Hey all,
Requiem was out for a couple of hours last night with some decent results. We caught 3 sharks in a few short hours and have a story of heartbreak that will us chasing the monsters of the deep for years to come.
As soon as I got to the beach I saw Dan hooked up with the perfect bait size ray. On top of the one the guys next to him had just given him, I knew we would at least catch something last night.
After getting all the reels in their spikes and setup, Dan takes the first one out. We didn’t even half of the rods paddled out before his Makaira went off and we landed this 60" blacktip.
We finished setting the rest of the reels and shortly after my small rod went off. After a quick fight I heard Blanding shout from the surf that it was a lemon. Figured. Lemons have been all over in August and September. She taped out to be 90" and unfortunately we were out of tags so was sent back without one. I caught this one on a 13/0 L2004 Eagle Claw, which is a much smaller hook than I usually use. However both lemons from the night were instantly hooked, so maybe I won’t always use a 20/0 in the future.
We still had plenty of bait left so I paddled another ray wing out into the surf at nig
Nice job, again. Were you in South Carolina?
Ya, we haven’t gone out of state in a while. I think I forgot to post the last 3-4 reports on here- we have caught maybe 15-20 lemons/tigers/blacktips from SC since my last report. 1 tiger in charleston 
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Have several “monsters that got away” stories over the past few decades on the beach so that one brought back some painful memories.
Was fishing in late Sept. in 1986 on Garden City beach at night. Had brought some nice albacore and big bluefish down for the week. We landed 2 Duskies in the 8-10 ft. range. Nice, healthy fish.
There for 2 weeks that year, oceanfront in the house we stayed in for 20 years. I was fishing the last night of the trip. My brothers had gone back home and it was only my parents and older sister left at the beach house. Everybody was in bed by 11. I decided to fish that night because I still had a 12 pound whole bluefish left intact in the freezer. Since I was effectively fishing solo, I put only one rig out. I had a 12’ Achilles inflatable then. My tackle that night consisted of my smaller rig ( 80 lb class). A home built 80 lb class trolling rod, 12/0 senator with 1200 yards of 80 lb. braided dacron.
I rowed out the bait about 400 + yards and dumped it. This was about 2030 hours. By 2300 hrs. everyone inside the house was asleep. I was fishing from the deck of the house where I had a lawn chair set up. At 0130 hrs. all hell broke loose. No slow pick up, just like someone on a bike had come down the beach and run into my line. I had fallen asleep and the incredicle scream of the 12/0 had startled me so bad that i fell off the lawn chair and my harness fell off my lap.
I picked up the rod and set the hook. The line was coming off so fast that even with the drag down about 70%, it felt like somebody had picked up my bait and put it into a passing boat.
I fought the shark for the next 3.5 hours, winding in 300-400 yards of line only to have it all taken back plus a few hundred more at times. At one point I was in serious danger of getting to the knot. I had about 75-100 yards left on the spool.I have felt many big sharks in my time, but this one was one of maybe 3-4 true monsters. I ended up having a break off at 0500 hrs. approximately one half a mile north of my ho
This is the third or 4th beast I have witnessed, the only one landed was on my everol 14/0. Some of my teammates judge for using 200lb tackle but these bites don’t come around enough to play around. Thanks for sharing your story blue.
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quote:
Originally posted by stanjwarren
This is the third or 4th beast I have witnessed, the only one landed was on my everol 14/0. Some of my teammates judge for using 200lb tackle but these bites don’t come around enough to play around. Thanks for sharing your story blue.
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You should have been around fishing the beaches with us over the years… you would fit right in with our crew. You all have some outstanding catches, congrats! i don’t know who the guy is taking the pics, but they are epic in quality!
Think I could handle one of those lemons on my big spinfisher v? Assuming that I don’t put 2/3rds the spool out on the drop???
Even if you have a 10500, still only 40lbs of drag. Do you think it would stop one? Just sayin’.
I don’t know about you personally but I am confident I could land them on my saragosa sw10000 which is the size of like the spinfisher v 6500. You should be able to land most of them yes. When I had a 10500 I caught a 9’er and it took 45mins and two runs of 300-350 yards, I was less confident then but sometimes it just depends on the fish. They are like people, some fat and lazy, and some could be running backs for shark football! You don’t know until you try.
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I am confident in my ability as an angler and in the tackle that I have but I realize it has limitations (the tackle). i would never fish it over 25lbs of drag unless I am grouper dropping. Just curious to hear what someone who has tangled with a few thinks about it. I’m not even likely to try it but maybe if I get a wild hair in the next month I will put a big wire rig out while targeting bull reds. Definitely true and interesting how some are just real ornery while others fairly lazy.
We have landed Lemons over 9’ that were like reeling in a 5 gallon bucket after 1 explosive run, in 15-20 mins… Then you get the occasional Lemon, like the 315 lber my daughter landed on the beach that took 1.5 hrs and swam 500-600 yards down the beach upon getting in close to the beach before it was tired enough to be horsed. I had one that we estimated at 11+ ft. on for over an hour one night and it was swimming over a deep dropoff just out of tailrope range for about 15 mins at the surface before the dacron cut around it’s tail ( had one of my short leaders on that night (15’) unfortunately).
Lemons are generally sluggish after a good couple or 3 runs. Bulls are a bit livelier as are Tigers. If you want some serious fighting on the beach, hook a big hammerhead or large Dusky. Sandbars are also very active fighters, but rarely go over 7.5’.
Big sandbars, blacktips, spinners, and medium lemons are about all in interested in tangling with to be honest!!!