| The week and a half had provided for incredible pre-spring
surf conditions. While I couldn't get out there earlier in the week, I planned
on going down for a day to see if I could get into any action. Brent
'CrownRoyal55' showed an interested in going down and I offered him to come
hang out and soak some baits for the day. We left the RSM at 0400 hours and
was on the beach just before 5am. Our goal was to head down and find a nice
area of clean water. Unfortunately we did not know it were to be such a task.
We began to see new and fresh weed all over the beach and kept on going south.
We drove down and somewhere around the turtle shack the sun came up and we
begun to see the extent of the widely spread weed making its way on the shore.
We continued to go further south and kept looking and looking
and looking. It seemed the further south you went the worst the conditions.
We drove around and around 9am finally came to a spot that while still contained
random weed and debris in the current, we thought we'd duke it out anyway.
We set up camp and begin catching smaller baits such as Whiting and Pompano.
After a while I rig up a couple baits including this whole cownose and soon
deploy.
It took an active effort to maintain the lines free of grass
so not to get them wiped out. After about an hour the ray gets blasted and
can see the shark creating havoc on the surface several hundred yards out.
After a short run he drops the bait... tough loss on a large
shark. After a few minutes I run another bait and go out and check
on the previous ray. Upon inspection nearly a fist sized chunk of the head
remained with large teeth marks evident. I bring in that bait and run another
out.
We finally get another run in the late morning by a smaller
shark in the 2nd gut. Right off the bat it explodes at the surface and rises
a couple more times before scaring a large cownose or eagle ray to go aerial
a couple times. After a couple minutes we get the shark in.
The Blacktip had picked up a fresh Whiting (the most under-rated
springtime bait for larger sharks) and was barely hooked around the inner
gums of the jaw.
A quick pic and the younger mature female is released to perhaps
give her first litter of pups in the coming weeks.
Things were off and on and after a couple missed runs on yakked
baits, Brent hooks up on a good fish from a casted bait.
The shark was stubborn and after thinking it were maybe a Bull,
Brent finally gets it over the first bar and we see it is a decent Sandbar.
In between rigging another bait, I run back over there and leader the solid
6'7" Sandbar. Congrats the Brent on his first Sandbar... a fine fish for
a cast bait in the first on a Jigmaster!. A couple pics and she is tagged
and released.
We go through the remainder of the day catching king-sized Whiting..
a couple get re-deployed. Around sunset Brent packs it up and is about to
go home when my 450 in the 2nd gut absolutely starts to smoke for the horizon.
After 20 minutes and about an additional 300 yards of 80# braid later I finally
get the shark turned. As soon as I had him turned, I knew unless a disaster
occurred, I had 'em.
Roughly 10-15 Minutes later we get the shark just on the other
side of the bar not wanting to come over.. finally while fighting the truck
on top of the truck to prevent any abrasion on the bar, we get our first
glimpse of the beast. The shark would swim up on the surface just on the
other side of the bar with a very large and broad dorsal exposed.. the
incredible feeling to see this was awesome and this was another monster Sandbar
Shark. I finally get the shark over the bar and after a couple minutes
Brent leaders the fish. An absolute beast and at 7'3" perhaps my largest
Sandbar in terms of shear mass and girth.
A couple quick pics and a tag insertion and the shark is about ready for
release.
After a hellacious fight another estimated 200lb Sandbar gets released.
After that shark Brent finally decides to leave for real and
lets me run that previous bait back out. I am left alone to contend with
any sharks from this point on. 4 Baits are currently out and will soon discover
how bad the sargassum weed affects the lines. It is almost instantaneous
and the weed is creating havoc on the lines. Every few minutes I have to
wade out in the water and clear the lines. It finally gets minimal for a
couple hours but still very present.
With having to be back at the blacktop for the Big Shell Beach
Clean-up in the morning, I try to get a couple hours of sleep. About an hour
into my scheduled nap the same reel, a Daiwa 450 gets smoked again. I jump
on in the back of the truck and hang on as line is disappearing like with
the previous fish. By now the drag on the reel is @%*$#&! I finally get
the shark over the first bar but is acting very strange. I wade out and grab
the leader to find out that while it is indeed another Sandbar, it is the
predecessor's smaller 6'7" brother. The shark went after the bait but got
hooked into the pectoral fin making for a stressful battle. Fortunately the
hook came out relatively easy and after a quick picture I tag and release
another Sandbar Shark.. my 4th Sandbar over 6-1/2' this year.
The shark gets released and I end up casting a bait out in 1st
gut only to get weeded out within the hour on two lines. Another hour
passes and another line is weeded out. Around 1:30am I bring in the
final bait and call it a day. It was a slow 3 hour ride back to the blacktop
with very poor driving conditions over most of the beach. I took it slow
and carefully due to hidden objects and debris that are abundant in the washed
up weed since I obtained two flats on the previous trip.
The next morning for the cleanup despite landing several quality sharks,
I wished perhaps I would have fished in the low 20's due to beautiful fishy
water with Jacks working the 1st gut for several miles. Regardless, it was
a fun adventure and congrats to Brent on his Sandbar and thanks for hanging
out when you did. We had a perfect weather pattern for almost two weeks...
and now the normal springtime weather pattern is approaching and don't see
another promising 'window' with clear skies and calm winds for at least several
more days, but when it does, i'm sure you can find me down there searching
for the Scalloped Hammerheads.
Hope to get back out on the sand soon....
- Oz
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