'Thanksgiving Shark Hunt'

While recovering from a world class holiday dinner with family, Brooks and Dave came up with the bright idea of going shark fishing. I logged on to weather.com and checked in on Mother Nature. Conditions were near perfect for late November so it was decided we'd head for the 'Shark Tooth Capital Of The World' early in the afternoon on Friday, set up camp and fish through an incoming tide from 6pm to midnight. Depending on the action, we might even see the sun come up on Saturday. It had now been a few months since our last outing making a spur of the moment decision to get back on the sand a real stroke of genius. This has been a year filled with hurricanes, more hurricanes, then a few hurricanes, a persistent red tide and historically high water temperatures. As a result...next to no productive fishing for us. I think I've personally got 2 or 3 snook on the board for '05 and they were caught in the backyard. The bottom line is the whole club was exhibiting chronic withdrawal symptoms making it high time to get a collective fix.
Making a list and checking it thrice
We spent the better part of Friday working through our checklist and finding our gear a little dusty, but in good shape. As usual, though, our fix / buy / prep list grew quickly. There were leaders to be made, spotlights to buy, baits to secure and a few dozen other smaller items to tend to. We got busy, and while we were at it, gave Captain Jim the alert. He would be meeting us on the sand later, along with Mom & Dad and possibly a few others.
Shaping up to be a Chamber Of Commerce Kind Of Day
Sean and his trusty assistant, Jack
Making dinner
The main course
Dave models our fall line
We had tasty baits, thanks to Jeff Knox & Robert at Fishin' Frank's
Camp was struck several hundred yards north of the pier, and despite the beautiful day, we pretty much had the beach all to ourselves. Sunset was right around 5:30 so we worked quickly to get 3 baits rigged and deployed beyond the second bar approximately 300 or so yards offshore. Working off recent suggestions from veteran land-based shark angler Capt. Jim Adam, we'd be going back to some simpler, old school rigging techniques this day. The biggest difference would be the utilization of a slider rig, as opposed to a double drop, needle rigged technique. I liked the time this saved and the flexibility that bridling the sliding hook offered with various sizes and types of baits. We're always willing to try tactics that make sense. Especially when the tips come from guys like Jim with 100's of land-based captures including a male bull shark exceeding 12 feet in length.
Mapping the drops
David Spielberg on camera-2
I'm underway with jack and mullet. Later, back on the sand to enjoy the sunset and wait for the show to begin
Time for a second serving
It was around 8:00 or so when we knew it was time to freshen our offering. Other than Dave doing battle with a few whiting in the surf, things were quiet. Then, while thawing out seconds, we spotted a boat just 100 - 150 yards off the beach. It had cut under the pier and was heading straight for our spread. Immediately, we're on our feet and hitting them with 3 million candles, whistles, waving arms -- you name it. These idiots were close enough to know something was up and it was time to slow down, stop or change course. Well, have you ever wondered why they call it 'common' sense? All we got in response to our efforts was a return of flashlights and some inebriated rebel yells. I got the clippers out and methodically waited for each strike alarm to sound and reluctantly snipped the 80# and 50# mono on the Penn 12 and 9. Normally, we would have the option of dropping our rods in an effort to clear lines below the prop. Unfortunately, in this case, we had top floats on each rig. This is one instance where that otherwise effective innovation can work against you. Dave had tried in vain to hold on with his 9/0 and finally broke off. Although, we tried like hell to lure them back; somehow hoping they would think we needed some assistance, we had no such luck. There wasn't one of us not entertaining assault and battery charges if they did return. Probably for the better, they motored off to the north in what looked like a zodiac. We would find out the next day, they also cut off several pier anglers who took advantage of the opportunity for some 6oz lead weight target practice as they headed away from the pier and towards us. I suppose the world be a boring place without idiots like that around to stir things up every now and then.

The trip had just gotten started so we turned our frustration towards figuring out a way to salvage the situation. After scanning the spread looking for the orange top floats we did spot at least 2, despite the thickening haze. I grabbed a rigged bonita head and the 12/0 mainline and got in the yak. The plan was to drop that rig so we'd have at least one trap set, then recover the two we spotted on the top floats and go from there. I took a handheld spot with me to try and locate the 3rd rig. That would not be found, but the bonita was dropped and I returned to the beach with Brooks and Dave's rigs . Captain Jim took charge of splicing 300+ yards of 50# back onto the 9/0 since it was in perfect condition. Dave decided not to splice and just drop short instead since he hadn't lost nearly as much yardage. Ultimately, we put a ladyfish and a jack on duty, along with the bonita by about 9:30 or 10:00. Other than Dave landing a black drum, it was quiet until about 1:30am. Just as the talk turned to our trip to Montauk earlier in the year, the 12/0 went off. But it was a short run that didn't result in a hookup. However, it got the blood flowing and the excitement level way up. Sadly, that would be the end of the action. Around 3:00am, we reluctantly started packing it in. There was a 1:00 Steelers matchup and a Giants game (Dave's team) later that day and we still had a few hours of work left before we could catch a little nap before kickoff.
Waiting on dinner guests
Dave banging the drum
Giants halftime action
Later that day, I set new personal record in the backyard with my smallest snook to date.

All in all, this was another fine opportunity to get outside and spend time with friends and family while brushing off the cobwebs. No doubt, it was a great feeling to get our toes in the sand and our lines back in the water after a long, tough summer season. Fall and winter can be productive times in Florida. You can rest assured, we plan on taking full advantage of the migration patterns and dry, cool weather. We did just that the following week. Click here for that story.