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johneod75 · Horse Mullet Joined: 07 Sep 2010 Posts: 108

Well this turned out to be the trip of a lifetime!!! After 2 solid weeks of spending money, prepping gear, making leaders and lots of hard work sharkathon finally arrived. We hit the beach and checked in at 10 a.m. Friday morning and proceeded to about the 41.5mm. We set up camp and put baits in the water immediately. We were fishing with a Daiwa 900 (my first big reel that I purchased last tuesday on the advice of Rocky from Roy's Bait and Tackle), a Penn 9/0, a Newell 646, and a Penn 6/0. All the first drops were on previously frozen skipjack that we took down with us until we caught some fresh bait. Around 2 p.m. we caught a nice large stingray that we quickly cut the wings off and prepped for the afternoon drop. Both the 900 and the 9 were reset with stingray and the Newell got a fresh whole whiting around 5 p.m. Right at sundown the Newell starts screaming and I ran up the tower, tightened the drag, set the hood and it was FISH ON! After about 20 minutes I had my first ever shark landed and I was ecstatic.

The shark was succesfully released and we proceeded to drink beer and celebrate. My brother in law Eric Blacka decided to run the Newell back out and it and the rest of the baits soaked all night. The 900 got picked up and dropped twice during the night with out a hook up and later the line went completely slack. Reeled it in to find that something must have swam mouth open into my line cutting the braid and losing all of my top shot. In the morning we prepped new baits and debated what to do about the 900. The only extra mono we brought down was my buddy Andrew Stensland had bought two 65 yard spools of 80 lb Ande for $3.99 each at HEB. With no other options we spliced them together and put it on the reel. Around noon I took the kayak out for a little BTB just past the 4th bar. At 1 o'clock I look back and see Eric strapped into the 900 standing on the beach with the rod bent hard. I booked it back in and ran up to him and he just looks and me and says "John this is a big f***ing fish." It continuously made slow, strong, steady runs and we walked about 1/2 of a mile down the beach following the fish. As if to totally break my confidence Eric says, "man this fish feels kind of sting rayish." By this time its been over an hour and quite a crowd has gathered to watch the fight. Finally Eric reaches the first splice to the mono and we start watching as we know the fish is only 130 yards out. The second splice makes it onto the rod and as a wave crests on the first bar we see a BIG shark. With a litle more ground gained Andrew and I wade out to meet the fish. I grab the leader and Andrew tail ropes the shark and we get her on the baech. Abunch of quick photos were snapped, the hook cut and we revived the shark and sent her out to be caught again.

We knew that this could be the winning fish and our excitement grew throughout the night as we kept hearing reports that the biggest fish to that point was OZ's 7'2" bull shark. At 5 p.m. we reset all the baits and as the sun was retiring behind the dunes my 900 goes off once again. This time it's Andrew's turn and he brings in another 62" blacktip that was photoed and successfully released.

We turned in our catch logs and anxiously awaited the results. Finally the results are announced and Eric gets called up to receive the first place trophy and winnings. We were all screaming like school girls and took tons of pictures.

This was the greatest fishing trip I've ever had. Our first Sharkathon, my first shark, first place, and the new tournament record Shark!

Tyler · Site Admin Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 12865

Wow what a great report! Sounds like a perfect weekend and the 15 grand extra was icing on the cake.

robul · Full Grown Flour Bluffian Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 2677

awesome!!! congrats!

tug · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:20 am Post subject:

how much was first place
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SurfinSapo · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:47 pm Post subject:

Man that is awesome!!! Enjoy the winnings!!! Very Happy

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OSO YAKMAN · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:14 pm Post subject:

Awesome report Fellas. Thanks for all the pics and CONGRATS on the FIRST PLACE.
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surfdragon · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:53 pm Post subject:

Congrats fellas nice catches. Cool

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2salty4U · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 5:34 am Post subject:

great report and pics

Hoggeman · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:52 am Post subject:

Well done great trip.
Money Fish is always good
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layzday · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:42 pm Post subject:

Damm rookies they have all the luck!!!!! no just kidding congrats good looking fish
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gmc4evar · Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 2:18 pm Post subject:

Congrats guys! I'm waiting for my "trip of a lifetime" still.....