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Cameron and I have been itching to do some offshore fishing. We were hoping that yesterday was day to do it. The morning surf and water looked excellent as we started our trek to Surfside. Once we got there though, the winds had picked up and the once glass and green surf had turned a bit rough and sandy. This eliminated the near shore rigs from our plan. We stayed around the jetty and chased a school of smacks for a bit, but they soon disappeared. We had very few options. Cameron suggested we get on the south jetty beach side (which was initially protected from the wind) and do some drifts for anything we could get.
We made only two drifts that day. We were around a mile and half from the beach drifting parallel to a small depth change. Water, while a bit rough was green blue with signs of bait right under the surface every once in a while. We used the anchor as our drift sock and we set out unweighted lines with spanish sardines as bait. It wasn't long before one of the clickers went off.
The sound of a screaming drag always gets the blood pumping. Out here, having no idea what we would get, just made it that more exciting. Pull the rod out and set the hook, a 40-50 pound spinner shark jumps out of the water 40 ft from the boat and makes a blistering run. The shark jumps again shaking its head...and throws the hook. While I was upset that I lost the shark, I was stoked to see such a sight. The whole day we had actions on shark on that ledge. Every 15-20 minutes, a rod would go off and we were excited to find out what we had. Was it a 2ft sharpnose? A 4 ft blacktip? Or something bigger? We ended up keeping a 4 ft blacktip that I caught. It was a nice sized on that went over 40 pounds. It was by far my biggest fish. Cameron held out hope that he would catch something bigger. Our first drift we hooked over 25 sharks. But there were better things to come.
We started a second drift and it was by far the best. We drifted a little further out and while setting out our lines, we saw a large shark, larger than any we have hooked up with, just breach the surface, mouth full of water and bait. Drag starts ripping on one of the rods. It turns out to be a decent 3 ft sharpnose. Another shark busts behind our boat. My rod gets slammed and the drag starts ripping. Cameron and I both see a 100+ pound spinner shark bust out in the distance shaking its head. I try to gain line as the shark makes a blistering run. I can just barely see the mono backing...shark comes off.
Then Cameron's rod goes off and we see another spinner break the surface. This time the shark doesn't come off. Cameron immediately puts the reel on max drag realizing the shark is more than enough to spool his 400 Calcutta. Even then, he has to thumb the spool every so often to slow down the blistering runs. After half an hour of fighting the fish, and a few aerial acrobatics, the shark finally gets near the boat. It was huge! We then realized that we had no way of getting the shark into the boat without getting hurt. The shark wasn't green any more, but at any moment, we had to stay aware of it's movements. A few times it made blistering runs away from the boat. Unfortunately, in all the commotion, our gaff had mysteriously disappeared. So that was out of the running. After evaluating our options, Cameron had the idea to make a lasso and put it around the tail. A few times the shark came close but at the last second pulled away. After 4 or 5 passes, I finally got the lasso around the tail. Step on was complete.
Step two was to pull the shark in. We had cleared a space for the shark so it wouldn't destroy our stuff. My first attempt, I pulled the shark's tail over into the boat. The shark started thrashing and peeled off into the water. I held onto the rope and slowed him down. Attempt two, same thing. Attempt three, the shark was tiring but still thrashed when pulled up. Attempt four, I finally pulled the shark up into the boat. An hour and 20 minutes after hook up, Cameron's shark was caught. After a round of high fives and such we identified the shark as a spinner and measured it to make sure it met the required length and such. This was by far the most fun trip I had. Just the excitement mad it worth while. Pics to come!
We made only two drifts that day. We were around a mile and half from the beach drifting parallel to a small depth change. Water, while a bit rough was green blue with signs of bait right under the surface every once in a while. We used the anchor as our drift sock and we set out unweighted lines with spanish sardines as bait. It wasn't long before one of the clickers went off.
The sound of a screaming drag always gets the blood pumping. Out here, having no idea what we would get, just made it that more exciting. Pull the rod out and set the hook, a 40-50 pound spinner shark jumps out of the water 40 ft from the boat and makes a blistering run. The shark jumps again shaking its head...and throws the hook. While I was upset that I lost the shark, I was stoked to see such a sight. The whole day we had actions on shark on that ledge. Every 15-20 minutes, a rod would go off and we were excited to find out what we had. Was it a 2ft sharpnose? A 4 ft blacktip? Or something bigger? We ended up keeping a 4 ft blacktip that I caught. It was a nice sized on that went over 40 pounds. It was by far my biggest fish. Cameron held out hope that he would catch something bigger. Our first drift we hooked over 25 sharks. But there were better things to come.
We started a second drift and it was by far the best. We drifted a little further out and while setting out our lines, we saw a large shark, larger than any we have hooked up with, just breach the surface, mouth full of water and bait. Drag starts ripping on one of the rods. It turns out to be a decent 3 ft sharpnose. Another shark busts behind our boat. My rod gets slammed and the drag starts ripping. Cameron and I both see a 100+ pound spinner shark bust out in the distance shaking its head. I try to gain line as the shark makes a blistering run. I can just barely see the mono backing...shark comes off.
Then Cameron's rod goes off and we see another spinner break the surface. This time the shark doesn't come off. Cameron immediately puts the reel on max drag realizing the shark is more than enough to spool his 400 Calcutta. Even then, he has to thumb the spool every so often to slow down the blistering runs. After half an hour of fighting the fish, and a few aerial acrobatics, the shark finally gets near the boat. It was huge! We then realized that we had no way of getting the shark into the boat without getting hurt. The shark wasn't green any more, but at any moment, we had to stay aware of it's movements. A few times it made blistering runs away from the boat. Unfortunately, in all the commotion, our gaff had mysteriously disappeared. So that was out of the running. After evaluating our options, Cameron had the idea to make a lasso and put it around the tail. A few times the shark came close but at the last second pulled away. After 4 or 5 passes, I finally got the lasso around the tail. Step on was complete.
Step two was to pull the shark in. We had cleared a space for the shark so it wouldn't destroy our stuff. My first attempt, I pulled the shark's tail over into the boat. The shark started thrashing and peeled off into the water. I held onto the rope and slowed him down. Attempt two, same thing. Attempt three, the shark was tiring but still thrashed when pulled up. Attempt four, I finally pulled the shark up into the boat. An hour and 20 minutes after hook up, Cameron's shark was caught. After a round of high fives and such we identified the shark as a spinner and measured it to make sure it met the required length and such. This was by far the most fun trip I had. Just the excitement mad it worth while. Pics to come!
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