By Chumrunner, TEXAS SHARK FISHING , August 2008
Sorry to post this report so late but my work schedule has been nuts the past two weeks.I had all day saturday to fish andI was determined this trip to break the 5 ft barrier and catch a respectable shark instead of the 2 and 3 foot sharpnoses that have plagued previous trips.
My wife and I got to the point a little late on Sat. morning around 8:00, but right about low tide so it worked out ok timewise. I keep forgetting how long it takes to drag all my crap to the beach including a loaded down cart and a kayak. I immediately go to work rigging up my 4/0 (I know it’s too small ) with an abrasion leader and a double drop bite leader with 12/0 J-hooks. I had an extra special bait for just such an occasion that my wife had caught for me the last time we were down at Edisto. It was a nice bite-sized stingray about the size of a dinnerplate. Using a rigging needle I ran the two leaders through the ray and secured the hooks so that they would sit upright for better exposure.
Here’s the bait all rigged up and ready to go for a ride in the yak.
I hand the rod to my lovely assistant with the clicker on and attach the bait to the kayak. I then paddle about 200 yds into the deeper water and drop the bait. As soon as I turn around and start to head back to shore my heart sinks. About half way between me and shore comes somebody’s boat hauling tail right over my line. I see a panicked look on my wife’s face as line screams off the reel. I get back to shore and discover that my line got cut off and that I had lost my entire 200 yd top-shot of mono. I was PISSED! Not only did I lose line and two very expensive hooks, but also the only good shark bait I had with me. I decided to stick it out and not let it ruin my weekend. I spooled on another top-shot and rigged up another bait. This one was a whole whiting about 10″ on a 16/0 circle hook. This time I looked up and down the beach for boats before I got in the yak. This time we actually got the line set in the holder and tightened down before any more boats came by.
We started rigging up bait rods with shrimp and a casted rod with some cut whiting while we waited. About thirty minutes later the 4/0 starts singing (gotta love that sound). I grab the rod and quickly land this guy.
I forgot to measure him but I would guess about 4 ft or so. I’m actually not quite sure what species it is, the anal fin seems to line up with the second dorsal so I don’t think it’s a sharpnose, so it could be a finetooth which I hear has similar features and gets a little bigger.
The shark was released unharmed, but I actually sustained some minor injuries from his skin. I had him pinned to the sand with one foot on either side of him while I took the hook out, and he just went to thrashing around taking a chunk of skin off my ankle. Remember that even small sharks are extremely dangerous and never take handling them lightly.
After this catch my wife had to go back to the house and help with lunch at her parents so I was down to a one man crew. About lunch time the bait rods started getting some action with a few whiting and lots of misses. Then I got a hit and could tell it was a little better fish. And wouldn’t you know it, redemption, I got another stingray just the right size for bait. I wasted no time and rigged it up similar to before but with only one J-hook (it would break my heart to lose 2 more). I paddled it out and set it up. Then I just waited and worked on my sun burn.
I had almost dozed off when I heard a ziiiiiinnng!!! I looked up and the light bait rod was going to town. Why do the biggest fish always seem to find the bait on the lightest line? I grabbed the rod and tightened the drag as much as I thought I could with 10 lb line on it. It was a great fight. Even the beach patrol guy stopped to watch. About 20 minutes later I landed a nice 40 lb stingray. I felt sure he was going to break me off. I thought about cutting it up for shark bait, but there was a dad telling his little girl “now watch it’s going to swim off now” after I took out the hook, just didn’t have the heart.
Couple more hours of waiting and I was planning to start packing things up. It was getting close to 3:00 and pretty much slack tide so I figure I would reel in the ray hopefully be able to reuse it when I went back out after supper. No sooner had I begun to gather some things together when I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. Something was taking off with that ray. I decided I might want a fighting belt for this one. It definitely made things more comfortable. It was a good fight and a lot of give and take letting it run and I had no idea what I had until I saw the fin coming through the breakers. I saw it and knew that I had finally caught a decent sized shark. I dragged it onto the beach and handed my rod to one of the on-lookers while I ran to get my camera, pliers and tape measure. I ran back and jumped on the sharks back pinning it down with my knees and legs instead of just my feet this time (the best way to do it) while I took out the hook. I got another friendly tourist to take a picture of me with my catch. Unfortunately my wife takes better pictures so it didn’t get a good shot of the sharks head.
This one was a blacktip that taped out at 5′ 8.”
Later that night I ran out a bait and hooked on to something huge!! I had my reel locked down on it for an hour gaining no more than a few inches of line at a time before the 50 lb power-pro snapped. I was pretty much done after that. Yeah It is definitely time to get that sealine 900h that I want. The wife says I have to wait until X-mas though . Oh well if it means that I get a pass to fish between now and then I can wait.
I want to thank everyone on this site especially Deaver for all of the knowledge that I have gained from reading the handbook and all the reports and discussions. When I first got into this I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and now I’m actually seeing results. Thanks guys!
