| Florida Big Shark Surf Report
East Coast,
FL
July 7th, 2007
Report by Jeff Shindle |
Got a call from Mario awhile back said he wanted to come
back over and try some beach fishing again. The last couple trips just didn't
produce anything other than bug bites. It's like that alot down here , the
shark bite can just disappear and won't come back for months. It seems like
Florida should be a sure thing for a shark over 7' but believe me it doesn't
always happen. Mario picked me up at the house and we made plans to meet
up with David and Shane to try and figure out what we might do.
Hit the beach the first evening and got some baits out before
dark. The bugs were as bad as I've ever seen them. Not even a small run.
About 10:00 PM I look down and see a big turtle crawling up
from the surf towards our little camp. It wound up skirting around us and
laid it's eggs right behind our chairs. It was a big green , awesome site.
It crawled back to the beach and we had to force it not to crawl through
our camp , I was worried about it getting tangled in something.We also noticed
it had a rear flipper missing , must a got bit off, I hoped that was a good
sign. This same scene would repeat itself 7 more times that night. It was
unreal.Left later that morning without a bite.
Changed locals and started to find sharks.
First fish was this big nurse Mario caught. I took a quick shot
and had to get back to my rod in the holder that was going off. Turned out
to be another big nurse.
Changed beaches again cause things got crowded with humans.
Set up camp Stargazer and got busy. Just in time for a storm to blow our
umbrella away.
Shane took a bait out and dropped it right at a shark that was
swimming by his yak . We didn't know this at the time but the 12/0 started
humming and it turnrned out to be this big ole male lemon.
Things slowed down a little but we kept running good baits out.
This big green sea tutle makes this 16/0 look small.Sand plow.
Later in the trip Shane get's hooked up on the 12/0.
Turns out to be a big fat female lemon shark.Nice hat !!!!
My 12/0 took off on a pretty good run and after a nice little
fight we get this pretty thing on the beach. Looks like she got a piece of
her tail bitten off. I can't even catch a complete shark !!
She swam away fine and happy , hook fell right out.
Put another bait back out and I hooked up again on my 12/0 .
This was a bigger fish. Finally got to see how bad my spool looks further
down. Got it stopped I thought I had it turned toward the beach. I'm cranking
fast and all of a sudden I see my bait spinning on the surface , damn !!
Get it in and I can see the tiger teeth marks on it , it never had a hook
in it just holding on . I figure we need to put it back out when I look up
and there the fish is cruising the bar looking for it . Sucker followed it
in. Mario grabbed my bait and jumped in the yak and dropped it right on it's
head. Scared the sh$t out of it and it hauled butt. It came right back and
swam around my bait for a long while but never picked it up , finally just
criused away. It was very cool to see a tiger shark being a tiger shark.
Wish I would have filmed it but I couldn't keep my hand off my rod.
Later in the day we miss a couple more great mystery fish. After
that we get a strange kinda run on the 16/0. Mario hooks up a fish and starts
the battle.
He had to fight it without a functional harness because his
broke. Of course it broke the rod and reel weigh 900 pounds. I really grew
to hate that 16/0. It was so hot that day I don't know how he didn't pass
out. I think the thought of what we knew was on the other end helped out
mentally. By the way , truck vs Mario on 16/0......truck wins !! :lol: End
of debate.
After well over an hour he finally gets it close enough for
me to tail rope it. I was so glad I got it on the first try . Turns out to
be a big fat male tiger.
Got some quick shots and got ready for the release . The hook
was just inside the mouth so we opted to cut it. It was bleeding but it was
just a mouth wound. Couldn't resist this shot.
Somewhere in this shot is a big tiger getting released.With
a little push here in there he swam off slowly into the void.
It was a great trip with great people . Can't do this stuff
to well by yourself. It helps to have a good team. So long till next time.
- Jeff
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