| High Island Surf Report
High Island,
TX
September 9th-11th, 2004
Report by TJ 'Jolly ROger' |
What a day to be fishing! After running to three bait stores Saturday
morning, Karen and I finally hit the beach at High Island around 8 a.m. We
met up with Dick Radcliff and Justin Gradich. Dick told us he had already
landed 2 Bull Reds and Justin had gotten a nice trout.
About that time, another one of Dick's reels starts screaming. After
a brief fight, he landed Bull Red #3.
I hit the surf in search of bait and ended up catching a nice Spanish
Mackarel.
While I was getting my lines ready Dick landed yet another Bull Red.
This trend would continue throughout the day. I finally got some lines in
the water. After a very brief rest, Dick and I both got nice runs -- our
first double of the day. Two Bull Reds. It was about this time that Justin
decided he might should get some rods out.
As soon as we got our lines back out, we both landed two more fish.
I needed time to get more rods out so the next time I heard the clicker going
off, I yelled at Karen to get the rod. Another Bull Red.
Not long after that, I noticed Justin had a fish on. Another Bull Red.
Shortly after that, Dick landed yet another Bull Red. It was only
10:30 a.m. and we had already landed 9 Bull Reds. We hit a lull in the action
and were all happy to get a little break. Justin finally got a chance to
finish setting up but by the time the time he got his chair and umbrella
over to where we were sitting, he got a hit on one of his rods. It was like
someone flipped a switch. We went from catching nothing but Bull Reds to
catching nothing but Sharks. Within a matter of minutes, Justin landed two
sharks -- 37.5" Blacktip and a 43" Bull.
Then it was Dick's turn to get in on some of the toothy action. We
knew he obviously had a Blacktip because as soon as the clicker started going
off, we saw a shark do a beautiful aerial breach. Not long after he landed
this 55" Blacktip.
Not long after that Justin landed a 48" Blacktip.
While we were down there helping Justin with his shark, we noticed
some guys down the beach were fighting something. Karen and Justin went down
there to check it out and got to see Steve land a nice fish.
As they were making their way back down to our camp they noticed Dick
fighting another fish. Shortly after he landed a 52" Blacktip.
After that the Bull Reds moved in again. Justin caught two more nice
Bull Reds and I finally got to get in on some of the shark action when I
landed this very nice 56" Female Bull Shark.
Dick followed that up with a 57" Blacktip.
The next 3 fish went to Karen -- a 39.5" Blacktip, another Bull Red, and
a 55.5" Blacktip.
Justin and I ended up landing 2 more Bull Reds. Around that time Steven
and DeAnna Berg stopped by on their way back from Sea Rim. Their group had
caught 16 Bull Reds and everyone was worn out so they had packed up and left.
We were all getting close to worn out so when one of the clickers went off,
we made Steven get it since he had gotten a break during his drive to High
Island. Another Bull Red
We were all standing around talking when Dick's Jigmaster started
SCREAMING. I ran down the beach and grabbed my kayak in case we needed to
go after the fish. After about 30 minutes of hard fighting we were all 300
yards down the beach and we knew the fish was nearing the first sandbar.
Justin and I waded out to see if we could tail rope him.
The instant I touched the leader the hook pulled. It was at this point
that instincts took over and I did something really stupid that I would not
recommend anyone trying -- I jumped on the shark. Luckily, I think the shark
was just as surprised as I was so I was able to bear hug him and pick him
up out of the water. I trudged towards the shore holding on for dear life.
At this point, he had realized I was holding him and he was not very happy
about it.
It was a very nice 61" Bull Shark.
After all that excitement, we decided we had had enough adventure
for the day. Here are the totals I have. I'm pretty sure I missed some though...
16 Bull Reds, 12 Sharks
-TJ
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