Little soupfin and big sevengill

[BenCantrell]

My friend Josh and I met Tom at his secret spot last night and soaked baits from sunset to 11pm.  High tide was at 8:30pm and the surf wasn't too bad.  Most of the night was kelp free until the last hour when the current picked up with the outgoing tide.  Lobster bites kept us alert.  Several of our mackerel heads came back picked clean and occasionally the hook would come back empty.

Close to high tide I hooked into something not very heavy, but when I got it close to shore it pulled hard to the side.  Soupfin!  Josh and I got our lines tangled up a bit, but we were able to get it sorted out, take a pic, and release the fish without too much time going by.  It taped out at 52 inches.



Soupfin Shark


An hour or two after high I got another hit, but honestly I thought it was a lobster until I tightened up my line.  When I put some pressure on it, whatever it was woke up, and it was game on!  The fight didn't take too long, and Tom waited patiently for an opportunity to grab it's tail in the surf.  My first sevengill!



Sevengill Shark (species #498)


Tom cursed my circle hook, but it came out fairly easily.  We grabbed a measurement in the split second that the shark was willing to straighten out, and it was a solid 81 inches.  Not bad at all! 



We kept the shark close to the water so the release went quickly, and he swam off without an issue.  At this point we had about an hour left to fish, so I rerigged and Josh fished my rod as well as his.  Unfortunately, he didn't get any non-lobster bites.  Tom was in the same boat, and his only consolation was pulling in one of the lobsters at the end of the night (it was released).

Thanks Tom and Josh for helping out with landing sharks and taking photos.  It was pure luck that I got the bites, but I'll take it.  It certainly takes the sting out of all those skunk sessions last year.

[Socal Bill]

Great night! Congrats 

[sasquatch]

Looked good last night. 230 wake up call for work this morning kept me home. Oh well.

Nice set of fish, Ben.

[Latimeria]

Well, that was a hell of a night for you!  When you got the hot stick, you got the hot stick!  Well done boss!

[Latimeria]

2 more for the shark list!

[1morecast]

Congrats...Ben! I want a soupie for 2018 too.

[Pinoyfisher]

Can't recall ever seeing or landing a soupie that small. Pretty cool! Double headers are awesome!

[vdisney]

Absolutely stellar Ben, super stoked for you   

[xjchad]

Right on Ben!  What an awesome night!!

[LONGCAST JOE]

Right on Ben! You seem to be on a roll getting species checked off your list lately. I wonder what your #500 milestone will end up being? Are you sure that wasn't a big smoothhound instead of a small soup? Hahaha

[Sharkinthedark II]

Congrats on your double up Love the forked tails on the Soupies, makes 'em more devilish

[Msimpauco]

Cool! Nice catch! I'm too scared to go out alone haha

[BenCantrell]

Thanks guys!

[j.rasta]

Congrats Ben you've been putting in work on your species count this week!

[BackBayMan]

Way to go Ben