Official 2012 Big Hammer Challenge Reports, Pics-Leaderboard

Team HUGE Gear took out a skeleton crew (myself and Mike) and met up with Will of Team Shark Fever for some East Coast action! Fished all day and Mike had one small run on a cownose wing on his International 130 but couldnt get a good hookup. Surf was like glass early then slowly picked up making yaking a challenge in Will's little yak, thanks again Will for the words of encouragement to get me out on that little thing. Mike tried to get on and well he is quite hefty to say the least and the yak wanted to submerge, so no yakking for him on this trip

We noticed a lot of locals catching small bluefish so we grabbed a few and chunked them up on light tackle spinning gear. Mike caught two pup sharks and Will got one, sure was a good time with these fiesty sharks.

After dark we had a few runs and a few cutoffs (mainly Will's lines) until I had noticed my line a bit slack on my 14 everol (had a large cownose midsection out). I cranked a bit and felt some weight that turned into a nice steady run. I did the running man and was hooked up

Immediately I felt a lot of weight on the harnell 585 and at around 40lbs of drag the fish was steady pulling.....big tiger on? We sure hoped so, could this be the tournament lead........unfortunately no, after over 40 mins of reeling this shark in we found it to be an obese bull shark foul hooked in his pectoral fin
Angler Rich Otts
Length 7ft 3inch Bull Shark

Soon after Mikes international 130 took a little run and he set up, turned out to be a 5ft 8ish blacktip that will count for numbers.


Angler: Mike Dix Length: 5 ft 8 blacktip

tail shot

We didn't get the monster we had hoped for but all in all it was a successful trip and as a small crew I felt we did pretty well. Back at it again tonight!

DOUBLE TIGERS ON THE SAME NIGHT. JIMMY DEAN WITH HIS FIRST TIGER 9'6. AND JD HAMMER WITH A 7'10,,,,,,,,,FATHER and SON TAG TEAM. THE NEXT NIGHT JD FAGAN CAUGHT HIS FIRST TIGER. CONGRATS TO JIMMY AND JD FAGAN ON THERE FIRST TIGER SHARK CATCH. YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST TIGER.

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More on Fagan's catch:

7ft 5in

snowglobe fishing

Well we finally got on the board and hope to keep things rolling for the next couple weeks

#1 First Shark of the Tourney for Team Jurassic:
Angler Troy Coupel
Shark Bull 5ft 2in

#2
Angler Troy Coupel
Shark Black Tip 6ft 1in

#3
Angler Diana Coupel
Shark -- Bull 7ft 7in (Original measurement was 7ft 9in but for some reason we have 7ft 7in in the pic so officially 7ft 7in)

Team Jurassic Part 2 catches a stud bull and a nice Blacktip
#1
Angler -- Howard Daughtrey
Shark -- Black Tip 5ft 11in

#2
Angler -- Howard Daughtrey
Shark -- Bull 8ft 2in

The greatest thing about the big bulls is that it was a father and daughter double hook up!

Congrats to all the real great catches here during the tourney....just leaves me speechless when I look at all the pictures. Keep the sharks coming and wishing everyone the best of luck! We will do our best to give all of you a little competition

LaSharkHunter

Sometimes we get request from some of the Teams fishing the BHC to fish on one of our favorite Florida east coast beaches and we are more then happy to accomodate those request .Passing along what South Florida Shark Club members have learned in over four decades of shark fishing to you all is part of what we at the SFSC are all about.Taking friends fishing to places they have never fished is a joy specially when the catches made put smiles on there faces.Although we are competing against each other in the 2012 Big Hammer Challenge the greatest victory is reaching out to others and seeing the happiness in there faces when they get hooked up to a hard pulling shark.On this adventure the fresh west coast ray as bait won out over my frozen east coast popsicle baits.I had a rash of cut-offs that was predictable with the number of bait and toothy crtitters after them in the surf.It felt good to break out the surf casting gear and we caught some bluefish for bait.Before sunset we caugt a few Atlantic sharpnose sharks on the spinning gear but none over the 5 foot required minimum length.We had lots of fun and we are ready to hit another beach very soon .

Surfing capital of Florida Sebastian is beautiful when the waves are small but can be intimidating when LARGE

the three Musketeers of land-based shark fishing

Rich is hooked up on a foul hooked bull shark that is pulling like a locomotive

Rich and Mike with the mystery powerful pulling bull shark all 7 ft 3 inches of him

Man everyone is doing so good. Ill be down this weekend to give you boys a run for first. sll see yall soon.

Great job all the teams you all are crushing it!!!!
keep it up!!!

Way to go CJ and wife .Man that's the house of my dreams right there ,made out of wood,right on the ocean, and I can fish for sharks from my balcony.I could see it now cool drink in my hand ,the sun setting and the rods on the balcony waiting for the bigun and I thought that was only a dream ,,,,,,,,,,as Timmyt would say 'that's good shitttt!!!'

Yea Man!!!! it was pretty cool being able to shark fish while we had family dinner at the kitchen table and my son could sleep in his crib less then 20 feet from my rods cozy in his room... only bad thing was 20' of water is waaaaayyyyyy out.

lake worth sharker

C J 7"10 nurse

Eddy pier nurse on 4/28/

Team Hammer Wranglers
Angler: Nino
8ft lemon

2012 BHC SECOND WEEK TEAM TOTALS GRAPH

At the halfway point of the 2012 BHC and with two weeks left for competing Teams to fish it's time to get creative to put some fish on the board.The recent storm with high winds and torrential rains hovering over the southern half of Florida the last two days has kept most Teams from getting out and fishing.The rain and windy conditions are forecasted to remain over us for the next three days so it's time for a PLAN B.YOU DO HAVE ONE I HOPE?
Most shark fishermen are hardy individuals but no one enjoys fishing while getting soaking wet or having to fight 8 foot waves in the surf to end up with baits dragged in by the force of the current or seaweed so now is the time to fish Jetties,Piers ,Bridges and calm Bay waters.Many of these places present a good chance for any Team to continue to put sharks on the board while waiting for beach conditions to improve.The mouth of inlets and nearby bays are a good place where massive Bulls and Hammers patrol looking for the the easy tarpon meal and the savvy sharker will know where to target those inside Monsters.Time to step up your game and make things happen .Any day now the big bulls of the west coast up around Boca Grande north and south start there assault on the tarpon so you gotta keep fishing to figure out when they've turned on and it happens from one moment to the next,,,,,,Snap there ON!!!
Mandatory equipment to fish in this inclement weather is a good rain coat a tarp and some waterproof bags to keep your gear dry.West coast Teams may still be able to fish the beaches with the wind having less affect on the waves there then on the east coast -if so you may choose to set up camp near some kind of cover to rest after deploying the shark baits.If you mean to fish to COMPETE you will find the PLACE and the WAY.More time fishing means more chances to hook that ONE SHARK that can mean VICTORY.

Good luck to all tEAMS and please practice SAFETY FIRST

In the 2011 BHC Erin Carter's first ever shark! 8 1/2 Bull

Awesome hammer Tony! Way to go brother!!

We went on friday by 10:30 pm we had all of our lines out and then it started THE RAIN and LIGHTNING we took cover under the life guard station with only minimal help from the elements, it would rain on and off the whole night long. We had three lines tangle up because we were under the shelter and not able to hear if a rod got a hit apparently one did. I got two baits taken with rocks and didnt even hear the clicker. Lucky or curse Joe ended catching a Nurse.

Team- Dirty South Shark Hunters
Angler- Joe Clausell
Shark- Nurse
Size-6'-10"

Team Shark Addictz
James Kelley
5'7" Lemon


We had a good run of bad luck this weekend we had 5 hook ups this weekend and only managed to beach one we either were broke off or pulled hooks Like Shad did twice this weekend on monster sharks one we are pretty sure was a Tiger when we brought the rest of the 25 lb Ray in and examined the bite pattern and radius but there is always next time

team AMA got another shark 7ft 4in nurse pics up asap

Screaming reels.
Eddie Challinor- 7'3 lemon

Team Jurassic Part 2

Angler -- Howard Daughtrey
Shark -- Black Tip 5ft 10in

Team Jurassic

Angler -- Troy Coupel
Shark -- Bull 7ft 5 in

Went with some guys after work but they all left me once they got bored. Few mins after they left zzzzzz and a nice shark on. Did the best I could with the pictures.