WOW!!!
What a night. With the great surf conditions, I just had to take a run to VC to have a try at some more 7's. As it turns out, I am so very glad that I did. there was as much tidal movement as I would have liked, but when the surf gods give you less than a 1 foot swell/surf, you just can't ignore the call. Unfortunately, I had to fly solo as I had 2 friends who were unable to join me tonite.
Conditions were great, mild current, mild surf and no weeds.
On the drive out, I was glad to see that there was cloud cover starting just south of where I was heading. I was hoping this meant few people at this beach today, and I was right. I was able to setup as soon as I parked the Jeep. I had a line in the water by 7pm and was hoping for an early grinner for a good pic. Alas it wasn't to be.
I was getting a bit less optimistic as I had 2 rods for about 1.5 hours with nary a nibble, just some crab picked bait to show.
Around 8:30 ish, I decided to pop on some glows on my rods before it got pitch black. I get the glow on the closest rod, walk over to the further rod, stretch it out, put the glow on and just about dropped the rig in the sand as I get good thump. My heart starts pumping as I slowly get the rod back into an upright position and, thump thump. I give it a little slack and feel something pull the slack out. Alright I think, time to get busy. I reel down, tighten the drag then slowly pull back to set the circle and am rewarded with the head shakes I'm looking for. Alright, fish-on! The shark makes a short run, then starts the classic side to side swimming back and forth along the beach. I finally get him in the skinny, since I'm solo this trip again, I place the rod in my spike, loosen the drag and make a sprint to the surf to grab the shock leader. I make the solo tail grab and have to keep jumping my feet out of the way as this guys pretty feisty. Pretty happy for myself, I get the hook out and start working the tape back until the tail reads 89 inches. Awesome, a new PB by an inch. Ok, now I gotta do the tail dance again and get him safely back in the water and watch as he sinuously makes his way out past the surf. Give myself a pat on the back for a job well done.
89 inch - male
Alright get the rod back working, sit down and make a few txt's to my buddy's that couldn't make it. Sean congratulates me and tells me to go get another one. Little did he know that I would literally do just that and then some.
30 minutes go by, and the same rod goes Thumpitty Thump, and then a slow run gets my clicker going, zzzzzzzzzzz! I jump up and grab the rod and get the circle set, FISH ON! Alright, feel the head shakes and think YES! Another of the right kind. This one feels a little smaller than the last one. I'm thinking, it's ok, any grinner is better than no grinner, right? Boy, was I wrong about the size, Just as I can tell the toothy one is getting close to the shore, she finally remembers how to fight and powers herself straight out about 50 yds against my locked Fathom 30 drag. She does this last minute power run 2 more times before I can see her in the surf and hear her tail slapping like a giant bats wing flaps. Ok, now for the tail grab, rod in the spike, loosen the drag and a sprint down to the waters edge. Once I got a good look at the size of her, I felt like running back up the beach to get away from the monster. I grab the tail, wait for a wave to give a hand and pull.....I almost put my back out and felt like I was gonna pop my shoulder out of place. Oh my gaud! This B**** is heavy. In the end, I couldnt get her past the upper reach of the incoming waves. Without the water to help, I just couldn't budge her. This one took a little longer to get the hook out, she just kept lifting her head and snapping at me. This was literally the first shark I was really afraid of.
I get up the nerve to start the 1 man taping endeavor, and successfully finished with both hands and both feet intact. I conservatively got her taped at 107" of mean B****. I think she might have gone an inch or two bigger had I been able to do a better job. It took me about 5 minutes to get her to go in the right direction towards deeper water. I swear she was intent on taking a piece of me with her everytime I got her in the water.
107 inch - female
Took a 15 minute rest and watched some fool kayakers trying to launch in the dark until they finally gave up. Its about 10pm now and need to pull the rods at 10:30. I decide to keep using the lucky rod and move it to my closer spike, bait up with another bonito chunk and get it set. Make a few more txts while I catch my breath. At 10:18pm I get the buzzer beater Thump Thump. This one was at little anticlimatic. I decided not to tape this one, but estimate it was in the mid to high 70's. this was hooked further up from the corner of the mouth than the circles usually catch. It was close to this little girls right eye, I had a heck of a time getting the hook out, as the eye of the hook kept wanting to poke her in her eye and I was trying to be very careful to not damage it. Once I got the hook out, she started bleeding somewhat from the wound in her mouth. I decide just to get her back in the water as quickly as possible, so no pic and no tape on this one.
For the record, all 3 hit Bonito, nothing on mac tonight.
89" - Male (claspers were not engorged on this one, breeding season over maybe?)
107" - Female
75" - Female (size estimated)
