8/7/06--Wilmington, NC Report.....one of THOSE days

[Squid]

Ever had one of those days when NOTHING goes right? Well that was yesterday for me. Decided to sleep in late and catch up on some sleep that I have been missing as of late.

Put the boat in around lunch and it was off to catch bait. It was being a bit stubborn but on the 3rd throw she floated with a wad of "fatbacks". Off we go to one of my grouper spots just a hair over 25 miles from Masonboro. Get there, mark the bottom, mark the groupers, get a rig tied on and lo and behold everyone of our baits belly up in the livewell! Apparently the livewell pump got airlocked and quit working sometime in the journey---cut the switch off then back on and it was working perfectly again....GO FIGURE!

Ok, so here we are and have no bait......break out the sabiki rigs. Moved around on the bottom and marked the cigars...dropped on them and up comes a load of ringtails. Oh well, they're small enough so in the livewell they go---at least we have something to use. Marked the cigars but couldn't get them going. Move a couple more miles to another piece of bottom to try and find them there. Once again mark the gags on the ledge just as pretty as a picture. Move off of it a bit to jig up some bait---again no cigars but smaller tomtates. Don't get me wrong, I like a tomtate however they're definitely not #1 on my list of baits. At least we had a dozen or so baits to get started with.

Dropped anchor and positioned perfectly over the ledge. First baits in the water and it wasn't long before my buddy Clint got bit. He bowed up on this fish and could barely move him. Got him about 10 cranks off the bottom and then there was a stand still. No giving....no taking. (Keep in mind that Clint is no small man by any means.....) Still not able to budge the fish, I put on a pair of wireman's gloves and start to handline the fish up. We figured it was a shark but until we saw color on this thing we had no idea how big this damn thing was. By far the biggest bull shark I've EVER laid eyes on! The pictures don't really do him justice but he was WAY over 10 feet (closer to 11 or 12) and my best guess puts him around 400 lbs or so. (Never caught one this big so I'm not sure at all on the weight.) His tail was at the transom and his head almost past the console of Clint's 23' Seahunt! Got him all the way to the side of the boat until he got pissed.....made a very short run then I pulled him right back up again. Got some pictures before he ran again---this time I had enough of him.....wrapped the leader and busted him off.

After all the excitement we knew that we had to make a move since no matter how many gags we were marking, they were not going to bite with that (and probably more) big ******* swimming around down there. So off we go to yet another small ledge. By now it's starting to get a little late in the afternoon and we had to make something happen quick. Again, marked our targets and went to drop anchor. Now the wind was switching a bit on us and we never drifted the same way twice which made anchoring almost impossible. Made a few half hearted drifts before both of us were so frustrated that we came on in.

I will make my revenge on these critters but it won't be until the first of next week since I am out of town with business.....but when I do...WATCH OUT!

[SeaBiscuit]

Murphy's law I guess captain Bryan.
Hot one out there yesterday, wasn't it?
Slip twisted my arm into sneaking out in the afternoon for a few hours. I made sure to stay in the shade and move sloooow!
Groupers were not doing much of anything. Fished 3 spots 20-30 miles off. 2 large reds, 2 medium gags and one respectable scamp. Big sharks, including a cute "juvenile" tiger of 150 lbs or so, had them shut down in a couple of the places. Thank God Slip was the lucky angler on the sharks!
Sorry no camera yesterday. It will have to turn NE before I try them again.
SeaBiscuit

[Squid]

Hot wasn't the word! Couldn't believe how hazy it was too. I thought about calling you yesterday morning to see if you were going to sneak out but it slipped my mind until I got offshore. Glad to hear we weren't the only ones dealing with the sharks.....I'll be in touch with you and we'll go get 'em when it cools down a bit

[slip slidin]

Makes you appreciate the good days a little more Capt Squid. Murphy's Law comes into play every now and then. Sorry it came for you yesterday. At least you didn't start your day with a treble hook stuck in your index finger like I did. Thank God Dr. Biscoto stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before (that was his response when I asked him if he knew what the hell he was doing when he was gettin ready to yank it out). As Biscoto said fishing wasn't the easiest yesterday but we managed to scratch out a few. Sure was a hot one. Good luck next week. Slip.

[Tom Kidwell]

Great pictures Squid!