Anyone want meet up around 22nd st. IOP? I was hoping to try for some S.mackerel.
Chris
Woke up around 7:00a and right out the door. A quick stop for a biscuit and some Bo-rounds, then to IOP. I was in the surf by 8:00a. I launched at 21st street. Winds out of the west at 5mph and temps steady around 75. Breakers were’n bad at all. I punched through then stopped about 200 yards from the beach to plug up my fish finder, first time I got to use it. I started heading NNW towards locations I wanted to checkout. I rigged up one line a 3/4oz rattle trap and started trolling. The swells were starting to get bigger about a mile out, 2-3’ but spaced out a little so not too bad. I scanned the area I was looking for and didn’t like what I saw, so off to the next spot. Got there and rigged up a 5" cigar minnow and on the third cast it was on! I horsed a 3’ blacktip shark up to the boat after a 5 min fight. He was still a little green so, i let him sit next to he boat for a minute, unhooked him and he took off. I saw some bait popping on the top, I thought maybe Spanish or blues were chasing baits. I broke out my bait-caster an started chucking’. I could not get a bite to save my life. I thought maybe the bait I was throwing was too big. I tried to reach in the hull to grab a spoon, but my tackle box with my hard plastics had slid to the back of the yak. No biggie, I switched back the big rod. Rigged a cigar minnow with no weight and started pitching it around he same spot I caught the shark. Second cast and… Wham! The rod slammed straight down. I thought I had another shark, but this was bigger it pulled hard. It took drag like crazy. I saw something splash on top about 50yards away then again 80 yards. I was hooping an hollering like a fan at a baseball game. I couldn’t tell what it was but the splash was huge. Then down and back out to sea it went. This fish burned off about 250yards of line before I could even try to slow it down, it felt like a king. I fought the fish for 30 min. It pulled hard from left to right and every time I gained line on him he took back even more. I started to get tired so
Sounds like a great day. You could have hooked a king, shark, tarpon, or even a big ray or cobia. All sorts of fun stuff out there that can peel a lot of line off in a hurry when they want to.
Congrats on surfing it in. That’s an accomplishment.
Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com
Excellent report…sorry I couldn’t make it. You’ll have to get back out there and catch that big one that got away…
