this afternoon

[fixed80]

I went to an area where i usually do very well but got unfortunately
i got skunked instead.


after packing up my gear i went to a second spot and a little luck was on my side(just a tiny bit).
yeah i know its a nursey but a shark is better than no shark IMO.
by the way it ate a chunk of Bonita that mike caught for me at juno pier. thanks again mike.



with only one chunk of bonnie in the cooler i had nothin but rays rays and more rays. so i put one on and sent it out waiting patiently for about 15 minutes. while chitchatting with some guy i met on the beach.... my shimano tallus rod bows down very... very hard and line peels out with a race horse champion. i pick the rods up quickly and the line started to birds nest bad. of course that is bad cuz a knot in the power pro will send my one and only big gun in the water and game over for me. but.... luckily i fixed the problem soon and the line was birds nest free. only thing though, after the problem i had for a few seconds the line went slack. turned out it broke me off on the reef.
man i wish i could of caught that shark that hit hard but fishing is fishing and big fish seem to typically get away.
at least i had two hits within an hour and not every 3 or 4 hours like back in home county.

can anyone tell me what shark would strike so hard like that?
my tiger, nurses, and i believe lemons to are out the question. bull maybe, black tip possibility but nothing ive seen before. i doubt hammer cuz there usually caught during the night but some do bite during the day too.

[fixed80]

your right... it could have been a Bt but i never ever caught one there before.
they were bulls and my co hooked one as well. so who knows.

[Jordan]

I don't usually hear about tips eating rays especially whole so I don't think it was a tip..not unheard of but kind of unlikely I think.

[snookslayer08]

Tips will eat rays all day and the can be a pain in the ass. We've had tips knaw on whole 20-30lb rays until they get the hook. Could've been a tippie but we've had bulls pick up baits like that, you just don't really know until you lock up on em'. A tip will make a hard but short run when you come tight but a bull will spin you right around if you do the running man and even with circle hooks, soon as I leaned back on mine it started ripping and didn't stop till it found the reef. Only way we knew it was a bull was it ate another bait 30min later and when I put the tailrope on her she had another 12/0 gamy in the other side of her mouth with 150yrds or so of 80lb trailing behind her, she was very lucky she ate that other bait since she probably would've gotten all wrapped up in the line and drowned.

[Frogfish101]

Tips will eat rays all day and the can be a pain in the ass. We've had tips knaw on whole 20-30lb rays until they get the hook. Could've been a tippie but we've had bulls pick up baits like that, you just don't really know until you lock up on em'. A tip will make a hard but short run when you come tight but a bull will spin you right around if you do the running man and even with circle hooks, soon as I leaned back on mine it started ripping and didn't stop till it found the reef. Only way we knew it was a bull was it ate another bait 30min later and when I put the tailrope on her she had another 12/0 gamy in the other side of her mouth with 150yrds or so of 80lb trailing behind her, she was very lucky she ate that other bait since she probably would've gotten all wrapped up in the line and drowned.

Why would you do the running man with a circle?!?!?

[snookslayer08]

Why would you do the running man with a circle?!?!?

Sorry, worded it wrong, I meant when you do the running man with a j a bull will spin you right around and with a circle when you come tight and lean back they will pick you right up. With circles all I do is come tight and lean back as far as I can pretty much the same way i would in the harness.

[bolo]

It could have been .... Blah Blah Blah. You will never know until you land it. I have had BT strike so hard you though it was a monster shark. Usually BT don't give much a fight unless you fight them on light tackle like your spin gear. We fought Bull Sharks that didn't give much a fight until they see the bridge piling. Then they start biting the bridge. Stupid sharks.

[fixed80]

i know one thing for sure. if the fight is very slow and sluggish, than
its a good chance that a nurse shark is on the other end. if the rod tip slams down
hard and the line peels out fast... then it could be a number of sharks with
the first being a black tip cuz they can really pull your line out quickly.
But.... its just a short sudden burst and then they usually charge back to shore
making the fight end last only a few minutes.
a hammer from what ive heard make long Grey hounding runs that never seem
to end if the fish is quite big. a mako will do the same thing but there not very
commonly seen in our waters near shore.
let me see... ive hooked only one lemon that i know and it pulled steadily but
not quickly though. it wasn't actually that fast but once
the fish felt the hook it was thrusters on.
my co and I both hooked bulls before but they didn't take the line out as
fast as i thought. but every fish acts different IMO.
oh and the tigers. very slow from what ive read but steadily.

but bolo is right. wont know unless you bring it end.
and about that statement of tips eating large rays... sure is truth.
its a dead bait and a BT cant leave it be even if its too large to swallow
whole.

[Snook hunter]

I've seen hammers get hooked during the day. My only daylight hammer was hooked about 4pm and l have seen other people land them during the day.

[fixed80]

Tips will eat rays all day and the can be a pain in the ass. We've had tips knaw on whole 20-30lb rays until they get the hook. Could've been a tippie but we've had bulls pick up baits like that, you just don't really know until you lock up on em'. A tip will make a hard but short run when you come tight but a bull will spin you right around if you do the running man and even with circle hooks, soon as I leaned back on mine it started ripping and didn't stop till it found the reef. Only way we knew it was a bull was it ate another bait 30min later and when I put the tailrope on her she had another 12/0 gamy in the other side of her mouth with 150yrds or so of 80lb trailing behind her, she was very lucky she ate that other bait since she probably would've gotten all wrapped up in the line and drowned.

Why would you do the running man with a circle?!?!?

i made the same mistake several times. i should of reeled or tightened the drag so the hook will get logged in its mouth. but that last fish i had on... line was peeling so fast i was kinda like uhhhhhhhh. what do i do now. actually i dont know what i should do next time. leave it in the sand spike to set the hook or take the rod out and set it.
if i leave it in the spike and put on the drag... when i take it out of the spike, the rod may fly out of my hand due to the pressure. I'll have to think of something quick cuz tomorrow i might head out and stay for hours on the beach.