| PINS Surf Report
Padre Island National Seashore,
TX
September 5th, 2004
Report by Oz |
Holiday weekends are always crowded on our Texas beaches. This
Labor Day was no exception. However, aside from the multitudes of skipjack
chasing rain-minnows and dusky anchovies, the beach was relatively quiet.
Curmit, Frenzy, and myself hit the beach hoping for some shark action. Saturday
morning we setup camp in the southern section of Big Shell, after chasing
down and hammering the feeding skipjack at sunrise. We ran some decent baits
out and later on Henry, Mac, Old Salt, Repofish, Kyle, and Shindle would
show up. We covered a lot of area with a lot of baits and not much action.
Reports from the entire length of the beach reported slow shark action. Around
5pm I end up hooking a small aerial Blacktip that was tagged.
The rest of the day and night was slow from the beach with the exception
of a nice run on Henry's 12/0 that eventually cut him off. Sunday presented
us with nicer conditions, but the chaos of the small anchovies were far offshore.
In a distance we could see many birds working about a mile out. Curmit and
I decided to see if we could slay anything and try offshore for sharks. We
get out about a half mile and see birds going nuts. The water was boiling
with activity and at our first attempt to throw in the chaos allowed us to
observe large Spanish Mackerel, Skipjacks, a few Ling, and several large
sharks.
After only hooking a few Spanish, we decide to save our energy and
put out a shark bait instead. Curtis rigs up a primo bait and he starts the
drift around the schooling monsters. Every now and then you would hear a
thunderous crash into the water as if it were a plane crashing into the ocean.
We would look back only to see the massive splash. Although there were times
when we would actually see multiple 6'+ sharks take off launching out of
the water within a 50 yards of the kayaks. After about 5 min of drifting
around the birds, Curmits reel starts to take off. After letting it run for
a few seconds he engages the drag and sets the hook. This is where the thrills
and adrenaline kick in. Being towed at a slow but steady pace we wear the
shark out. After about a 20-30min battle, the shark is relaxed and allows
us to carefully and strategically release it. This was the first of several
mega Blacktips we would catch.
Curtis needing rest from Battle, allows me to take over on the shark
duty. I rig primo bait #2 and it is my turn to play. After kayaking
to another 'Super' flock of feeding birds, I drop the bait and begin the
drift. Among the thousands of Spanish Macs now taking over, the sharks emerge
and circle the kayaks. Most in the range of 5-6', a few were clearly over
(see above). Perhaps a valid State Record Blacktip swam up to the yak circling
and looked at my bait passing on over to Curmits Kayak. This shark which
I positively identified as a Blacktip would have been close to the newly
established 190# State Record, going a solid length of well over 7' and a
superb girth to match. That would be the last time we saw that shark. About
5 min later as I head to another flock of birds tearing up the water my shark
bait gets hit. I let him run a few seconds then slam him. This shark slightly
larger than Curtis', took me for a ride but we still had things under control.
After a few minutes we tire the shark out and get him up close.
Surprisingly we are able to get the hook out and she swam off headed
back towards the bait ball. During some course of the day while Curmit was
pursuing the Spanish Mackerel, he hooks up onto a decent fish on light tackle.
Not knowing at first what it was we later get him up to find out it was a
nice slightly undersized Ling.
Curtis would again attempt to catch another shark. After putting
down another primo bait, he gets hooked up and we are ready for round 3.
Curtis battles the shark in circles for several minutes then we notice something
in the water. It happened to be the bait that slid up the line after getting
hit by the shark. So now Curmit and I sit and hope we can get it in soon.
However, we all know what was going to happen. As the bait was sliding on
the line on the surface, another Blacktip came up and ate it cutting the
line and ending the battle early. After several fun and exhilarating hours,
we head back in. We go back to the beach to hear the action was as
slow as can be in the surf.. even with all the awesome baits Scott and Frenzy
had in the water. We call it a quick nite and wake up in the morning to tons
of birds up close on the beach working the anchovies. Shindle whips
out his fly-rod and starts catching skipjack and Dustin lands a killer Trout
all by himself down the beach.
Curtis and I take our time knowing we would go back into battle again
in the kayaks. We slowly rig up the right essentials and bring a small stock
of bait and chum. Upon first observation, we couldn't find any birds remotely
close. So we ventured our way down south kayaking at an angle slowly getting
in deeper water. We find the mother of all working bait-balls. Slicks popping
over hundreds of acres and birds going ballistic at the bait getting thrown
out of the water by reining predators. At first our instincts told us it
was the same as the previous day with tens of thousands of Spanish Mackerel
under the birds. This was not the case for Curtis hooks into and lands a
Bonito.. and another etc.
We find the sharks as they were cruising in packs looking for any
possible food in the frenzies. To our surprise we are then encountered by
hundreds of large adult Jack Crevalle swimming under our kayaks. We hook
up and lose several lures before the Jacks leave. We slowly relocate to the
always moving baitball/birds and Curtis drops another primo shark bait.
After a couple passes and drifting slowly he is hooked up... TWICE.
He is fighting a bonita on on rod and a shark on the other. I come
over and help out taking the bonita as he gets towed the opposite direction.
I have my own troubles for the bonita is freaking out going into 'stress'
mode up on the surface splashing the water. As I am about to get the bonita
within a couple yards of the kayak another mega 7'-Blacktip charges and sucks
it in its mouth. Surprisingly it did not cut the line just yet and I battled
the Shark on the Bonita.. on Curtis' Spoon. After about a minute under the
kayak of not realizing there was still a line attached to the bonita, the
shark takes off and deciding to take the final chomp of the the fish cutting
the line. I put the rod up and head over towards Curtis. After a few minutes
the shark tires and we are able to release it.
Now it is my turn again and we head towards more birds. By now we
are probably about 2 miles off the beach. We normally wouldn't go this far
however the physical conditions of flat surf allowed us to travel the distance
with little effort. Curtis hooks another bonita and I shed my old shark bait
and rig up a live Bonita to put down. We fished the birds and it was
about 20 mins before the bait would get rocked. I am hooked up again and
fight another solid Blacktip. Not as fat as the others, but quite lengthy.
We get the hook out and release the hungry girl.
By now we have had our fun and it was soon time to leave. We prep
and head back for the long journey back to shore. On our way back we encountered
many more pods of bait getting hammered by predators. It is amazing that
an area of the beach can be so dead with activity when a mile or two out
all hell breaks lose. When we get back to shore, we get a couple pics of
Curtis with some great soon to be baits.
Overall for Curtis and I it was a great trip. While the guys who stayed
on the beach didn't fare as well, we all still had a blast over the
holiday weekend. A special thanks to Repo for cooking a killer dinner
Saturday night, a special thanks to Scott for letting us barrow his kayak
for Monday, and finally a special thanks to Frenzy for offering to take me
down this trip til I get the truck out of the shop. Remember guys.. we don't
promote or encourage kayak shark fishing. While it is a dangerous way to
explore your adventure, we have had countless experiences with many, many,
many sharks. And while they will always remain unpredictable, trying to
strategically foresee all situations involving sharks helps keep the encounter
safe.
Good Fun
-Oz
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