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3-9-07 Padre Island National Seashore Report |
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Surf
Conditions |
| I
hitched a ride with R.Lopez to the beach. We got out
there around mid morning and headed down in search of a
spot where we can get whiting to use for bait. We got
down near the 24mm where we found whiting. All the
whiting were large and could be caught on a regular
basis. Still not many whiting being caught north of
there. While we were catching whiting, R.Lopez hooked up
into something a bit better. He landed a nice redfish. |
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R.Lopez with
an oversized redfish
Released |
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Once we caught enough bait for
each rod, we set up and began to deploy shark rods. I
took out a rod with ray on it and two more with whiting
on it. On the way out on setting my last rod, I spotted
fish swimming on the surface. A group of 20 large
jackfish were cruising on the surface in the
second gut. I made it out to the third bar and dropped
the bait. When I made it back, R.Lopez said as soon as I
dropped the bait, it got hit. He said he saw a big
splash behind me. I left the bait there and a short time
later it took off again. The fish jumped out of the
water and then ran in on me. I struggled to keep up, but
he ended up spitting the hook.
I reeled in and redeployed the
bait. It didn't take long for the fish to hit that bait.
I got three jumps out of the blacktip and then it ran in
on me. I caught up to it thinking I lost it, but it was
still there. I got it close and it felt heavy like I was
dragging it. I figured it was foul hooked. When we
beached it, the hook was barely in the pectoral fin.
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BeachBum with
a 4'9.5" blacktip shark
Released |
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I spent most of my time
kayaking because we were getting a lot of hits.
Unfortunately, we didn't hook up on many of them. I
assume most of them were pregnant blacktips not wanting
to aggressively eat the bait.
As I returned from yakking
another bait, one of my rods were slacked. I picked it
up and began to reel it in. It was heavy, but not
fighting. I got it to the first bar and you can see a
shark's tail. So, my first thought was a finetooth shark
as they do not fight when hooked. Sure enough, it was a
large finetooth shark. |
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BeachBum with
a 5'0.5" finetooth shark
Released |
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Shortly before sunset, a flock of bird flew through and
one got tangled in my line. I had to wade out to it and
free it. I believe it was an Ibis. As I waded back to
shore, R.Lopez hooked up. After a short fight, he
beached a nice blacktip shark. |
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R.Lopez
with a 5'8" blacktip
shark
Released |
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The sharks are still there and it seems they are wanting
only fresh baits and none of the frozen baits got
touched. The seaweed was present, but still fishable on
yak baits. Thrown baits would require a lot of work to
maintain lines. Driving sucks from the 4WD sign on
south. Lots of soft sand. We need some rain to pack down
the sand. |
