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It happens at the oddest time. I’ve been posting to this board for close to three years now. Reading up on surf-fishing and trying to catch my first big shark. Living on the outskirts of Dallas a trip to the coast is a fairly big undertaking. Especially when you consider family obligations, work and hunting season. As often as possilbe I pack up the xTerra and head to the beach. I’ve been to PINs, Matagorda, High Island, and San Luis Pass â€" I’ve caught a lot of great fish … but no big sharks. I’ve caught some good sized Reds, Black Drum, Jacks, but when it comes to sharks I’ve not pulled anything in bigger than 2 feet. Not for a lack of buying. I've bought lines, leaders and rods reals and kayaks. Not for a lack of trying. I've built my own surf weights, read up on reading the beach. Just a lack of experience, luck and good fishing opportunities.
My family loves the beach. When I go down to San Luis Pass, it’s strictly family fishing. It is my favorite kind of fishing. This weekend my Brother-and-Sister-in-law’s family would be joining us. Packed up the xTerra with body boards, chairs and plenty of food.
The first picture below is a picture of base camp. Yup, my kids are junior surfers â€" not fishermen. Their young 8 & 5, and don't like to touch the bait. Breaks my heart but what can you do? However, they are beach babies and love the coast.
Got to the beach by 8:30AM on Saturday and the sun was shining. Got some lines out and set up base camp. I was primarily angling for Reds. SLP has always been good to me. It’s where I first tried surf-fishing three short years ago, and where I’ve caught some great drum and trout. I had the spinning reel with 20 pound test line and a simple double drop leader. Nothing fancy, but I was hoping I would get some Red Drum to take home with me.
Around 10:30 I got a strike. A little rod bender. Barely noticeable, but the first strike of the morning. I pulled in half a fish. The back end was gone. Hmmm, I thought to myself … what should I do? I loaded up a standard issue Drum leader â€" the kind you can buy for a couple of bucks at Bass Pro. I took half the croaker that was left … and put a hook through it. I then cast it out.
Well the noon hour hit. My wife handed me a burger … and I grabbed a beer. What do you know â€" my fishing pole jumped up and down like crazy. I threw down the grub and ran towards the pole. From the moment I grabbed the rod I knew it was a big shark. It was running down the beach. I let it have as much line as I could afford. Thankfully the beach was not crowded as the fish traveled a great distance. My brother in law, who is also new to surf-fishing was diligently following with the net. (He has helped me land a lot of Reds that would have been lost getting them to the shore.) Knowing the shark did not want to go near the shore I let her have a lot of line in an attempt to tire her out. After 20 minutes she was close enough to be seen. After a couple of panicked moments when the shark took a run directly at us the shark was finally on the beach.
There it was … after three years … my first big shark. Measured in at four and a half feet. My wife took a couple of pictures. What was real interesting is a gentleman came over and asked if I was going to release the shark. I said sure. He certainly was a big help reviving the shark. I’ve always found a lot of good people at the beach.
A couple of hours after that, I had a repeat performance. I had just caught a hard-head, cut off the fins and threw it back out. Bam, another bite. This shark was about three inches smaller and didn’t put up as good as a fight. Still made me plenty proud. Again, another passer-by helped me release it into the water.
Can’t tell you how happy I’ve been this entire weekend. Two sharks in one day. After so much reading, experimenting, and traveling. Thanks to all the great information on this board I finally did what I set out to do ... catch some sharks … and release them. All as a matter of luck. Didn’t have the bigger shark gear, no kayak, no big hooks, test-line or bait. The good thing is the whole family could share the experience.
I’ve been told the first shark is a Sand Bar, and the second is a Black Tip. Does that look about right?
My family loves the beach. When I go down to San Luis Pass, it’s strictly family fishing. It is my favorite kind of fishing. This weekend my Brother-and-Sister-in-law’s family would be joining us. Packed up the xTerra with body boards, chairs and plenty of food.
The first picture below is a picture of base camp. Yup, my kids are junior surfers â€" not fishermen. Their young 8 & 5, and don't like to touch the bait. Breaks my heart but what can you do? However, they are beach babies and love the coast.
Got to the beach by 8:30AM on Saturday and the sun was shining. Got some lines out and set up base camp. I was primarily angling for Reds. SLP has always been good to me. It’s where I first tried surf-fishing three short years ago, and where I’ve caught some great drum and trout. I had the spinning reel with 20 pound test line and a simple double drop leader. Nothing fancy, but I was hoping I would get some Red Drum to take home with me.
Around 10:30 I got a strike. A little rod bender. Barely noticeable, but the first strike of the morning. I pulled in half a fish. The back end was gone. Hmmm, I thought to myself … what should I do? I loaded up a standard issue Drum leader â€" the kind you can buy for a couple of bucks at Bass Pro. I took half the croaker that was left … and put a hook through it. I then cast it out.
Well the noon hour hit. My wife handed me a burger … and I grabbed a beer. What do you know â€" my fishing pole jumped up and down like crazy. I threw down the grub and ran towards the pole. From the moment I grabbed the rod I knew it was a big shark. It was running down the beach. I let it have as much line as I could afford. Thankfully the beach was not crowded as the fish traveled a great distance. My brother in law, who is also new to surf-fishing was diligently following with the net. (He has helped me land a lot of Reds that would have been lost getting them to the shore.) Knowing the shark did not want to go near the shore I let her have a lot of line in an attempt to tire her out. After 20 minutes she was close enough to be seen. After a couple of panicked moments when the shark took a run directly at us the shark was finally on the beach.
There it was … after three years … my first big shark. Measured in at four and a half feet. My wife took a couple of pictures. What was real interesting is a gentleman came over and asked if I was going to release the shark. I said sure. He certainly was a big help reviving the shark. I’ve always found a lot of good people at the beach.
A couple of hours after that, I had a repeat performance. I had just caught a hard-head, cut off the fins and threw it back out. Bam, another bite. This shark was about three inches smaller and didn’t put up as good as a fight. Still made me plenty proud. Again, another passer-by helped me release it into the water.
Can’t tell you how happy I’ve been this entire weekend. Two sharks in one day. After so much reading, experimenting, and traveling. Thanks to all the great information on this board I finally did what I set out to do ... catch some sharks … and release them. All as a matter of luck. Didn’t have the bigger shark gear, no kayak, no big hooks, test-line or bait. The good thing is the whole family could share the experience.
I’ve been told the first shark is a Sand Bar, and the second is a Black Tip. Does that look about right?
