Sharking Report

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

DAY ONE

Daron's family/crew & I met up after lunch on the Sound side of Chicken Bone beach (Pensacola Bay).
It was freaking hot as Hades out with the humidity making it nasty for a fat man like me.
No one had had a bite yet, and I set up my gear to join in the fun.
Bob showed up later in the afternoon and we were having a good time jack jawing and telling stories.
Wish there'd been more catching an less fishing.

Daron's brother Scott(?) had a fish mouthing the bait and giving several short runs, but kept dropping it and finally disappeared.
............
Then late afternoon Daron got a solid hook up and landed a 5-6' Bull shark.  
We couldn't find a tape measure, without true measurements we decided not to tag her.
She swam off along the beach, slow but strong.
.............
In the early evening I noticed my 9/0 slack up, I tightened it, it kept slacking, I reeled like mad, set the hook on & landed a 5'8" TL / 4'6" FL, 120# +/-, female Bull shark.
Tagged her for the Apex Predator Tagging Program and sent her on her way.
Bad thing about this was my 9/0 malfunctioning, I knew it had a potential problem, and sure enough it choked on the shark.
With help from the crew hand lining while I reeled, we got her in.
Bob was nice enough to take my reel home and see if he could find/fix the problem.

I tried a couple of times an thought I had it good to go. Nope.
He even graciously lent me his 9/0 for tomorrow, first rate people we have on this site.
.............
I had another strong hit, but it stole the bait, bare hook reeled in on a whole mullet hooked through the head.
Free meal for some toothy critter...  Mullet was the bait of the day, it got the hits.

DAY TWO

Daron's crew stayed at their Condo to spend a day of their vacations with their wives.
Their wives are happy with shopping, lounging on the beach and whatnot, but needed attention.
Some pier fishing, lunch/dinner, walks on the beach and whatever else married couples do on vacation together.

My son and I hung out at the hotel for the first part of the day, slept in, leisurely breakfast, played in the pool and watched River Monsters on the tube.
We headed out late in the afternoon to meet up with Bob on the Gulf side.
The surf was kicking a bit for my inexperienced kayaking self.

Well... Y'all missed a good belly laugh and prize winning video.
The wind was blowing pretty good from the South East, with what passed for a low tide, combined to generate 2-4' foot shore break that was really close together.
Being relatively inexperienced I tried to get out without baited 20/0 circles hanging on the yak.
Smart move, as I tried and was dumped 6-7 times, I couldn't get my 13' fishing yak out.
Waves kept dragging me in backwards before I could make any headway.
I tried walking out a ways and climbing in, no go, some nice wave would catch me & dump me out.

We looked to fish elsewhere.
But we pussed out, not wanting to haul all the gear out again at the Sound side.
Tried a couple other spots but parking was maxed out.
To the joy of my son we went to dinner, then back to the hotel to play in the pool some more and watch Monster Week on Animal Planet.
After my boy went to sleep, I stayed up watching videos on surf launching kayaks.

DAY THREE

Today my son & I fished the Gulf side in Ft. Pickens by ourselves, everyone else was waiting for nightfall.
I managed to learn a few tips/tricks about surf launching, and I ran baits out several times during the day.
I was only dumped once, coming back in I let the nose dig in on a wave.
Three hits on baits:
One I hooked into & had on for a couple of minutes, but the hooked pulled.
It could well have been a snag on one the big schools of Cownose rays going up & down the beach.
........
One was missed as the fish took all but the head & hook... One big jerk & gone.
........
Another was missed by me an the bait was simply gone when I finally reeled in that evening.
..............
Headed back to P'cola to meet the rest of the guys, and meet a new face from online.
Chris,  very nice to meet you, your fiance and Dad.
Nice to fish with you too, thanks for running the first sets of baits out, and for giving me some protips for surf launching at night.
So, I ran the second round of baits out for us as Chris had to leave early.
Running baits at night can be a little spooky when you know how many sharks are out there.
We stayed until Midnight, no sharks on the sand.
Chris had one hooked up, but it got off.
Then it was just more missed hits & stolen baits.

.................

 

 

 

Video didn't turn out, but we did get a few pics from the first day.
There may be some more coming from the third night.

Daron hooked up


Me ready to tail rope


Shark On The Sand


Back to the water.


Back she goes, a good C&R, wish we'd tagged her.

Edited May 26, 2014 by ChileRelleno

[Spacehog 2,218]

That is awesome! Glad to see you all having fun and being productive. Yak launching with an onslaught of waves can be challenging. Never done it at night, and I am sure that adds to the challenge. The Yak in the pic looks to be the same as mine (Ocean Kayak Prowler 13) which is an awesome Yak, especially for heavy surf. Wish I could be there this weekend. You all hook up, and thanks for the pics and update.

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

Edited May 25, 2014 by ChileRelleno

[jdtravers 637]

Great area!!!   I was born in Pensacola and grew up in Fort Walton Beach/Destin area doing a bunch of night fishing for sharks off the original Ft. Walton Beach, wooden pier, 60s thru early 70s.

 

Chamber of Commerce passed an ordnance banning us from shark fishing.  Tourist didn't like to come out and see a 10-12 foot Hammerhead laid up on the beach in the morning. 

 

Of course there were no tag and release programs back then.  Hell , if it moved we killed it.  Funny how we change as we get older and appreciate the value/life of all species!

 

You guys do a lot of surf fishing and that is a good place.  I miss Pompano fishing!

 

Jack

[IndyArms 10,186]

I dont know much about it...  but seems to me.. you land a fish that size, you ought ta be able to get some SERIOUS fillets ( and fins) off of it, and make a hell of a dinner for everyone!!!!

 

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

If I'd caught & tagged a lot of sharks, and on the last day caught a fat Blacktip, then I would have kept it for our Memorial Day BBQ.

Yep, a lot of fillets or steaks, butcher's choice.  And fresh BT is very tasty on the grill.

Bulls are pretty good too, she was legal to keep, but we were wanting to tag & release...  Sharks for Science.

 

We only put two sharks on the beach in the three days I was there, conditions were not optimal being a Neap tide.

But there are still three guys from our group there & sharking, hopefully they have a better time.

[Ronin38 2,117]

You really jumped the shark with this post, Chile.  

[Spartacus 1,619]

Looked like fun!

 

I was wondering the same thing as Indy.... I'd be thinking Shark Steaks & Cold Beer!   

[ChileRelleno 7,071]