PINS "Beginners Luck" Report

Summer was finally here. Travis and I had a Florida sharkfishing trip planned for months, but Hurricane Beryl would swarm in at the last minute and foil our plans.  I shifted my focus back to Texas and found an approaching weather window and oppurtunity to get his girlfriend Kevan on her first shark.

Just about everything was perfect, we had bait, green water to the beach and awesome weather, but the water was colder than it should be....much colder.  Other than some monster whiting and a lone pompano there wasn't much sign of life, no birds and no mullet. The day consisted of a few short runs sans hookups. Late in the afternoon a live whiting gets picked up and it's on...after about 15 minutes we have a male 7'6'' scalloped hammer in the wade gut.  Hooked in the pectoral fin the fish came in sideways giving Kevan a hard fight for her first shark....congrats!

 Rare "Captain Obvious" pic

 Hammertime!

Kevan with her first shark

 Travis going for the release

 Success!

My strategy for this trip was to sleep all day, fish all night...and maybe, just maybe I could avoid those pesky bait stealers...

 FAIL!....Too small to fight, too big to fit in my cooler, this guy received the "Hancock" style release for wiping out both of my lines and destroying one of my awesome catchsharks.com leaders...may you end up being a hungry tigers meal.

 This black witch moth showed up the following morning, what seemed like a friendly guest was actually a bad omen....and not a single click was given that day.


Late that night we packed up and headed towards to jetties, hoping to find better fishing the next morning.

 Still working off a headache courtesy of Jack Daniels I began tossing a spoon looking for trout, instead I hooked this small Jack Crevalle.


Mullet were now present in large numbers and birds were randomly dive bombing, but no signs of the bait balls I was hoping to find.  We pack up once again and head north looking for warmer water and better sharking action.  Sargassum started showing up in the 40's, we stopped at what looked like a good camping spot and began setting up for our final evening.

The surf was a little bigger than I like for kayaking baits out, especially at night, but with a little liquid courage I get out a few baits and ride some of the best waves I've seen in years.  The bait I took out for Travis quickly gets picked up, but soon gets off...leaving my jack as the last chance for another shark.  Come morning I find  the sargassum has slacked my line, I clear the weed and tighten it up only to have it slack again, and again....soon it becomes clear I have a fish on, I hammer the drag down on my Duel 6/WS and horse in a decent bull in record time

 80" bull

After talking to fellow anglers on the beach and having read the reports since coming home its clear how fortunate we were given the conditions.  I've always said I'd rather be lucky than good, and luckily we had Kevan and her "beginners luck" to make this trip a memorable one...