Report submitted by 'Oz'

PINS Surf Report Padre Island National Seashore, TX October 20-21st, 2005 Tweet

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Sometimes all the planets come in align and with optimal conditions you just know you are about to have a stellar trip. Gabe and I headed down greeted with clear water and an abundance of bait in close to the shore. Dusky Anchovies and a variety of other prey were being devoured throughout the beach by predators of all shapes and sizes. We make it out in the early afternoon and roll down past 'Big Shell' to where we find birds busting on anchovies in close.

We get out and start throwingspoons and hope to load up on some large skipjack. The water is absolutely alive with activity and we begin hooking up no problem. We start seeing multiple Blacktip sharks carving their way through the bait clouds. I hook up on a large Ladyfish and a nearby Blacktip close to 6' zones in on the hooked fish and practically beaches itself inhaling my Skipjack. The shark maneuvers itself around and takes off starting to smoke my bait rod. By now I should have been broken off but suspect he ended up sticking the treble from the spoon in the corner of its jaw. I have a solidly hooked shark around 100# rocking my world and I run up and down the beach for a few min fighting him able to turn him back to shore before having thechance to spool me. Aftera while I get the shark back on the first sandbar and he decidesto shatter the treble hook on the 3/4oz krocodile and escapes the official catch.

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Within 15 minutes of stepping out of the truck and yet to put out a shark rod, we have our first encounter and almost our first shark catch... this is what kind of trip we were about to be in store for.

The bait continued to get pounded but we wanted to setup on a more friendly location of the beach so we cruise down a few more miles to find the same activity. We decide to officially setup camp and continue the bait harvest as we previously did. Water on the surface was chaotic with birds and fish feeding and I started throwing Spoon'rs hoping for a Jack or two that we saw frenzying. The lure got slammed every cast and I end up bringing in a heavy fat Spanish.

Sometime after I landed the Spanish, Gabe was out there throwing spoons hooking into Skippies when a large Tarpon about 5' grabs his lure withing a few feet and jumps on the bar right next to him. The Tarpon got the bestof Gabe (and his lure). Gabe shook itoff and couldn't take it any longer and runs a couple shark baits out. Right off the bat he gets hooked up and lands a 5' Blacktip (tagged and released).

The sun was starting to get close to setting and the feeding activity only amplified. Gabe battles in a hefty 6'3" Bull Shark (tagged and released).

Shortly after Gabe hooks up once again and lands another Bull.. this time a 5'10" female with bite scars on the dorsal (possibly from mating).

Just after dark a bait that Gabe had put into the first gut gets picked up and the fight is on. After a good fight considering the tackle Gabe lands a solid 6'2" Blacktip Shark (tagged and released).

As Gabe releases his Blacktip another rod goes off and I get in a 5'1' Blacktip released.

We left out big baits all night with two breakoffs. The next morning we are greeted by calm conditions and bait once again getting nailed. I am able to get back one of my breakoffs and we reset for the day and start to get prepared for a full day of action.

Around 8am the swells from Hurricane Wilma started to make its way in with long periods of separation. While they weren't too bad and withcareful timing it didn't really affect us with our bait deployment and thus continued to get baits out.

Shortly after Gabe continues where he left off the day earlier and lands an early 5'4" Blacktip.

Shortly after we would have 3 more Blacktips on the beach and released by early afternoon. The day went on with several runs and misses. Gabe had also had leaders bit through and broke off. By now the swells and winds were picking up but conditions were still yakable for us. Being down a few sharks to Gabe I switch out my big baits with cable and go to mono. I immediately have a couple nice runs and then a hookup on a nice shark.

I finally get the shark in on the first bar and it spits the hook. A tough hit but I run a couple baits back out. As I come back in Gabe is hooked up and releases a fat 5'4" Blacktip.

Not long after while out onthe bar slaying the skipjack and hooking into Mackerel my 4-wide takes off and we get in and release another Blacktip at 5'5".

By now darkness is not far and we strive to get out last minute baits. We run out an array of big and med size baits battling through the increasing surf. The wind was starting to switch out of the north but the predicted front still hadn't made it through yet. Just after sunset we get a couple of runs and fish drop the baits. Just before 8pm Gabe's 9/0 which was deployed in a deep first gut goes a blazing and takes off.

We could tell there was another solid fish at the end and with its shear power did not want to come in. Gabe fought the fish for a good 30 minutes gaining a small amount of line at a time. While the moon still wasn't up yet, we had very little light to work with. Gabe finally gets the fish in on the first bar and I go out witha tailrope still not knowing what we were dealing with. With a shining of the maglight we find out that it is not a shark we thought, but a monster Tarpon. Coming in at 7'0" we end up releasing the surprise fish of the trip... Congrats Gabe on a trophy catch!

No more than 20 minutes pass and my 4-wide with a titan Skipjack starts getting smoked. After taking a good 150 yards on the initial run I get the fish turned around and have him coming in one crank at a time. As ironic as it was it fought exactly like Gabes Tarpon.. but we knew the odds were highly unlikely and remained set on it being a shark. After a decent 20 minute fight we get the fish over the first bar and see it is indeed a nice shark appearing to be a Bull as it swam in shallow water. Gabe leaders the shark and I end up landing afat 7'0" female Bull Shark.

After the release she swims off in the darkness and within the past hour we have landed two 7' fish. What an amazing way to cap off an incredible day of action. The last remaining baits were jacks deployed deep but would stay out until morning when the front would come through and put an end to the great conditions. The Jacks would come in untouched and seemed that the only thing the sharks would touch would be Skipjack and certainly understandable.

We wake up in the morning deciding to pack up and call it a done deal. Gabe had gone on a rampage with the sharksand ended up landing a top trophy fish. In total we had landed and released 12 sharks to 7 feet in 28 hours with a length of 788 total inches and also a 7' Tarpon to boot. For me personally this had to be one of the most active trips I have been on PINS. In October of 2002 I had landed 10 sharks to 6 feet in one day.. but this trip just had something about it that made it one of those unforgettable trips. Overall it was something Gabe and I had a good feeling about before we even rolled down the beach. While we were prepared to stay 2 more days, guys like us arealways happy for every minute we are able to spend on the beach and for the time we were there, it was non-stop work that rewarded very well for ourselves.

Great fishing Gabe, and Congrats on the Tarpon!
- Oz

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