5 FT Sandbar Shark! Personal Best on my Birthday!

Yesterday (July 7th) was my birthday, so for my birthday I wanted to catch a shark! Accompanied by my buddy Zack, we left early and arrived just before dark. It was lowtide with a SW breeze, surf was less than 1.5 feet. We got lines in the water by 9PM. Sat down for 5 minutes I'd say, and BAM BAM, something had taken my bait already. It wasn't running just yet, I saw the bite and picked up the rod. I felt a shake shake motion so I reeled in the slack and set the hook. As soon as I set that hook it took several yards out for the first time. My drag is still loose at this point, so I'm figuring out the best drag pressure to fight this thing. I tighten tighten and now I start gaining some ground. It starts coming towards me and I'm pulling it in with the waves. It's pretty tired I think cause it wasn't swimming as hard anymore. Got the shark on the beach and immediately began the process of hook removal. Hook was deep into the jaw, couldn't get it out without ripping it's jaw off with pliers. So I called out for my bolt cutters. With ease I had the hook chopped in two pieces and the shark was free from the line. Measured it and it was exactly 5 feet long, my personal best and longest shark! I'm assuming it's another sandbar shark. My buddy was taking photos on his iphone while I released the shark. Pics came out a little blurry but thats okay. I have a short video that Zack recorded when I first beached the shark.

Midday Monday Surf Report! CNS 6/16/14

Took my 10 yr old boy for another beach trip to CNS. Arrived at the gates around 3pm and parked in lot #4. Not crowded at all at this point, I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. Got down to the beach and saw 1 ft surf if that. Outgoing tide. Sand fleas all over. Used my sons plastic shovel and was getting 2 or 3 decent sized fleas each scoop. But no hits on sand fleas today.

Setup the shark rod first with a chunk of lady fish that came from the flat bridge last year =) The other two rods were tied with a pompano rig using pieces of fresh dead shrimp. After getting all three rods in the water, one of the shrimp rods gets a bite and my son pulls in a ladyfish. Gave it a safe release. I was actually happy to see the ladyfish caught because that's what I'm using for shark bait, match the hatch you know.

So no more hits on shrimp. I mean zip nada none for 2 hours. The surf is dead when it comes to whiting and pomps...but check this out.... after about 30 minutes of soaking the chunk of ladyfish for shark I got a hit. I watched it hit...didn't take off like you would expect. Knowing something was messing with the bait I grabbed the rod, reeled in the slack, then felt pressure, followed by another shake. Set the hook and thats when the fish knew something wasn't right haha. It zipped out several yards like it was nothing. I'm just sitting there holding it as I'm adjusted my drag for fighting pressure. Only took 10 minutes to bring it on shore but I had just caught my first 4.5 ft shark! As soon as it was landed my priority was dehook, picture and then release as fast as possible without getting hurt. My son took several photos for me during the process so he gets credit too. It's my first Sandbar shark and also my largest shark landed to date.