Carl's Monster ,A BIG bait and the lifeguard stand

BIG BAIT AND THE LIFEGUARD STAND

December of 2009 my buddy Chucky rode his bike to meet up with Carl who was shark fishing on a beach not too far from where they live in Hollywood Fl .Carl told Chucky that he heard reports of a big tiger 12 foot plus that had been spotted by the Dania beach pier, and a much smaller 9 footer had been caught recently also so he was going for a end of the year knockout . That December was a hot one with tempatures in the high 70's and low 80's so the water was not winterlike yet .Anyways Chuck gets to the beach as Carl is landing a five and half foot blacktip and he tells Chucky his recently bought 16/0 packed with new 200 lb test mono was waiting to be broken in and he wants to put out a humongous bait and the Btip is perfect he tells Chuck.Of course Chuck is laughing a bit thinking Carl's off his rocker to put out such a big bait in December but Carl insist as he cuts the tail off the 60 lb tipper he puts in two 16/0 mustad J hooks -one by the dorsal ,and the other out the side by the gills.Carl very carefully yaks the still live tipper out just inside the reef line and gets back to shore but Chucky wants to leave, Carl ask him to stay a while cause he's sure his big bait is gonna slammed.

A short while later the 16/0 starts a slow but steady roll and they both look at other and grin a big smile .Carl is hysterical his eyes wide open as a Monster is slowly devouring his sacrificial lamb of a bait it swims a bit faster and he feels violent head shakes so Carl does the running man but is stopped dead in his tracks and flung around like a frog .Carl only weighs 145 lbs soaking wet.The beast heads straight out due east and Chuck helps Carl up the lifeguard stand where they have over the years notched out a hole in the wood where they stick the rod butt to fight big sharks.Carl is doing all he can to bend the rod and slow the humongous shark down but he's having a hard time holding the rod as the strain of the 200 lb test pushed to the limit is more then even a big man can handle.Chuck helps Carl get the rod in the hole and then they start tightening the star drag on the huge Penn 16/0 but it's no use the shark does not slow down.There is so much pressure in the line that Chuck tells me he had to step back he was worried the line was gonna snap and the rod was gonna nail him on the head.To make a long story short the beast took approximately 400 yards of new 200 lb test without hesitating and then cut them off on the reef .The line was frayed up for 25 feet above where it had broke.Carl was right the MONSTER was there but it was gone .This beach is notorious for its sharp reefs and getting a giant shark on a beach means having as few obstructions as possible.