Today we decided to stay at the dock, just too many thunder storms offshore and the Spanish Mackeral haven't been doing that well on the beach so we opted for a better day.
Yesterday's offshore trip was scheduled to be run with the guys from DC but we cancelled due to rough conditions, and rough off shore it was!!!
It wasn't pretty on the beach, but fishable so we ran a 1/2 day trip with Mike and Nate Nemic, Mike Smith from Boiling Spring Lakes and also Ken Skilton from Mentor, Ohio.
We started off trolling for Spanish Mackeral but the Spanish bite was terrible.
All the boats trolling were reporting pitiful catches for this time of year. Like one fish to no fish for everyone.
Buster, on the SEA HAWK III, who in my opinion is the best Spanish Mackeral fisherman on the East Coast, only reported 14 fish from the west end of the Island. 14 fish yesterday was quite a catch!!!!!
With the reports we were getting we decided to go shark fishing. This too started off slow.
Most everyone else gave up and went in early or just didn't get the bite to happen.
We kept moving and trying different areas and bait sizes. That's a tip, I have seen times when they want a big bait and when they want smaller baits.
The smaller baits, about golf ball size was the answer.
It didn't take long with the small bait until Mike Smith was hooked up. It was a Black Tip around 90 to 100 pounds.
But before we could get it to boat side to get a picture it made a charge towards the back of the boat and the line hit the prop on the motor, Shark won that battle!!!!
Next up was Nate Nemec, didn't take long for another Black Tip around 85 pounds to pounce on the small offering.
It was a hard fight but Nate did everything perfectly and before long he was in the boat doing a photo shoot.
We saved the best for last!!!
With the winds and seas picking up, I decided to make one more drift, it was a smart move.
Ken Skilton was up next so I moved over to some deeper water, set the lines, and just as I set the second line the first rod doubled over, it was a "monster"!!!
Ken was locked into the fishing fight of his life. This was a big shark.
He worked the fish like a master fisherman, even though for a long time the only one that was gaining any line was the shark.
Ken finally got the shark up to the boat close enough that we got to see him.
Black Tip, Nine+ feet at least!!!! I reached for the camera and the fish just swam away as the hook pulled free.
It was a well orchestrated battle between man and beast, the man proved that he could "tame the beast" to the point of identifying his quarry, and the hook pulling out to free such a beast was a just and honorable ending to a great battle.
Both man and beast came out victorious in this battle!!!!
Till next time, God Bless You All!!!!!
Fish On!!!!
Capt Butch
Yeah Right Charters - http://www.yeahrightcharters.com
