They're Back! (10/4)

[Latimeria]

Well, it finally happened.  The 3 month hiatus of no sharks are over!

Steve and I met down at the beach with little expectations as we have not seen a bigger shark off the beach since I caught my last Sevengill on July 7th.  I only had 1 mackerel and 2 yellowfin croaker for bait so didn't have any (for what I consider) prime baits.  We did bring the small rods and since there were a bunch of people still in the water, opted to cast some small squid strips for a while.
It was a pretty good pick of critters as we caught a handful of bass, but Steve surprised us with a cuda on the squid strip!?  It wasn't big enough to keep, but it would have made for good bait.
The magic hour finally hit and we set out the big rods.  I decided to rotate from mackerel to yellowfin and see what happens.  The mackerel were getting stripped off the hook every time.  It was bait thief city, so I put a big yellowfin chunk on and cast my small rod while the long rod soaked.  I wasn't feeling overly confident on the YFC, so felt like I could fish 2 rods at once...  Nope...

The rod doubles over and sings ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!
I forgot how much fun it is to fight a Soupfin.  It made some great runs and I was nervous she was going to get off, but the Squatch got his mitts on her tail and dragged her onto the dry sand.

69" and preggo!!!



After a quick picture session and hook removal, she was slid back into the surf and swam off.  I was stoked!

I tried a mackerel right after that and it just got swiped after a 15 minute soak.  I made a few bait changes before finally putting on another chunk of yellowfin.  I walked up to my tackle bag and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!  Another Soupfin on!  This one circled hard and made 3 or 4 good long runs before coming to the surface and thrashing on a semi jump and tossed the hook.  Ughhh, depressing but that was alright.  It would have been my second of the night, but I was stoked to still battle it.  It was awesome just to see that life has returned to our surf!

Well, hopefully this is the start of a shark run, so go out and test some beaches to see how many more are out there!

I didn't get pics of the bass and cuda, but I still can't believe the YFC was the hot bait and the mackerel were not even sniffed by a real grinner!

[Tim524]

Glad you got out of your slump    You and Steve make a good team 

[xjchad]

SOOOOO GOOD to see a big shark in a report again!  Beauty Tom, congrats!

[Mateo]

Good to see they are roaming the surf again.

[sasquatch]

Didn't get a sniff on tackle shop mack. Pretty sure Tom got bit on the croaker I gave him the other day.. Figures. Glad to see some fish in the area again.

[SevengillTheVC]

YAY! Nice one Tom!

[vdisney]

Get on guys........................WTG

[mdcesq]

Very nice shark, Tom.

Steve caught a 'cuda on a squid strip?  That's cool. 

[Pinoyfisher]

Hot diggity!!! Time to hit the surf again!!

[spideyjg]

I can't believe YFC was the ticket. Tossed them out many a time for naught. Never even lost one.

Hmm need to get out there and  land some. Bait thieves may have grabbed the mac before the sharks had a chance.

Got a perch in the freezer with some macs.

Jim

[LONGCAST JOE]

Way to go! I'm revitalized seeing this, bigtime...
Come on though, just between us guys here.... just wink if not being able to resist chunking up that oily cuda and tossing it out was what really did the trick 
JOE

[sasquatch]

Way to go! I'm revitalized seeing this, bigtime...
Come on though, just between us guys here.... just wink if not being able to resist chunking up that oily cuda and tossing it out was what really did the trick 
JOE

No wink needed. I released it twice. It had trouble getting through the shore pound. I will say I was thinking about that cuda as my macks went untouched.

[Eric H]

On the yfc

Time to start keeping some.

Glad you got your grinner.

I'm looking over my computer at my long rods right now. Gona be dusting them off very soon.

[lamnidae]

Match the hatch. Well, sort of. Maybe the surf fish is the key. Maybe the Soupies are feeding extensively. Who knows. Future trips will tell.

[WheresMyBeer]

Good intel. ...

Now if only I could find time to catch a damn YFC ...

Glad to see they back.