp, moon phases, and location. I will let the other members of Team Getcha Getcha Sharkon tell what they have learned, but here are the most important lessons that I have learned, not in any particular order.
1) Planning a trip at the last minute is still great and can be very successful if you have a hard working badazz crew that will not sleep for two days or more and never complain about what needs to be done to put in the effort to catch monsters.
2) Never give up on spots and move when you think the sharks are moving north,south,east,west. You must follow them around to catch them.
3) We didn't land a shark for the first three weeks of the tourney, but we kept fishing hard and will keep on fishing hard. We are now on the leaderboard once Chris gets time in his busy schedule to post our catches from our last adventure.
4) I would say the biggest piece of advice that I can give to anybody who hasnt been sharking for a long time or even those who are experienced and want to produce bigger or possibly monstrous sharks: PUT OUT THE BIGGEST BAIT THAT YOU CAN POSSIBLY FIND! No matter how big it is, there is a big swimming monster shark that can swallow the bait whole, even though you think that it would be a ridiculous bait, put it out and hope that the beast shows up to meet with you until he spools all of your line and leaves you and your team in shock!
Team Clusterf*ck reporting in. We got a couple of fish to post. Josh Pryor has a 9'6" Lemon. I'll get everything posted tomorrow.
So far my team and I have learned many lessons that we would not have learned just fishing for fun. Fishing in this year's Big Hammer Challenge has taught us that some years are much different than others when it comes to temperture, wind, water temp, moon phases, and location. I will let the other members of Team Getcha Getcha Sharkon tell what they have learned, but here are the most important lessons that I have learned, not in any particular order.
1) Planning a trip at the last minute is still great and can be very successful if you have a hard working badazz crew that will not sleep for two days or more and never complain about what needs to be done to put in the effort to catch monsters.
2) Never give up on spots and move when you think the sharks are moving north,south,east,west. You must follow them around to catch them.
3) We didn't land a shark for the first three weeks of the tourney, but we kept fishing hard and will keep on fishing hard. We are now on the leaderboard once Chris gets time in his busy schedule to post our catches from our last adventure.
4) I would say the biggest piece of advice that I can give to anybody who hasnt been sharking for a long time or even those who are experienced and want to produce bigger or possibly monstrous sharks: PUT OUT THE BIGGEST BAIT THAT YOU CAN POSSIBLY FIND! No matter how big it is, there is a big swimming monster shark that can swallow the bait whole, even though you think that it would be a ridiculous bait, put it out and hope that the beast shows up to meet with you until he spools all of your line and leaves you and your team in shock!
GOOD INSIGHT CARL THANKS.CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR BIG SHARK HIT THE LEADER BOARD .
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
Hello everyone, well we probably should start at the beginning. For the first week and a half of the tournament, we didn't catch much at all and I wasn't enjoying fishing very well. A couple nights we had some runs but no fish. Then one day we had out four rods not expecting much. But then 1 rod went off, then shortly after followed 2 more rods screaming. We had all three fish hooked up at the same time, to bad they weren't on my pole.We landed the first one, it ended up being a nice bull that we caught on a HUGE chunk of tarpon. Followed by 2 more huge bulls. After catching those 3 bulls were beat, so we were all going to leave but me and Nino decided to stay. After putting out the Tarpon that the bull didn't finish eating we looked at the clock and said we would give it another hour and a half. In about ten minutes out of the blue the pole started going off at a slow but steady pace, as I set hook it took off and there was no stopping this beast. After a exhausting 2 hours and seeing the bottom of the spool a few times we finally lost the fish 
. So we packed up and headed for home. So the next night we were so beat I decided i wasn't going to fish this night, but I wish i would've because our team got 2 more nice bulls that night. And after i heard that, I was surely not missing the next night of fishing. So we went back to the beach ready for war. After we got baits out it wasnt another ten minutes before the pole took off again. As the sun went down Nino landed another nice bull and then we were ready to get out baits again. No sooner did we get dry and comfortable did the pole start going off again. As i set hook on the fish it started running like the GIANT we missed a couple nights before. After locking the drag down and still unable to change this beasts path the reel was heating up fast. Finally after about a hour we knew that the fish had to be getting close. Then out of nowhere he got his second wind and took off again. As we were fighting it back we saw a few boats coming directly over the line. Our hearts dropped thinking that the boat would cut the line, so I put the tip of the rod down as low as i could with my back hurting so bad and prayed to the shark gods that they will pass not harming the line. Another 10 minutes passed and we finally saw a BIG fin come out of the water. When we was that Nino instantly knew it was a Hammerhead. Soon after that we had it by the leader and the pressure of the fish was off my back I almost fell to the ground, but knowing that we had it up on the beach we had to race to get the flag and secret item. To bad we forgot the tag. As we finally put the measuring tape along the shark and realized how long it was we couldnt believe our eyes. We would like to thank everybody for there support and everyone who makes this tournament possible. And we wish the best of luck to all teams. From this experience i've learned that fishing isn't always the easy but it's worth it in the long run... -Hammer Wrangler Rico