Report submitted by 'Gabe'
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PINS Apex Predator Report
Padre Island National Seashore, TX
May 30th, 2009
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For years, my cousins in Austin have wanted to make it down the beach
with us on an overnight shark trip. After months of torrential wind, a good
weekend presented itself and we were on it. We departed the island around
11:00am Saturday morning to find beautiful, yet windier than expected conditions.
Our plan was to spend the early afternoon securing bait for a late evening/night
bite. As soon as baits hit the water, we were hooked up on jacks.
My cousin Megan fighting a nice Jack Crevelle
The entire area was teeming with life....Jacks, Bonita, Spanish Mackeral,
and even this juvenile Green Turtle who decided to scratch an itch against
our bait bucket.
With the abundance of bait, I decided to run a couple rods in hopes
of some early afternoon action. Within 30 minutes of having baits in the
water, one of my 50's bounced a couple of times, then started heading east.
I jumped up on the platform and laid in a solid hookset. As soon as the fish
felt tension, it hit the afterburners, screaming off #30 of drag like it
was a zebco....then slack. I figured I pulled the hook, oh well, better luck
next time. What we discovered when we brought it in was a first for me. The
3/32 Stainless cable had been severed about 5" up from the shank of the hook...I
never believed reports of broken cable until now. I figure the shark deserved
it's freedom if it were able to dismantle #1000 aircraft cable.
Since we only had 1 other line out, I decided to change out the leader
and re-rig the same 50 for deployment. As I return from dropping the bait,
I see my cousin Charlie up on my platform trying to hang on to my other 50W.
As quickly as I can climb up the platform, it was evidenced that we had a
good shark on our hands. This fish was determined to head back offshore and
#30 of drag did not seem to make much of a difference to her. For 10 painful
minutes, she pulled solid drag roughly 400yds straight east.
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As we are watching line dissapear from the spool, the 50 I just dropped
takes off as a ball of bait moves by. I get a firm hookset and pass the rod
off to my cousin Megan's boyfriend, Chase. Chase does battle with a nice
5'11" female Blacktip-his first shark. We quickly jump down from the tower,
snap some photos, slip a tag in, and release the fish as expeditiously as
possible.
As the 30 minute mark is rolling by, the shark is starting to tire.
Her steady pulls have now been replaced by short bursts of energy. An hour
into the fight and the float is just inside the second bar...time to get
to work. Jason and I wade out over the first bar into some deeper water to
get a jump on tailroping her. First pass and I get a good wrap on her tail,
as Jason cinches down with the end of the rope. We pull her over the first
bar and into 2' of water for hook removal and photos!!!
She was hooked in the back of the mouth, instead of causing more trauma
by trying to get it out, we opted to use the bolt cutters and cut the hook
at the bend.
She ended up measuring a little over 11'6", our largest Tiger to date,
eclipsing the previous 10'1" by a significant margin.
We have been working for this fish for a long time, and seeing it
swim off with nothing more than a tag and a little mouth jewelery makes it
even sweeter. What a beautiful apex predator.
It will be hard to top releasing a shark of that size. We estimated
her to be in the #550-600 range, what an amazing fish!!
Later that night we had another big shark pick up a bait, but it wasn't
meant to be. We packed up the next morning and headed out to allow my cousins
ample time to travel back to Austin. What a wonderful weekend filled with
family, friends, and BIG TIGERS! It will be a trip that will be hard to
beat....but we will certainly give it our all! Till next time....
- Gabe
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