So Optiker and I are checking the offshore forecast every day for the past week. Forecast was right on the entire time. We had 1-2FT at about 9 seconds. It was perfect for enticing some Spadefish to the surface. We leave the ramp around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday with Optikers son and our neighbor and his son looking for some bait. Managed quite a few mullet and then scooped up and abundant amount of Jelly Balls. We were set! Got out to the reef and positioned ourselves in a previous location where Optiker had some success. We loaded a few JBs on a coat hanger and send it to the bottom. While were waiting for the Spades to show we started bottom fishing. The BSBs were biting but were small (except one keeper). A few spades surfaced 20-30 yards away from the boat but we couldnt get them to hit. Our neighbor Rick hooks into a nice 31 Redfish. It was his largest redfish ever. Next, the Barracudas show up. We loaded some bait on a hook and watched an 18 pounder hit. Optikers son was up and he did a great job fighting that fish with several drag-screaming runs. Next up was our neighbors son and it wasnt long before a huge cuda swallowed his bait and took off. He fought it for about 15 minutes before the cuda made a run under the boat and broke him off. He still had a huge smile on his face (not the cuda). Still no luck with the Spadefish.
Im fishing with a Shimano Sahara 4000 on a medium action Uglystik. 20# PowerPro with 50# mono leader. My pole starts to slowly bend and as I grab it out of the holder the reel has a steady, slow scream to it. As much as I gain on it, the fish takes it all back. About 15 minutes later, I see this huge brown object surface about 30 yards out but still cant tell what it is. Finally get it to the boat and realize I have about a 7Ft Nurse Shark that had to weigh between 70-100 lbs. No way were we going to attempt to put that in an 18Ft center console with 5 anglers on board. It was an awesome fight and the largest fish Ive ever caught. After a few pics were taken it was a quick release
Cool pictures. Nice report. Thanks for sharing.
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