Sharker
10-11-2006, 11:57
We started the day early. I had to drive an hour to meet up with my buddy at his house. It was 4am, on a Friday in July. We were going out to our shark hole to try to break our 4 year record of 9 tiger sharks in one day.
After an hour loading gear, bait, and ice in the boat, we hopped into the truck and made our way to the boat ramp. It was 5am now. The sky was starting to show the morning glow as we headed north up the Intercoastal waterway to the inlet we would run out of 12 miles to the North. Around this part of Georgia (near St. Simons) the river is untouched, with nary a house on the river to show signs of civilization. We had a crew of 5 adults and a kid, that was only 10yo. I knew 2 others aboard, my buddy Brad who is the Captain, and another guy I fish and hunt with named Marty. The other 2 adults were clients of Brads, and so I would be resigned to do most of the work... something I excel at.
We rounded a bend in the river, and could see the tell tale flicker of pogies, a local bait fish. Great, much easier to catch them in the river than on the beach. I readied the cast net as Brad motored up to them. This was going to be a long day on the water, so we needed alot of pogies for chum. After a a few throws of the net, we had 3 five gallon buckets full of the oily bait fish.
We stowed the gear away, and readied the boat for the run offshore. As we reached the natural inlet, we encountered a steep ground swell from the incoming tide, but that quickly passed as we headed farther east into the bluer waters of offshore. Already I was hot in the Summers heat.
We arrived on site, 16 nautical miles offshore, about 30 minutes later. As soon as the boat slowed, I set to work rigging the rods. We were using 50W tiagras today, spooled with 100 pound monofilament. The leaders we were using were a new creation... 15 foot 500 pound mono wind on leaders (it allows you to reel the sharks to the rod tip) with a snap swivel at the end. A 400 pound single strand bite leader seperated the hook from the mono by 3 feet.
The first bait was deployed, a large chunk of kingfish, and sent to the bottom 55 feet below. The next bait was deployed on the surface, via a balloon tied to the snap swivel. This bait was always the funnest to watch, as tiger sharks arent to bright, they will usually spend more time trying to eat the balloon than the bait three feet below the balloon.
It took about 15 minutes of hard chumming before the first shark showed up by the boat. It was a small tiger, at 8.5-9 feet. He made it past the balloon bait, and began to attack the two dead barracudas that were tied off on the stern cleat. After quickly reeling in the balloon bait, we were hooked up on number one of the day. This shark was no match for the heavy drag. Within 15 minutes, we had the shark on the leader, and stuck a NOAA tag into its dorsal fin base. The shark was measured, 8'11", and released. While we had fought that shark, three more arrived into the slick. The seas had lain down while we were fighting the shark, so now we were able to spot sharks all around the boat.
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To make a long story short, final tally was 14 tigers,(6-11.5 foot) all tagged and released. We had 4 doubles through out the day. We also landed 4 cobia.
When we left at 4pm, the sharks were still feeding. We had 5 tigers in the slick (one was 12 foot plus) and 2 hammerheads (much better fighters than tigers). We would have stayed longer but the kid was tired and sea sick (we had let him reel in a 9 footer) and so we left them biting.
I figured some of you may get a kick out of this... we do it all the time in the summer here. I figure I read yalls stories and enjoy them, so I may as well contribute some to yall. Hope you enjoyed. Pics to follow.
After an hour loading gear, bait, and ice in the boat, we hopped into the truck and made our way to the boat ramp. It was 5am now. The sky was starting to show the morning glow as we headed north up the Intercoastal waterway to the inlet we would run out of 12 miles to the North. Around this part of Georgia (near St. Simons) the river is untouched, with nary a house on the river to show signs of civilization. We had a crew of 5 adults and a kid, that was only 10yo. I knew 2 others aboard, my buddy Brad who is the Captain, and another guy I fish and hunt with named Marty. The other 2 adults were clients of Brads, and so I would be resigned to do most of the work... something I excel at.
We rounded a bend in the river, and could see the tell tale flicker of pogies, a local bait fish. Great, much easier to catch them in the river than on the beach. I readied the cast net as Brad motored up to them. This was going to be a long day on the water, so we needed alot of pogies for chum. After a a few throws of the net, we had 3 five gallon buckets full of the oily bait fish.
We stowed the gear away, and readied the boat for the run offshore. As we reached the natural inlet, we encountered a steep ground swell from the incoming tide, but that quickly passed as we headed farther east into the bluer waters of offshore. Already I was hot in the Summers heat.
We arrived on site, 16 nautical miles offshore, about 30 minutes later. As soon as the boat slowed, I set to work rigging the rods. We were using 50W tiagras today, spooled with 100 pound monofilament. The leaders we were using were a new creation... 15 foot 500 pound mono wind on leaders (it allows you to reel the sharks to the rod tip) with a snap swivel at the end. A 400 pound single strand bite leader seperated the hook from the mono by 3 feet.
The first bait was deployed, a large chunk of kingfish, and sent to the bottom 55 feet below. The next bait was deployed on the surface, via a balloon tied to the snap swivel. This bait was always the funnest to watch, as tiger sharks arent to bright, they will usually spend more time trying to eat the balloon than the bait three feet below the balloon.
It took about 15 minutes of hard chumming before the first shark showed up by the boat. It was a small tiger, at 8.5-9 feet. He made it past the balloon bait, and began to attack the two dead barracudas that were tied off on the stern cleat. After quickly reeling in the balloon bait, we were hooked up on number one of the day. This shark was no match for the heavy drag. Within 15 minutes, we had the shark on the leader, and stuck a NOAA tag into its dorsal fin base. The shark was measured, 8'11", and released. While we had fought that shark, three more arrived into the slick. The seas had lain down while we were fighting the shark, so now we were able to spot sharks all around the boat.
__________________________________________________________________
To make a long story short, final tally was 14 tigers,(6-11.5 foot) all tagged and released. We had 4 doubles through out the day. We also landed 4 cobia.
When we left at 4pm, the sharks were still feeding. We had 5 tigers in the slick (one was 12 foot plus) and 2 hammerheads (much better fighters than tigers). We would have stayed longer but the kid was tired and sea sick (we had let him reel in a 9 footer) and so we left them biting.
I figured some of you may get a kick out of this... we do it all the time in the summer here. I figure I read yalls stories and enjoy them, so I may as well contribute some to yall. Hope you enjoyed. Pics to follow.