Was waiting to post so StumpNocker stayed on the front page but today was a good day for fishing reports and he did not stay up long. March 16, Edisto Banks and then North Hole area. Water temps 70 at the Banks and 66 in closer. There were 4 or 5 boats trolling at Edisto Banks and one boat anchored in the North Hole area. That was all we saw.
Did battle with the evil tax man and won more than lost.
Moved many times to try to avoid the sharks. Tried drifting instead of position holding. Tried moving farther. Tried everything. The one thing that worked (mostly) was tighten down the drag and reel like an electric winch. Even had the wife put on the fighting belt so she could reel faster. She pulled up that shark, by the way, without assistance. With any luck, lead sinkers will give the tax man terminal indigestion.
Big spinning reels with 45 to 55 lbs of drag saved the day. Stupid expensive to buy but proved their value.
Knots were well tested, many times. I have used spider hitch for a loop on braid attached to the flouro with a no-name, a.k.a. Bristol knot, the last few years. Not sophisticated or trendy but can be tied consistently by me and haven’t failed because the knot is tied right.
For what its worth - not much - also caught a PB false albacore on a vertical jig.
The picture doesn’t do it justice, it really was a Fat Albert. I was so certain it was a blackfin that I reeled and lifted as hard and as fast as possible to beat the sharks. That fish beat me up pretty good. You can see in the picture needed to open the tuna door to avoid gaffing the fish. (The fish was released.) If God had made false albacore tasty, he might have made the perfect fish. God did not make false albacore tasty.
Found lots of fish, it was easy to understand why there were approximately a zillion sharks on the Banks. Kept 15 fish in the box, mostly big vermillion.
Great day on the water.