[ElGallo]

Krakatoa and I head out to HI Sunday A.M. Arrived on the beach at about 4 A.M. (a couple hundred yards west of Rocky's Pier) and were met by very calm water and very voracious mosquitoes.

Were able to net some mullet in about ankle deep water, and so cast a few rods out, and sat watching and trying not to be eaten alive. (But no Fish seemed interested in biting.)

As the sun came up, we got the kayaks ready, and paddled out past the breakers. The water seemed to come alive with shad while were sitting out there, so we netted a few shad to go along with the mullet we caught on the beach. Tried floating a shad and sending one to the bottom, and lost both. Lost a second shad on top and so switched to a whole mullet on top, and the head of a big mullet on bottom. Saw my float dissappear and then saw a small blacktip go airborne. He was about 30 inches, and I released him and threw another mullet out there.

About this time, Krakatoa informed me that he was paddling back in to take a rest, so I was on my own temporarily.

My bottom rig started singing, fish on! I was thinking I had a bull red, since the bait I had out as a mullet head, but he sure was swimming fast. (And to my dismay, he was pulling me directly towards a shrimp boat, which was coming directly to me.)

I finally got a visual of the culprit, another black tip shark, I estimated to be about 5'6". I was a little nervous to be out there without back up, and with a shrimp boat steaming at me, so I got a quick pic, and snip, snip.

I decided it was time for a rest, and paddled in, I saw two other kayakers had started working the area. They were unhappy about running into so many gafftops, but I believe they got a bull red before they headed on down the road.

I went out for round two, and I got into endless gafftops as well. I did manage to catch a whiting, and so remembering my success with the mullet head early, I dispatched the whiting's head and promptly sent it to the bottom.

I saw Krakatoa start packing up his yak, and so realizing, that he was not going to be able to shake the sickness which had him, I decided to go ahead and paddle in as well. You guessed it, before I could get my anchor all the way back in, the lonely whiting head soaking on the bottom made a mad dash, and I was back in business. Sure I finally had my bull red, I happily took my ride, only to be rewarded with yet another black tip, this one 4'.

Since Krakatoa was not feeling well, I decided to paddle in with this fish in tow, and get him to pose with it. (Hence, since I brought it to the beach, I know it was 4 feet.)

Pulled out at about 1:30. Not too bad a day, 3 black tips, 30", 5'6" and 4', tons of gafftops and pups, and who knows how many millions of skeeter bites.

 

[ElGallo]

The two sharks here were caught on weed eater line, the orange line is heavier than the green line, and I caught the smaller shark on 400 pound mono. I think I like the mono better than the weed eater line, because I know what the mono is. The weed eater line has been working, but it is a lot stretchier than mono. On the orange line, and the mono you can't see, I also experimented and tied the leader to the hooks with snell knots instead of crimping. It is easy to tie snell knots with the weed eater line, but it seems hard to tie other knots. For instance, on the 400 lb mono, I tied it to the swivel using a uni knot (Gundoctor told me how to do it.) Next time I get by FTU, I will probably pick up a bunch more heavy mono for making leaders. I may use some steel when I figure out how they back braid those loops on the end, I think that looks sharp and seems solid.

By the way, the shark on the green leader is a bull shark I think, not a black tip. In my excitement to get out of the way of the shrimp boat, I was in a hurry to get my hand on the leader and get a pic, and I didn't pay that much attention to the shark itself. Not sure why I remembered it as a black tip.

Where did you fish Rod? Surely you didn't go out to the gator hole in your camaro?

Here is a pic of the black tip being released.

 

[ElGallo]

The weedeater line seems to cause controversy so I experimented with it myself. The green line is .080, the orange, .095. I picked it up at TSC when I was getting soemthing else, I think because it was cheap.

It worked for me for several sharks, and I know people have caught a lot of fish using weed eater line, maybe as a leader, maybe with steel cable on top of it.

I believe now that I have tried it, I would be more confident using mono, I have more faith in its consistency and the quality of its construction. But in a pinch, if weed eater line is all I have, I am ok to use it.