ways you have taken baits out

We used to use a inflatiable Kayak and a inflatiable raft then we used a canoe that a buddy let me use, now I use a kayak that I bought last year

I've yaked it out.. swam it out and used a longboard.. scariest time was takin a bait out on the longboard at night in SC where i know they catch big tigers

haha, hell yeah!! its a thrill like no other takin out baits at nite on the surf board!!

i swam a bait out one time in jupiter

i borrowed some guys fins an jumped in swam out about 2 hundred yards

i just did it cause i was pissed cause the current just switched

It was many years ago in early October and the newport pier was in the thick of the mullet run and we had our shark rods at the pier.my brother Jorge had a blown up innertube that he threw off the pier ,jumped into and took out the shark baits in the early afternoon.I had to leave early but he hooked a 12 foot Tiger shark that after he fought it for a long while; he brought it in green, and it went under the pier and popped him off on the 12/0 with 100 lb test.Over the years we've used rubber rafts of all types from ten dollar cheapies to Zodiacs,we have used Dinghies,canoes,jon boats both aluminum and fiberglass,wood rafts w a small sail during an offshore wind,blown up garbage bags at the inlet w the outgoing tide ,swam baits out with dive gear,on surfboards,on a jetski,,,,,,,,i'm sure I left out a few more.

JD Hammer used to tie bloody smelly baits to his back with mono & swim them out past the reef at the old South Beach Pier. When he arrived at the desired location, he'd cut the mono & swim back. (Pee-eww) Sorry JD, I had to tell on you!

THATS THE BEST IVE HEARD ABOUT THE HAMMER!! tien the bait to him, ive swamm it out under my arm but damnn

know there is nothing wrong with useing live bait haha hammer is a monster

Hell yeah Hammer! The best I'v done is at at Pcola pier when I saw a 12' hammer eat 7 bobo's and sharkin was a NONO. I went down the beach and swam a fresh bobo out about 200yds holding the leader in my mouth. Well from there I have paddled a 8'4" keowe for 12 years and a 17' alummum canoe for 2 yrs and an Achillies Inflatable boat with a 15 hp for a while and a 13' 2man kyak and a self bailing 15' 2man kyak now. The IFB's is what we catch our bait out of now. The IFB's will cut ya shark line and slice ya up in the surf. The kyak is best in the surf, but the IFB's is very usefull.

Hi Guys:

Way back when we were fishing we use to swim all of our baits out. The only exceptions to swimming baits were a few times when we had access to a very heavy kayak and we would occassionly throw baits off the jetty at night when we arrived at Boca Chica around 3:00 AM. We'd swim them as soon as the sun came up next morning.

Swimming baits would entail use of a 1 man inflatable life raft that we purchased from Woolco for $29.95! We also used a inflatable matress commonly used in swimming pools today. We used inner tubes, I have used a couple of milk jugs to support my baits and sinkers, I have also used an inner tube with an old cast net tied to the bottom to support the weights and bait. On really rough days it took two of us swimming along side the inner tube to make it over the second bar.

That's my story, and yes we did do a lot of swimming back in the old days. And just a quick note, for your information only, we changed baits 3 times per day, every day.

Best and tight lines,

Norman Bateman
Cape Coral, Florida
ncbateman1@aol.com
http://www.batemanphotography.net

Well let me tell you my story about taking baits out.One day a long time ago when the old south beach pier was still there it was about 5:30 pm when for the first time in my life i went fishing with my teacher [Rene de Dios ] he told me in order to be a good shark fisherman you will have to learn to take your own baits out.So at that time I decided to do so.They had a little 10 foot jon boat it was a litte choppy that day and overcast ,I took a 8 pound cuda in back of the boat and started to row while Rene was holding my rod.I was going to the tip of the jetties which was about 300 to 400 yards out and as i was going I noticed that there was water coming inside the boat so i said to myself "it's becoming night time" so i stop to drop my bait go to the bottom and i made my turn to come back towards the pier when all of the sudden my boat just sunk!!!I was really afraid i dint know what i was going to do.Lucky for me the boat had styrofoam under the seat and it stayed afloat.I started to push and swim back to shore but it felt like i was never going to make it back.Lucky for me that at the pier there was a miami beach lifeguard who took all of his cloths off except his [underwear ] and jumped into the water and started to swim to where i was still about 200 yards away.He told me "relax we will make it back- don't you worry" as we got about 50 yards from the pier I could hear Rene and everyone else sreaming "shark on shark on"and that really got my heart going real fast as we made it on land i was feeling better.I thanked that lifeguard so many times i forgot how many times as we were walking up to the old south beach pier the master(Rene) had caught a 8 foot lemon on my lucky rod i never saw that life guard again, as for me i never took another bait out again until last year one time that it was flat like a lake when i went with my real good friend [will fundora]whose like a brother to me who took me to the hospital when i had my heart attack and they brought me back to life once againg because of my real good friend [willy ]so that it my story about takihg baits out

the master (Rene)on the old south beach pier

Pitch black dark on south beach!!! all the rods going off left and right!!! catch two 6-7 foot bulls and we swam are baits out earlier in the day,but now it was dark and we had lots of cudas,yet no way to get the bait out!!!
OHHHHHHHH did i not mention i was a 15 ear old nut and we were 10 deep and very drunk at the time, me,Romano,Johnie fuqua,and 7 other groupies!!! we couldnt get any ginos to pull such a daring stunt to free swim knowing there were bulls all over, so poor at the time, me and my friend romano downed our 3$ 1 liter bottles of rough cheap skoll vodka and off we swam rock in hand,scissor kicking and side stroking while kicking our baits with every kick!!! (no board,no flash light,no yak,no bucket)just us,the bait and the ocean!!! the only way we knew where we were was by reaching the swim bouy!!! At the time i remember it being fun,and scary as hell at the same time because i was feeling good and had my road dawg out there with me,but thinking about it now as an adult with no medical insurance and a daughter, i think i would have passed lol!!! every time your foot would kick in to the whole cuda,i envisioned kevins (tar baby) 800 lb tiger coming in for the kill right behind me!!!!!!!

How im still alive after all the wild dumb shit i did growing up on south beach i dont know, i do know these wild stories and encounters seperate alot of us from the plain,dull,and ordinary, however i dont think i would let my kids roam as wild and freely as alot of us were aloud by our parents lol!!! shittt got real scary a few times!!!

Great story Shannon,,,,,,,,,,reminds me of Rene and his huge collection of stories.He was a great story teller ,had the memory of an elephant and his stories were all real ,they were freakish and sometimes scary .He had so many Big Hammer stories that I can't remember them all ,but I remember being in awe as I heard him describe many times over the phone "I just got stripped by a 15 foot hammer on long key bridge" you could feel his passion and desire and frustration at once again having gotten destroyed by his dream shark.Sometimes me and Rene were not on talking terms because he was very competitive, and I was also, so we had run-ins over stupid sh#t ,but inside I always rooted for him and I knew that anything was possible with Rene because he truly was the master of the sharks and pursued them harder then anyone I've ever known.His stories were often heroic- doing things from pure heart and youthful strength.He was a great athlete and in his prime Rene knocked out guys twice his size.He wanted to be as he called it "#1 "and the "Big Kahuna" and he was the Top Dog on South beach pier so that meant putting his life on the line so many times to save people that were drowning off the pier.or someone that was sinking while taking out a shark bait .Man I sure miss my friend Rene ,,,,,,,,,,one of kind!!

very nice story there mr will we will never forget the master of the old south beach pier