Thursday, April 16, 2015

Black Tip Mania, The Sharks are in!

We were really hoping for red fish, bull reds to be exact. Dave's personal best was a forty four inch red caught and released last fall. Mine was a forty one inch from a while ago. So we had good cut mullet and shrimp out and just playing the waiting game hoping the reds were in shore.
It didn’t take long before Dave’s pole went off and he fought in a black tip shark. Not a real big one mind you but a black tip none the less. As shark season is closed right now, and the fish was undersized anyway, he safely released the fish and we both watched it swim away.
My pole went off next and I hoped the fish was a red. Unfortunately the fight didn’t start with a big run so I kind of knew what to expect. As it neared shore I saw the distinctive tail of a sting ray and carefully removing the circle hook I released it.
Dave caught another shark before it was my turn and still no reds. Our friend John had caught black
drum the week before but they had disappeared and it was turning out to be a shark filled day. It has never really mattered to me what I catch I just like catching fish. I could see Dave smile as he fought in the largest shark of the day.
As we picked up our poles I felt a fish run and again hoped for a red but it turned out to be another black tip. Still it was another fun fight and another nice black tip. We had caught other fish, four gaff top and numerous hard head catfish. All were safely released and everyone should use circle hooks!

Driving back we spotted my brother in law Gary being filmed by a NBC news crew. He had been picking up tar balls, still washing ashore perhaps from the Deep Water Horizon spill. It seems that very few care anymore but Gary does and so he walks the beach.
It had been a fun day with lots of shark and other fish. We didn’t have any thing for the table but that’s ok.  A beautiful day on Elmers Island fishing for shark! Clear skies.


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