Corpusfishing.com

[jagarcia10]

After being in South Korea on business for the past six months I finally took a vacation to head back home and do some shark fishing! I had picked my vacation days about 2 weeks in advance so I was hoping within that time the surf and seaweed wouldn't crash my plans. As soon as I landed I started preparations, the plan was to pick up my dog Ares and the new beach truck from Team KeepItReel Captain and friend Grant aka Greatwhite. Easter Sunday I had to head down to Corpus for a family together so I loaded the gear and headed south with hopes hitting the beach late Sunday night after all the festivities. Note that you can tell which pics I took and which ones my dad took. He isn't very good with the camera so apologies for some of the pics.





Thanks to Cody and Nick for the valuable intel on conditions along the coast, I was able to make a last minute decision on what beach to fish. Accompanying me would be my long lost fishing partner Ares and my dad which would only be his second time shark fishing. We arrived around midnight just as the moon was coming out. Having a dark orange color to it the moon looked freaking awesome!







With jet lag still keeping me up at 2am I had to break out a little night cap to help put me to bed. This would indeed be a big mistake! Must have been a hole at the bottom of the bottle because we ran through it pretty quick.

:modurnk



At about 10:30am the next morning we woke up a little rough. Despite the hangover I cruised down the beach to find a good spot to start running baits. The water was looking good, not much weed and a solid color change not far out.





Got baits prepped and deployed ready for some action!





Managed to get my first shark of the year on my bait rod. Unfortunately this little guy did not survive as I would find him later that day washed up on the beach.



The weed was starting to roll in and I knew it was only a matter of time before my lines got wiped out. Instead of bringing them in before the weed hit I decided to leave them out. This would indeed cost us a good portion of afternoon untangling lines.






After dealing with that mess mid-day with a hangover in the hot Texas sun I was pretty beat. I just felt like I had no energy left and neither did my dad. I didn't want to run anymore baits out bc that weed kick my butt pretty bad and was still coming in. I'm pretty sure we crashed out just before it got dark and didn't get out of bed till the next morning.



With a full nights rest I was ready to rock! Kinda wishing I hadn't pissed away the day before. I check out the beach and get some bait rods out.






First fish of the day was a solid slot redfish. Just like the day before there was this orange stuff in the water which I have never seen before so I collected a sample for me to inspect. It appeared oily and acted like so when I got in on my hands. Still not sure what it was. Regardless, it was not affecting the fish at the time.





Stopped and talked to Steven from CatchSharks.com and of course he was doing what he does best. Catching sharks! He had tagged quite a few sharks while I was hung over the day before.



I decided to move up the beach a little ways and get more baits out. Apparently there are sharks here so I needed to find a way to keep baits out! The weed wasn't bad and I was able to hold baits pretty good. After about an hour or so I finally get a hit. Hopped up on the truck for the first hook-up of the year! A solid female bull dipping into the 6ft class range.







After the successful tag and release of the shark I would get another bait right back out and we would chill for the remainder of the afternoon. Ares decides he's had enough and hops in the truck to nap.




Just before sunset I notice my line to right acting a bit strange. After getting on the truck to inspect it I see that my float is moving the opposite direction! As I start to pick up the rod I see my other one take a hard dip and bounce back.




Yes, double hook-up! This is madness! No, this is sharkfishing Texas style.



Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Csho8qlYjk&list=UU0WOCR9RFMPyCi8H_LVuWFQ


I would have let my dad reel in the other but Im in the Texas Shark Rodeo tournament and he isn't on my team or a participant so I would have to fight both of them on my own. No worries, with the go pro strapped on for video purposes I was confident I was the man for the job. After all it wasn't my first double hook up. Iv'e also read and studied how the seasoned vets like Oz and company have done it countless times.

Normally I would have liked to get both of them on the beach at the same time but due to all the information we needed to get from the sharks I thought it best to bring both in close and leave one still hooked in the 1st gut while I deal with the other.





After the release of the bull shark I hop up on the truck and bring the other one in over the 1st bar. Due to my dad's lack in experience I also leader both sharks. While doing so the other bull stayed close in the wade gut to where we could see her when trying to leader the other shark. They were both female 5ft class sharks. One was a bull and the other was a blacktip. Although small in size it's still points for my team and the excitement of a double hook-up is always fun!





A few high fives and a couple beers later we get the camp fire going. Just as I change into dry clothes (like always) my super 6 takes off! After a short battle I get her to the beach and take all measurements needed. Then I tell my dad to get the camera. I hear him yell at me but I couldn't understand what he was saying so I ran over and he was saying that the dang door is LOCKED! WTF? ARES! He was in there and must have stepped on the lock button while looking out the window. Good thing the other window was cracked so I was able to get it open to grab the camera. This would now be a regular occurrence with Ares as he gets used to the new truck.







The following morning I wake up to a beautiful sunrise and still yet surprisingly calm surf.





Once again I would deploy baits first thing in the morning. My goal was to tag out with 5 decent sized sharks since all I had were 5 tags. Not long after I got solid run and was hooked up once again.





Another female bull added to the list along with a small pup that I caught just before leaving.



Bait of choice for this trip would be the jacks I caught for sharkathon. The big baits were not working so I switched it up to 5-10lb chucks of jacks. That was the key.




The crew. Three generations of fisherman/fishingdog.




I had tagged out so it was time to go back to Corpus to regroup for the weekend. We left the beach mid-day Wednesday only to head down to PINS Friday morning with a couple more buddies.



We knew the weed was going to be bad so the plan was to rock down to the jetties. Accompanying me on this trip would be Ares, my dad and two jetty rats, Mark and Fedencio. They had been doing good catching jacks so I decided to invite them to get me some fresh bait.





There was bait working in the surf and we saw a few black tips cruising the wade gut. Does anyone know what kinda fish this is? Caught a few of them while chasing mullet.



The driving sucked but we made it down the jetties just after lunch.




Because leaving your fishing partner behind is not an option.





I walk only half way and let Mark the "Jack slayer" head to the end to search for jacks. He walks back about 30 mins later saying he had already landed 4 jacks and for us to get our butts over there! As we get moved and situated Mark is on another one that got stuck between the rocks. My dad, who is also a hard core jetty rat steps in to help land the jack. Mark is all smiles after landing his 5th jack!






It was my turn to get in on some action. We were throwing suspending mirror lures and it was awesome seeing the jacks come out of nowhere to smash our baits!




After a while the bite slowed down a bit so we headed off the jetty to start getting shark baits out.





My main goal was to try and hook up Mark with a shark since he supplied the bait. Although he is not in the tournament it would be the least I could do to show my appreciation for catching fresh bait. He deployed a nice chunk of Jack on his Avet MXL while I did the same for my 9/0. Didn't take long for mine to get smashed!




As the shark came in close I forgot my friends have no experience in leadering sharks so once again I had to hop down and get it myself. There is something about a sharking flopping around in the wade gut that scares people.




The best part of shark fishing in my opinion is watching them slowly disappear back in the water with their dorsal fin sticking out of the water.




Normally when I have a shark on the beach Ares takes advantage of this situation and takes off down the beach to the nearest camp to say hello. This time was no exception.




After deploying my baits out again I assure Mark his rod is going to start screaming any minute now!




Turns out I was wrong. There would be no other action for the rest of the night. At first light Mark and Fedencio head back to the jetties on a mission to find more jacks!



Meanwhile back at base camp I snagged two nice slot reds on a double hook up!



The guys return with 3 more jacks! How awesome! I deploy more baits throughout the morning that would go untouched.



The surfers were out messing around and with no pick-ups all morning I decide to go out and get my baits so we can relocate up the beach somewhere. Had a little surf action myself.









We roll back north only to find the conditions getting worse as well as more weed. I didn't have enough gas to go back to the jetties so I picked a spot I thought was good and set up camp.




The surf got rough real fast as the winds picked up. I was able to keep one bait out for a few hours with help from my dad taking the weed off my line. But the weed and surf became overwhelming and forced me to tap out.







So I did what guys do when they get bored. Build stuff.





After planting the flag we walk up to the dunes to check out how it looks. As I'm going up I step just on the side of the bush were Fedencio sees a rattlesnake! About 6 inches to the left and I would have stepped right on it. Good thing Ares was taking a nap, I'm sure he would have liked to smell it.





I thank the shark gods for not getting bit and we made dinner while having no alcohol to drink on the last night on the beach. Thanks to my dad and Fedencio! The next morning we wake up at first light and get ready to roll off the beach, or so we thought.




The driving sucked heading back and I guess I wasn't paying attention when I hit a big bump and knocked my 4wd out of gear right around the 33. I was like, there is no way I broke this thing. It has a dana 60 solid front axel conversion made to take a beating. After further inspection the transfer case was loose for some reason. At the time I did not know wtf was wrong so I just got out some shark cable and strapped up transfer case up so that the 4wd would engage. Ended up not having any bolts connecting it to the transmission. They must have come loose and fallen out after all the times of being on the beach with Grant.



We had to crawl off that beach and with gas running low I knew we were not going to make it. Got down to about the 10 MM and called for backup. Ares would get overheated and have to take a dip while we waited for gas.




Of course to make a great story I called my brother whom I gave my previous beach truck to, to come and save the day. A classic pic of my old truck getting the last laugh for giving it away and replacing it.




After an agonizing 8 hours of driving we are finally off the beach and getting some much needed food, drinks and gas! This is when I let my guard down once again. Everyone hopped out of the truck to go inside while I was putting gas. Of course I closed the door with the key and Ares still in the truck. Just as I thought about the keys and go to open the door Ares had already made his move to the window locking us out once again!



You have got to be kidding me! All the windows are rolled up and although I have a spare key I do not know where it's at. After about 30 mins I got ahold of Grant who tells me where it was stashed. In the end everyone was laughing because no matter what the beach through at us, together we overcame it.

Unfortunately I am back in Korea for another 3 months so I wont be getting into any more action till I get back. I'll see you guys on the sand in the fall! Good luck to all this summer!

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

[BamaRed54]

Nice report!
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[AcousTennis]

This report. I like it.
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[shorty]

Great pics and love the Dog , thanks man !

[TomP]

Thanks Cool Report, Ares is a Good Trooper, lots of cool pics. Be safe in Korea.

TomP
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Hook'em and givem Dragggg !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FishLady]

Great report, I enjoyed reading it!
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FishLady

[spooledagain]

Great stuff. Made my morning.
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if it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is

[OSOFARAWAY]

I want your dog!!!!!!
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Salad, Salad, everywhere and not a bite to eat.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Nice report.

The "greasy" stuff is likely Trichodesmium, a filamentous cyanobacteria this is pretty common in the surf.

The little fish is an Atlantic threadfin, Polydactylus octonemus, again, another pretty common inhabitant in the surf zone.

[surfguy]

[Jetty Bandit]

Awesome report Joe. Did your hand get bitten off? Cuz it sure looked like it did on that one video.... Good luck in Korea dude. I'm sure I'll see you on the sand when you get back!
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"I never had an Easter, but I've always had a bunch of speakers" - Beardo

[surfguy]

"The driving sucked heading back and I guess I wasn't paying attention when I hit a big bump and knocked my 4wd out of gear right around the 33."

There's that 33 again. My transmission overheated twice on my old Dodge last year right at the 33. Something weird about that spot.
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-Ron

[Tyler]

It's the Ghost at the 33 Billy Sandifer wrote about! Nick Meyer lost a knife out of thin air around there one day when we were fishing.
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[ironmanstan]

Next time take more Captain Morgans rum.
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I LIKE MINE FRIED.

[jagarcia10]