| Chandeleur Islands Surf Report
Louisiana
June 30th-July 2nd, 2009
Report by 'Curmit' |
Well better late than never applies here I guess. Upon returning from
the trip we all went different directions and it took a while to get all
the pictures in one place. Kip and I left for work out of state, Kip is in
Alaska working and fishing for Salmon Sharks, I am in Louisiana on a rig.
Shindle is hanging out near some granite lumps near Fredericksburg, Pat is
back in Kentucky and Trevor is back at home.
Once again we went on another grand adventure aboard the “Double
Trouble” with Capt. Troy to the Chandeleur Islands. With the hope of
being allowed to fish at night we were pretty excited to see what would happen.
Here is everyone loading up the Double Trouble
When we arrived it was quickly obvious that last years hurricanes
had left their mark and the islands did not look quite the same from last
year. After trying to find a cut deep enough to get the boats out we found
our same spot from last year. Things were looking promising when while scouting
a possible cut Kip and I came across a small lemon in the shallows cruising
around.
We set up camp and began spreading out all of our rods when the first
thing to happen was a visitor came to visit my rod I had just put on the
end of camp.
I had noticed turtle tracks in the sand past my rod but had no idea
they were going to be added to within a few short minutes of me seeing them.
We hung out with turtle for a few minutes and snapped some pics
We went back to work getting the massive spread of rods out into the
gulf and before too long Shindle had a nice run but ended up spitting the
hook on him before he could get it in.
Before long there were sharks coming in up and down the beach.
Shindle got the biggest shark of the day with a healthy 6+ bull
Due to weather we were unable to fish the beach at night on the first
chance and we all went back to the boat for some rest before we started the
marathon of fishing day and night.
The first day out we got to the beach a little late for the bluefish
run but on day #2 we were there and ready. I grabbed a rod, one lure, and
nothing else and started chasing fish down the beach. Everyone was getting
into the action and since Kip and I really had no bait I went to town on
the bluefish until number 15. Due to having no pliers or any tool to use
to gets hooks out I had been having a bit of fun getting topwaters out of
the bluefish’s mouth without hurting myself, well until #15. Last year
I got shark rashed pretty badly and had to endure the trip with torn up ankles
and well I guess a tradition has begun, because I damn near had a good chunk
of the tip of my finger bitten off while trying to remove hooks from #15’s
mouth. Here are some house of pain pics of what should not have happened.
Luckily it was not as bad as it looks although the chunk once cut
out was big enough to entice Shindle to tell me to put it on a hook as bait
to see what I could catch. No I didn’t do it, actually I forgot about
it while trying to get the first aid session done on my finger with the retired
EMT Trevor.
Fishing began up and down the camp, we had bait and the long lines
began getting deployed.
Shindle caught a big needlefish which was out of the ordinary for
our spot no one had caught one here yet.
Camp was spread out over a couple hundred yards with Big Ben, Little
Ben, & Mike down on one end.
The long rods were relatively quiet for the day but Shindle did have
a couple of nice runs and here is captured the elusive Shindle smile while
the fish is still tugging on his line.
Shortly after the picture was taken it was dropped which was the bulk
of the story on all the long deployments.
The casted rods began going off and I started staying busy with sharks
on my end and I could hear Trevor & Pat hollering down at the other end.
While doing something else Kip saw one of my rods bounce and reeled
in this hungry redfish that hit a chunk of stingray
Casted rods kept going off and a decent bull grabbed one of my rods.
Pat had a nice lemon a short while later
Everyone headed back to the mothership in the early afternoon to get
out of the heat and prepare for that nights fishing except Kip and I. We
were still working on getting rods in and taking our time about it while
keeping some baits in the water.
My spinning rod on the very end of camp had spent over an hour soaking
a skipjack head and for all practical purposes I had abandoned hope of any
bait being left on it. I had been getting stripped clean pretty quickly all
day and figured I would get to it in a little while.
Shortly before I was ready to go get it I hear my shark alarm go screaming
and I start to run towards it but slow down when the pulling seems weak based
on the bend in the rod. I figured another typical blacktip and there was
no need to hurry my custom circle hooks were doing the job on everything
else.
As soon as I grabbed the rod and threw a couple of hooksets into it
things began to change, drag began to start peeling off at a rate above average
and for the first 15 minutes all I did was lose line. I cranked the drag
as far as I dared and started working it as hard as I could and got whatever
was out there to stop finally. I finally started getting some line back and
began using the rod holder as a fighting gimbal.
30 minutes of tug-of-war using about 200 yards of line as our playing
field finally had me gaining some line that I was not losing back to water.
We could see the line going back and forth near a bar out in front of us
but no signs of what it was. We had caught some monster rays here and they
fought like fish and I really had reservations about a huge ray being on
my line when we finally saw a dorsal.
After a little over an hour I worked the shark over the bars pulling
as hard as I dared and she finally got into the wade gut in front of us and
the first good glimpse had me yelling at Kip to get a tailrope and to please
not lose it while applying said tailrope to said tail.
Kip quickly got it roped up and I could finally breathe a sigh of
relief that nothing had failed. The spinning reel had performed perfectly,
and the rod had been getting a workout but most importantly my 8 foot casting
leader had survived a 9 foot lemon shark without getting cut by a tail whack.
Strangely enough she knew who caught her cause Kip was able to walk
all around her with no reaction and when I go close she was pissed. While
trying to get a good picture she went ballistic and tried to get me.
She got me with her tail across my back about a half a second after
that shot was taken by Kip and snapped her mouth shut only a foot or two
in front of me. That was the end of posing for pictures and we got her back
in the water, I didn’t want to push my luck any further, I was already
missing a portion of one finger to a little fish.
Once in deeper water she tried to act up but without much effort the
most rewarding part of catching this shark was quickly over and she was released.
Sadly that was the end of the big fish action for the trip, we fished
that night without any hookups, some runs but no results from all the big
gear we deployed. The water may just be too shallow to put long distance
baits out and not expect to get chopped off by the small sharks up close
swimming into the lines.
Here’s a few more pics
A monster ray obviously mad about the fact that it is about to become bait.
Pat with another one from the other end of camp
I heard the other end of camp getting a bit rowdy and they started
talking about quantity of them versus us and so I switched out to small shark
leaders and started casting from the beach and in about 3 hours I had 11
small sharks all about the same as the pic below. Kip was getting cranky
towards the end having to follow me around from rod to rod but it was fun
catching a bunch quickly like that. I finally gave up and went to hang out
down south with the others while Kip got some sleep.
Last year on the last day Kip and I had to get towed back to the
mothership and without fail as I pulled on the starter cord for us to head
back for the last time I quickly snapped the rope and our ride back was a
bit more interesting with the tow thru the surf full of gear.
 ]
Here are a bunch of pics from the rest of camp but I don’t know
the stories on the catches so I am putting them up here for Trevor, Pat,
and the Bens.
Gargullio did make an appearance but I don’t think I ever even
saw him but I heard the stories of him fire walking down at the other end
of camp and well here are the pictures.
It was another great adventure with great friends and looking forward
to the next adventure we can do together.
- Curmit and Crew
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