| High Island Surf Report
High Island,
TX
April 16th, 2005
Report by TJ 'Jolly Roger' |
A great sunrise, to be followed by a beautiful day. Weather
was good, waves were small. I got to the beach a lillte before sunrise. Met
Richard along the way. We picked a spot with a small washout in the wade
gut to catch some bait. And boy did we every catch bait. I think we caught
12-15 different species of fish with fresh peeled shrimp a few feet from
the beach. Had plenty of bait, and limited out on small black drum. And was
still catching bull whiting when I stopped to get the kayak ready. Plans
were to fish out of the kayak for the first few hours then surf fish the
rest of the day.
Had a few friends meeting us on the beach. Well eight rolls
around and still no sign of any one else. A few shrimp boats had went by
in easy paddling distance. As the fourth one started coming my way I decide
to paddle out to it. I caught it about 500-600 yards from the beach. Only
problem was there were at least a hundred dolphins behind it. I do not like
dragging a spoon with treble hooks or dropping fresh bait with that many
dolphin around. I do not want to hurt them, plus they can spool a reel in
seconds if snagged. Usually stay away from the boats with that many around,
but did not have any other choices.
As luck would have it the shrimper threw some cull catch over
the back just a few minutes after I got behind him. When I saw this I dropped
anchor. The dolphin school had split, one chasing the boat, another making
a bait ball to my east a few hundred yards. I dropped some bait hoping for
a bite. I was sitting there minding my own business, watching the water for
bait. When a noise close to me made me look around fast. A dolphin had came
up right beside me and had his mouth open about to grab my paddle that was
floating beside me. Luckly when I turned fast it spooked him and he did not
grab it. But that would have been hard to explain, swiming back to the beach
with kayak in tow.
The dolphin cleared out, with tons of tail slaps to let me know
they were not happy. I was debating on throwing the spoon when my clicker
went off.I dropped anchor and slowly move the kayak in the direction the
fish was going. Then pull up hard on the rod. What happened next made me
fell like a young kid again. The blacktip came out of the water, clearing
it by five feet. Spinning three full rotations before hitting the water again
with a huge splash. I was in awe, she was only thirty feet from me. She jumped
seven more times, but each jump not as high as the last. I was moving at
a good rate of speed, much faster then I have ever paddled, away from land.
Slowly gaining back line that was took from me in the arial displays. After
about twenty minutes of hard fighting I get her to the boat. We both are
tired, but I am the one winning. So grab the leader, and the camera. Tried
many times to get her to swim beside the kayak. But each time down she would
go. So the only pic of her is her head, aprox 5'2" overall length.
I was a long way from my anchor bouy, and very tired. Started
slowing paddling back. I decide to chunk some dead bait behind me to troll
with. I made it maybe half way back, and heard a huge splash behind me, and
my rod went slack. Got turned around enough to see the 4+ blacktip going
airbone again. This time with rod in hand and fight on. She jumped at least
five more times. I was gaining line back when she shot up from the bottom
and in a great jump cleared the water and spun around. The only sad part
was I saw my line get wrapped around the pec fin as she started to spin.
So as soon as she hit the water I was broke off. Leason learned. keep line
tight, and rod high when sharks are jumping. Just got lucky the last time.
I got anchored back up, and was having a fun time. Got a new
leader and more bait out. The wait was brief. Clicker started to hum and
I dropped anchor. Got pointed the right way and layed back. When the hook
set, up she came. I was in trouble, this fish was to big and mean for a sane
person to be catching out of a kayak. She did not clear the water, only got
about half the body up. That was enough for me to see the girth and length.
I thought for a second, just a second about cutting the line. I was by myself
and going away from land faster the the one before. But I am an idiot, so
fight on.
Many times in the long battle she would only be swimming at
a slow pace. Saving up her strength for a hard long run. I have no idea how
long I fought this fish, but it was over thirty minutes easy. I learned more
from this one fish then a hundred before. What to do and most important what
not to do. As the fight drug on I started to gain some line. When I got to
the leader she was tierd. I took a few quick pics and cut the leader. Had
her by the dorsal fin with one hand. paddling with the other. Took a few
minutes to get her going, then I touched her with the paddle, she left like
a rocket. This was by far my biggest blacktip.
The pics do not do justice to her size, because I could not
get far enough away to get all of her in the pics. I got a good side shot
to show the girth, but even then some of her is under the kayak. And a head
shot,yes, she was bitting my kayak as I took the pic. I missed her teeth
on my kayak by seconds. I took a measurement off my kayak. She went from
the front of the kayak to the "M" in Scrambler. That measured 6'1", may have
got more with tail stretch.
I paddled back to the beach after the big girl. Thought I was
going to get a break to ctach my wind. But Parrothead and Nathan showed up
and had gotten the directions wrong, were just down the beach from us. They
had already caught two bull red each out of the kayak and were ready to go
out again. So after a few minutes of gear prep out we went. Again the wait
was not long and the rookie was on fire. I must apoligize for my poor picture
taking. Need to put something on my case so the water will not stay on it.
Fight was on..
Nathan with one of his many Bull Reds from the kayak..
Each person got in on the action. Parrethead did not take long before he
was hooked up..
Parrothead with a Bull Red..
Now a few of pics of Bull Reds caught from kayaks by Nathan and parrothead.
Nathan with some Bull Reds
Parrothead with some Bull Reds. He also caught a bunch of Sharpnose Sharks
from the kayak. But we took no pics of them. I will let him tell about the
Tripletail.
They caught alot of Bull Feds from the kayak. I only caught one while fishing
with them, to much time paddling around getting pics.
Jolly Roger with a Bull Red..
After all this fighting and paddleing it was time for a rest. We paddled
back to shore to find Richard in the middle of a fight. He was hooked up
and had been for a long time. Fish fought hard.
Richard with a Jackfish..
After a long day of catching fish we finally get a chance
to relax and sit down. Well maybe not, to nice of a day to spend sitting
around. So Parrothead heads back offshore in the kayak. While I start running
shark baits out. He stays out for about an hour. Soon after he gets back
my 9/0 slcks up. Grab it to only find slack. Reel most of the way in until
I get a pull back. Small fish for a 9/0 but still a good size fish.
Jolly Roger with a 58" Bull Shark..
That was the last fish of the day. It was a great day to be on the beach.
Had a good time with good friends, looking foward until the next trip.
- T.J.
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