HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[Power Fisherman]

Headed down to South Texas after getting off work Thursday evening.
Hundreds of miles later, I pull up to the Mansfield Pass just before sun rise. Wind was blowing hard from the south/south east. Water was churned up and there were a couple of die hards with a lantern on trying to catch bull reds at the end of the jetty.

Conditions did not look very favorable to say the least. I walked out to the end to see what was going on and learn if there were any jacks out there. No rays, no jacks, no reds. Just a strong wind to drive mosture and salt into your eyes. Well with that kind of a greeting, I just climbed back into my vehicle and did what the big dogs do when conditions get rough, and went to sleep.

Woke several hours later. Hot sun warmed things up and dried things off. Wind must have been blowing 20+mph. Sand was blowing everywhere just like in the old westerns. Climbed out and began setting up and rigging surf rods. While I was sleeping, some new folks came down and joined in the action. They got a couple of nice reds. They were kind enough to let me take their picture. I told them I was going to put their pictures on the internet for the world to see. They were thrilled.


I went out in the surf and cast netted some bait. There were some pony mullet and finger mullet. I baited up and casted a couple of rods out. Also through a bait rod out. Went back to sleep.

Sure was slow. No whiting, no bull reds, no stingray, no gaftops....if only I could get my hands on the magic bait.....Ah......got one. Broke the fins off and cut him about six inches long. I ran the 14/0 circle hook through his tail section. I was ready. The new ocean master rod I had purchased a month ago was ready for the test of tests, could it perform at the mansfield jetties? Strong wind came to my aid. With the wind at my back, the slimy creature was hurled to the deeper waters of the channel.

I placed the rod into the rod holder and sat back in my chair. B'out twenty minutes later, the oceam master doubled over violently and the spinning reel began to scream like a jet engine. I was terrified my new fishing pole might break under such a strain. I reached for my fighting belt and leather gloves. The moment ended nearly as fast as it began. As I held the rod and applied pressure to the spool with my leather glove, the shark spit the bait and the battle was over.

A couple of tourist's ran up to see what was going on. There were two fishermen packing up their truck, fairly close to me. They saw the violent pickup. They asked what could have taken my line with such ferocity. I asked them to stay, for I was crewless and needed help to battle such beasts as those living in the Mansfield Channel. If they wanted to see for themselves what was in that channel, I would show them.


We set to work fishing for bait. I caught a sand trout and casted it out into the distance. One of the fisherman produced a fantastic hard head. We carefully broke the spines off and cut the tail to bleed. He looked like the little hardhead that could as I put the 14/0 circle hook through his tail section and hung him on the weight to be cast out. The ocean master effortlessly sent him far away. Now with two rods working, it was time to wait and see. So we waited....and waited....and watched... and waited......but dispair did not take the moment as the hardhead got jumped, the rod bolted forward and down, and the reel screamed.


I was ready for this one. Carefully removed the rod from the rod holder, put the butt in the belly plate, and stuck him hard. Shark had power, and ran for the gulf. As seconds passed, the spool was being dumped at a rapid rate. The shark starts to slow a little after about 100 yards of drag. I hoped he would slow down so I could try to turn him back into the channel. As I would try to put pressure on him by cupping the spool with my hand, he would shake his head and burn more line. Finally he slowed and lost enough momentum where I could risk forcing him to turn.

He slowly came back accross the channel from my right to left, swimming hard and using the current against me. After about fifteen minutes of pumping and reeling hard, I fought him to the top of the water about 10 yards from the edge of the rocks. I was amazed to see the blacktip on the dorsal. He looked strong and powerful. Quite a little crowd had gathered. My two new fishing buddies helped me land, measure, photo, and release the shark. At 5'10" it was a fine catch. He took me about 15 minutes.


Well that is not all, oh.....that is not all. As I was pulling the hook from the 5'10" blacktip, the next rod goes off. I can't get to it quickly, so it just runs and runs and runs. It's a diawa sealine HV 50 and it's got about 400 yards of 25#. I asked one of the guys helping me to run over there and slow that shark down for me. He tightens the drag down and starts trying to put line on the reel. Shark puts it in high gear and breaks the line before he makes several wraps on the spool. Last time I will ever use 25# line on a shark rig.

Well my pals were impressed. A lot of people tell you what they catch, but it's funny when you call your catch, and make that catch. We sat down and had a drink. They had their beer; I drank a coke and then a big red. Sure was funny. They said they never saw a scrap like that before. Well all that action happened within an hour. It looked like the lights were green all the way to town and this was going to be the trip of trips.

I sat out to catch more bait......but no more hardheads.....I watched the other fishermen in hopes of procuring another hardhead....but the jetty was quiet. Seaweed was a problem. There was grass in the channel from the bay. You could cast out and fifteen minutes later your rigs would start to drift. The wind continued to blow and the action slowed down. I watched for stingrays and jackfish to use for bait. No one was catching anything.

With the onset of evening, the redfish action picked up. Several people landed bull reds of shrimp. Funny as the reds were not hitting fresh mullet, but shrimp instead. I continued fishing the channel for bait and it was slow, a whiting here, and undersized hardhead there, a little gafftop....but somthing really sexy. I caught a pony mullet and put it under a tarpon float in front of my position with the day coming to a close. As the sun set, I rebaited and casted several surf rods out, not to hear a click from anyone of them. I slept next to my rods.


Next morning, I woke up early.Wind was still blowing a little, but the surf seemed much calmer. Walked the jetty and the action was slow. No one was catching jacks or rays. The guys on the end were catching a few bull reds. I went back to my rods and casted out, changed bait every hour, and sat on the jetty. I was very rested by now. Action was slow. I saw some jetty warriors set up on the other side of mansfield.


I met another nice guy named Manuel. We talked about fishing. He used to fish for Jewfish on the Boca Chica Pass jetties. Very sharp guy. He said Mansfield was too shallow to be a good grouper spot. He said the jetties south are much deeper and the action is great on the south jetty side. Told me how to rig for Jewfish using a railroad spike for a weight. Railroad spike would be tied to the rig with 30# line so it would break free.



As we talked, my surf rod final bounced hard and there was another fish on. Reeled in a nice bull red. Poped the hook shot the picture, and dropped him back in the channel. Few hours later Brian showed up. He went back behind the jetties to catch some large whiting or stingrays to run out. He returned at dusk with bait.

After the sun set, we rigged baits and got ready for the evening fun. I lit a lantern and positioned it so I could see where I was my launch point was while I was in the channel. I yakked out into the channel with two rigs for Brian. About 75 yards into the channel, I came into the breakers and it was pretty rough. There were a few 7' swells in there and it was a little hairy dropping the bait with only a scrawny headlight to see what I was doing. Current was outbound and pulled me strongly as I tried to get back to my launching point. I ran two more baits out for myself with really heavy weights. We were both tired, so we relaxed watching the rods. About 10:00 my 12/0 starts rolling. The lightstick moves out about thirty yards and stops. Must have missed the hook. We left the baits out another hour. I packed up, and decided to head home to see my family Sunday morning.

It was a strange trip. The water is still very warm. At 82 degrees, the water is still the same temp as it usually is in early June. Fall fishing has not really started. I was looking for a ten shark trip, and some tarpon. I fished mansfield last year this time and got seven sharks and jumped two tarpon in a trip with only a little more than one fishing day on the jetty. Well I did get one really nice Blacktip, and enjoyed a very memorable fight, up there with some of the other good catches. Got a bonus redfish too.


While the baits were out saturday night, Brian and I talked about fishing the Jetty's and how it is so different than the beach. Brian said 50# test monofilament line is the very minimum for fishing a jetty. On a jetty you have to put an incredible amount of pressure on the fish or you will lose it to the rocks. If you slack off one second, you will lose your catch to the rocks. You have to fight the fish hard and force him to the surface beyond the rocks before landing him. If your shark comes to the top within five feet of the rocks, you were not not aggessive enough. You need the 50# line and you need to use all of it's strength to subdue your catch. This means fishing with a belly plate just like you were going for tuna. When you get a 7' footer, you will need that heavy line and the belly plate to be able to lift him to the top out in front of the rocks. When you make a catch like that, under those conditions, you will never forget it. Hope you guys enjoyed the report.

Deaver
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SHARK FISHING HANDBOOK: http://groups.msn.com/TEXASSHARKFISHING/homepage.msnw

[Dexter]

Great report. Been there and haven't done that but I have caught a Kingfish from those jetties back in 1972.
Dexter

[Terminator64]

Thanks for the report and pictures nice to hear about PINS port mansfield.jetties . debated about going to pins today 10-27-04 the winds made up my mind to fish behind the island to shelter me from strong winds. still turned out to be a great day, for me and my buddies.we caught seven reds and two trout. nice catches on your behalf. AWSOME BLACK TIP AND RED. " Terminator"....

[mando]

so the "magic bait" was hard heads huh. very cool report nice shark
btw: your site has some excelent info, great work.

[Power Fisherman]

Hardheads, lol.

You never know your luck with a hardhead. I've seen hardheads get his when we could not get other bait. Kcon got a nice 150# Jewfish on a hardhead one time. I've seen Jeff Gibson catch many sharks on hardheads.

You just never know your luck.

Deaver
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SHARK FISHING HANDBOOK: http://groups.msn.com/TEXASSHARKFISHING/homepage.msnw

[Skipjack]

Yeah, hardheads have been a strange bait for me as well.

Last trip out, my English friend caught a hardhead and asked what it was. I told him it was good bait. He wanted to eat it...hahaha..

So, we put it out in the third gut and in 30 minutes we had a hit on it.
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-Skip

[SurfRunner]

[Skipjack]

hahahaha...Well funny story actually.

See it was last August of 2003. We were catching Skipjack like it was going out of style. Every cast. We must have caught over 200 of them and I probably lost 20 lures. Anyways, I had so many in the ice chest for shark bait that I figured....Hey ya know, if these are not that bad to eat, the way we are catching them I might just fillet some more of them out.

So, My curious mind that was controlled by my stomach decided to fillet up a skipjack and put it over a hot fire. Then minutes later I tried Skipjack for the first time.

And its not that bad to tell you the truth. Although, I was really hungry....

BeachBum named me Skipjack and I have had the handle ever since.

Where has my good friend David Williams gone? Maybe I should give him a call.
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-Skip

[rabbit]

What jetty were you fishing from the north side or the south? Nice pics
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Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

[Kyle aka Kcon]

He was fishing the south side. Nice report Deaver..............Kyle

[rabbit]

Thats what I thought. But I have never been down there so I wasnt sure. Thanks.
_________________
Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.