Shimmering Sands (4/13)

[Latimeria]

Well, my plans were to meet someone from LA down at the beach for a special guest appearance.  It was/and still is going to be a surprise for the site if it ever happens, but I digress.  Let me get to the meat of the story.

The special guest did not show, so i headed down to the beach and make the most of the effort to get down there.  I was sick all week and not in the mood to be cold and wet, but the fresh air invigorated me.

To my surprise, I headed to a spot and saw a few rods already on lockdown!  It turned out to be Binh and Andre (Lightline22) trying for some surf sharks!  Soon after Mike (Pinoyfisher) shows up and even Squatch made an appearance after an MRI appointment.  Steve was only there to watch and left as soon as the damp coldness breached his hoodie.

I set up between Binh and Andre and was rewarded with a big hook up!  It flopped a bunch and I was thinking shark, but it started to slowly resemble a bat as it was dumping all of the line on my spool.
I had the drag maxxed out and it pretty much hurt me, but Sandhand mike came in without his headlamp and snatched the bat from the surf.

They said 51"... Steve said 53"... Either case, it was a 50+ and I was stoked.  Hopefully that's my last one in a while.  lol



Mike even released it for me!  He might be a better sand hand than Josh!    (Just kidding Josh)



An hour later I hear "Tom.... Tom" in the darkness and turn on my headlight to see Andre hooked up!  Sweet!  I was hoping to see a Sevengill, but it turned out to be a nice bat ray!



I was contemplating what time I was going to split, when the "Shimmering" began.  At first it was only one or two, but then swarms were hitting the beach! 





In 20 years, I've only seen them in the bays and never have seen them in numbers on the beach.  I can't believe that i was actually at the right place at the right time after all these years.



Well, to be fair, I also didn't go and seek them, but figured that I would have at least bumped into them while fishing one of these many nights out there...
But... It was worth the wait!



We packed it in and called it the night.  Mike was swearing he had a 25# calico that busted off his line in a wave when we finally got over to help, but it didn't go home for dinner.  (OK, I am just teasing him right now, but he lost a legal bass in the final wave)... so in the words of the soup nazi... No Soup for You!

Cool peeps and cool sights.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

[j.rasta]

Damn looks like the bat fight was a month early crazy you've never seen a surf grunion run, sounds like you were at the surf bat spot x) that's where I saw them last anyway. Nice bat boss.

[Pinoyfisher]

Funny, I've never seen them in the bay. Seen plenty in the surf. Nice bay Tom. Glad you caught it and not me. Andre has been fishing, I wonder if he'll put up a report?

[vdisney]

Either case, it was a 50+ and I was stoked.  Hopefully that's my last one in a while.  lol

I know the feeling, one or two a year is fine for me   

[sasquatch]

I said 53, but they had the tape. Believe who you want.

Nice to meet you Andre.

[Tim524]

Nice Bat