With the 8pm high tide on Thursday Mike and I knew that we would needed to get on the sand sooner then our normal hours of operation. Unfortunately, Mike had family obligations so he couldn't get on the sand until 9pm. Luckly I was able to get thing done early at home and had lines in the water by 6pm. The conditions were pretty good, small 1-3 feet waves with not much salad to speak of in the water.
A little overcast but not too cold.
After about an hour of soaking a few baits with nothing but critter bites, I notice that my rod does a small bounce like I've got a bug on the line. I pick up the rod and I feel a couple more small tugs on the line. I set the drag and do a quick hook set and then the lines peels off and I can see tail slaps on the surface where my line disappears into the water. It's seldom that I get to fish during daylight, so it was a treat to see the take down. After a short run the hook gets unbuttoned and I'm bummed I couldn't seal the deal for a day light grinner.
A couple of hours goes by with not much action. Around 9pm the tide has already switched to outgoing and Mike finally makes an appearance with his new de-hooker that he made. As we are talking about his recent graveyard shark session this week my line does a small dip and bounce. I pick up the rod and set the drag again and do a quick hook set. I feel weight on the line and the fish takes off and does a tail slap that Mike saw. It does a few head shakes and runs north about 30 yards. I tighten the drag and get the fish to turn back toward me and I slowly make progress on the fish. When we get it into the surf we see it's a male 7gill with some attitude. Every time Mike goes for a tail grab it does a 180 degree turn and tries to bite it's tail. Mike is excited to get to use his new de-hooker and it works like a charm on the first attempt. The shark measures out to be 81" long and pretty thick.
Caught on center cut Mac.
We stayed until 11pm but that was all she wrote. Getting closer to breaking into the 20's
