Something Giant, Something Unknown

[brysky]

Tackle Used:
Rod: Shakesphere "Ugly Stick" 6'6 MH (30-50lbs.)
Reel: Penn 950 SSM (30Lbs./300yd.) 4.6:1 ratio
Line: Momoi's Big Catch Diamond Line 30lbs test (clear)
Hook: Gamakatsu 1/4 oz. round jighead
Bait: Berkely "Gulp" 4" Natural Shrimp
Knot: Uni knot for the jighead to the line

Location:
Sarasota, Florida under a bridge on a 16" ft johnboat. between 9:30-11:00pm est. 10-30 feet water depth, water temp in mid 60's

Now my buddy and I have been fishing these bridges a few weeks now and were using a lesser setup and kept getting our line snapped when trying to reel in what we though were just snags... well we got tired of that so got something better.

So last night we dropped his girlfriend and her brother off after a day of fishing in the bay and him and I went to our bridge spot. He and I are catching a bunch of lady fish between 8inch-2feet, but start to notice that they are jumping out of the water as if being chased themselves instead of chasing something.

So I cast in just ahead of where I saw two jump and it was right in the pilings of the cent of the bridge for boat traffic. I let the line sink before starting to slowly reel with a slight jerk every couple turns, but as soon as I could turn the reel a second time I had a huge jerk on the line more then a lady fish so I thought I must have gotten snagged.

Now the diamond line has a breaking strength of 56lbs I think. So I was thinking I would just try to unsnag before I would cut it. But my line was bending my rod and moving a bit and I knew then I was in for a fight. I fought it for about a hour and 15min give or take 5 min.

I let the drag out at first pretty loose and then towards the end I tightened it, I knew it was a fish and not a piling because it was moving on me and when I was making headway on it bringing it up. Now it didn't move very much.

after about a hour of fighting my friend mentioned he told his girlfriend we would be down and have the boat loaded and heading home by 10pm it was already 10:15pm so I start to try to rush myself and tighten the drag even more and reel the bad boy in.

The line ended up snapping... I will never know how big or what it was, the only things I can think of is a channel cat or what I think it was, is a Jewfish.

I was half tempted to have my buddy hold my pole and jump in and swim down my line while I was still fighting and find out what it was (bringing a knife with me)

now I am guessing what I did wrong was that I tightened my drag to much and/or my line wasn't strong enough.

Are there any tips you guys/gals have for bringing something like that in, I heard some people just let the fish sit for 15-30min so it relaxes again and then reel it in. I am not sure if I should just put like 50lbs. test on my reel instead even though the recommended max is 30lbs.

It just pains me deeply that the line snapped. Any and all tips will be thankful even if it is bad or good, constructive criticism is welcome.

Thank you,
Bry

[Roddy Hays]

Add sawfish to the list of suspects, too.

[shoefish]

brysky-
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't find out what it was, but I'm thankful that you posted up your story- now it will go into my imagination as well. If it was me, I'd think about trying to get a big conventional reel with some high strength line and I'd be back there- I would think that your giant may still be there...

[clt_capt]

Jewfish or big shark would be my guess. We used to catch a lot of big bull sharks near there growing up...

[brysky]

Yeah, my buddy has a Penn senator with 50lbs diamond line on it, i dropped it with the same bait in the same spot 4 times after my line and never got snagged on the bottom so it has to be a fish i am convinced about that.

Thanks a lot for the help so far, didn't get a chance to go out there today since it was supposed to be 40% rain with chance of thunder storms so my friend didn't want to go out.

i am just a bit disappointed since it was my first day out with the set up i listed above and figured there was nothing i wouldn't be able to catch in the sarasota bay. now i am a bit worried since we plan on trolling for grouper and kings.

Guess i am going to have to get a larger setup... hell the owner of one of our local bait shops was saying i should be able to get anything when we were talking about shark fishing in the summer.

[Robja]

Could have been a big ray

[Jason @ Melton Tackle]

Bry, this reminds me of my days fishing Sarasota. I can tell you that I've had similar things happen in that area. My aunt and uncle live in Sarasota (Carribean Drive) and have fished there quite a bit. I have hooked into quite a few mystery fish!

[floridadeckie]

under a bridge, my money would be on a jewfish.

[SoFLA34]

sounds like a jewfish to me.

[Mokarran]

Just a word of caution, if you get a big reel with lots of drag the fish can tip your little boat over. So, please be careful.