Reel Adventure Report 8-7-09 250lb Tiger Shark and LOT'S MORE!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of reports latley. Honestly I didnt want to bump the last report down, but this next report is pretty cool!

The shark fishing has finally started off. We have had some days that were on fire and some that were not. It is getting more consistent. One of my last shark trips turned out to be a cool suprise. We did our usual behind the shrimp boat shark fishing and we caught 1 about 25lbs. The shrimp were not there that day so the shrimpers left early. Um well, now what? My guys wanted a fight so my mind turned to the large menhaden we just caught in the live well, and I turned the boat for a spot about 18 miles offshore. I was going to give them some sore amberjack arms….I THOUGHT! We got there and got lines in the water and immedietly got strikes by barracuda. I couldnt even keep the lines in the water with all the cudas. Then Mr. Big showed up. Now, this is not the first time I have seen Mr. Big at this spot wich is a popular dive spot. Mr. Big is about a 9? 250 lb Tiger shark. This is a consertivitve estimate. It is something so big you dont want to catch it. I turned around saw my shark rod….RIGGED AND READY. My customers were in awe, and without even thinking about it I had my shark rod in the water with a big dead boston mackerel for bait to tempt the shark. It inhaled it. I sat there and watched it eat it. I gave it a few seconds and came tight on the shark with 25 lbs of drag set at the strike. It peeled out 200 yards of 200 lb braid and about 100 yards of 80lb backing off the reel before I could clear lines to chase it down! We followed it and fought it for over 1 mile. At one point it wasgoing for the dive boat and I had to call to make sure no dicers were in the water. We got the all clear from the dive boat and shortly after the shark changes course and headed for deeper water. My customers all took turns fighting it and they switched out 4 times between the 3 of them. This went on for a hour and a half! I told them right off the bat, “Dont expect to land this fish!”

It wore this guy out…

And this one….

And this one too! I Actually thought I was going to be called into the rotation!

And finally after an hour and a half….

What a awesome shark. We leadered it and released it in great shape. I am pretty sure we will be the last to catch it! It will swim for a long time to come and I will never forget that shark or the effort my customers put out to get it up! I also wont forget this next pic. After it was released I got my stuff together and when I turned around this is what I saw…

Priceless!

Here he is with his release citation of 96 inches wich was way smaller then what it was!

Great job guys! See ya next year!

Here are some of the Amberjack were were going after:

And speaking of Amberjacks here is a pic that will go down as one of the best ever! We lost the Amberjack at the boat but this pic is another pricless picture!