Man, it's becoming a long wait until dark these days to fish, so Steve and I hit the bar to figure out a plan. The Casino or Soup Kitchen were in mind, but before long we were deep into the double margaritas and decided to fish in-between our target spots and try a new stretch of sand as it was much closer and easier to walk to considering it would be driving in either directions.
Steve's first cast busted off on reef or big kelp. Not really sure, but it broke way too easy. I was still trying to tie up my gear when he cast another rig out. Before I could even get my first cast out, he busted off again.... Oh boy, this wasn't starting out good...
Squatch decided to just hang out for a while to get hydrated which definitely lifted my spirits that he wasn't just going to bail after waiting out the light hours. I had a second rod with me, so gave Squatch use of it to at least keep him fishing for a while so we could get some fishing time in.
Probably 10 minutes into my first soak and I get a good hit.. Definitely shark on!
After a short battle with the drag buttoned, I got this beautiful male 80" Sevengill on the beach! BooYaa!!!
Incoming tide... minimal weeds, but there definitely was some monster kelp strands lurking. Got him on the 99 Ranch Mackerel head.
That shark just put me in the shark list lead over Squatch after trailing for over a year. I'm just happy he didn't cut it loose before I could get a picture!
Squatch was pretty happy he was at least fishing and had a chance. I pinned on an old ass Bullet Tuna head that I got from Jim last summer and wasn't sure if that mushy stinky head would catch anything. Probably an hour into the start of our fishing, my reel started singing again!
BOOM! I knew it wasn't a Sevengill, but thought it was going to be a bigger model due to the fight, but turned out to be a feisty 69" Soupfin! I've never got a Soupfin AND a Sevengill in one session, so I was stoked!
Steve wasn't as stoked as he was now down two fish on the big list....
We started to get a bunch of bass hits and I was burning through bait pretty quick when I get slammed again! This time, he didn't stick and I missed him but he was definitely a target species we were looking for!
I lop off the last Bullet Tuna head and heave that huge bait as far as I could cast it. Steve at this point was getting a little awnry as he was not getting any bigger hits and we were only 20 feet apart from one another. I was just about to take a seat when ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!
#3 took the bait and I was battling another Soupie! Steve gave me the stink eye, but was a great sand hand and helped drag him up the sand for me. This girl was a few inches smaller, but pretty damn fat! Just small/big enough to hold for a picture with a lot of effort.
67"
It was a blurry shot, but we had to get her back quick as possible.
In any case, the water, adrenaline and time on the beach cleared our senses and we called it quits at the top of the tide. I don't think I've ever caught 3 target sharks in one session before and was one leopard shark away from the slam!
Well, if you couldn't tell I am stoked and went 3 up on the big board which makes me smile even more.
Thanks again Steve and get some new braid on your reel! Always a pleasure and especially fishing the back pocket/pocket spot!
Thanks for reading!
