We were on the beach to fish the low tide at midnight, it looks like the nocturnal sandbar sharks are our best big shark option. Not a touch for the first hour or so but then the rod baited with a whole bluefish head hammered away - the nightlight shooting out across the water.
After a 200 yard run I set the hook (you can't set the hook until they stop), then began a brilliant 40 minute fight in the starlight. Long runs left and right with lots of angry head shaking before Paulos collared him in the surf and dragged him up the beach.
A 6" 6' male sandbar shark, not as bulky as the females but all muscle - well worth the late night!
We quickly followed him up with a small sandbar shark and a small sharpnose shark to Paulos. Then as suddenly as they had arrived they disappeared - the rods remained motionless for another hour or so before we called it quits.
With the weather set to change I'm really hoping to get another trip or two in - fingers crossed...
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Lack of sleep finally caught up with me this morning but looking at pictures like this make it all worth while. Nothing gets the blood pumping like dealing with a big biter for photos with the headlight off!!!
ReplyDeleteWho needs sleep when these thing are feeding at night? Yeah, me too - must be getting old!
DeleteI should have mentioned the photo trauma:
To get a decent photo at night you need complete darkness, spotlight and headlights off. And in this case as soon as we had darkness the shark went ballistic, teeth and tail whipping about - hence the middle photo (shark biting and my eyeline not following where it is).
Brilliant!