POWER FISHERMAN

Headed back over to South Padre Island, after last weeks exciting trip. Conditions looked really nice and Bauer285 and I were planning to hit it really hard. Coming back from the trip last weekend we analyze what we did right and was we could have done better. Shark fishing is really five things: (1) Enough time to fish, 48 hours makes a fine trip; (2) being good at sourcing/catching and taking care of bait; (3) being good in the kayak, and spending enough time in the kayak; (4) using sound shark fishing techniques; (5) being a leader and a go getter. Many times people spend all of their time on the internet focusing on number 4. If someone is not strong on 1, 2, 3, & 5, all of the knowledge of number 4 is not going to be of much use at all. Our plan was to improve on last weeks performance, and through better use of resources, get better trip.



We arrived at the beach after dark and rolled on down to the Jetty. Along the way down we saw some shark rigs in a truck, so we slowed down and stopped to talk. mpguillot greeted us, and I finally got to shake Paul's hand. Paul generously offer a large chunk of fresh jack to get started for the night. He gave us a quick briefing on the conditions and the action, and we hopped in the truck and rolled onwards to Mansfield.



Well we split the jackfish and got ready for business.







Night was just beautiful. Time to jump in the kayak and run the lines out under the moon.

What a night to run baits.





We stayed up watching the lines hoping for the stud. About 5:00 am, I drifted off to sleep, next to my 12/0.



We woke up to a really nice day. There were lots of dusky anchovies in the surf. Paul drives up and offers us some more Jackfish and Stingray. He even gives us his cooler. Nice guy. Thanks Paul.



Well is time to start the morning shift. We pop out some gotcha plugs and go to work.

The dark cloud of bait below is a school of dusky anchovies.











THE BITE IS ON. We have all sorts of action. A tarpon jumps my gotcha plug, a young guy is popping 22-26" trout on pony mullet, Bauer285 even missed a kingfish. Even the big ladyfish are in.



Here are some more pictures.













A little later we have a celebrity appearance with Shawncy Perez stopping by. Shawncy and Rowdy were fishing the north side of the cut.



After a 20 minute visit, they troll back across the channel in search of more adventure.

Two guys in a Frenzy kayak, they could make the ultimate fishing show with action like that.





About this time we have another appearance by Juan. Juan drove 3 hours to come and see us.

Look at that grill full of chow. It just does not get much better than that. Thanks Juan!





Here are some photos of the general conditions on Saturday.

















Well after that great chow and 2 Dr. Peppers, time to go back to work catching more and more fish.



Just does not get much better than this. One of the bigger macks we 28 inches long.









As the afternoon faded to evening we started running shark baits out. We got three lines out.

About 30 minutes later, one of the rods bends down and screams hard. The fish fights fast and fights different.

As Bauer285 get the topshot on the reel, we see a big silver flash, with a massive kingfish.

We land the king, and tape it. 52 inches of kingfish, the second largest king I have ever seen. I saw a 60 inch

king on Bob Hall in 2002, but this one is massive too. Maybe going 35 lbs.



Great catch Bauer285, another great fish checked off the list. The king hit a large chunk of ladyfish, on a handbook style leader fished on the bottom, in the center of the channel. What a catch, what a catch. Never heard of a king on a shark bait.

But you never know your luck when you go fishing.



Here is Bauer with the king.









I took a picture with the king too. Monster!





Well we ran some more lines out and continue fishing.





Bauer285 gets a nice 5'11" Blacktip. Very nice catch.





A little later I get a 5'11" blacktip as well. Shark was hooked up deep out in front, and was attacked pretty bad on the way in. Same thing happened in June 2004 on some of the shark caught in front of the channel with blacktips getting attacked. Crazy.



Here are some close ups of the scars.







We run a few more bait out. About 1:00 am Bauer285's 12/0 gets a nice run, but no connection. Come 3:00 am we finally doze off and sleep in later.



Sunrise Bauer gets his hands on a Guitarfish. Time to rock and roll. Very good bait; set this aside for sunset.





Well we are a little tired, so we move back down the beach and hit Wataburger. Drank a gallon of Dr. Pepper, then ran back out to the surf.



Here are some surf pictures from Sunday afternoon.





























We headed about 5 miles north of beach access #6. Time to prepare some Guitar Fish

for the evening action.





This one had baby...











Here are some pictures of the beach and ocean at sunset.













Here is our one sunset catch, a little 3 foot blacktip, and the end of a fun trip.









Altogether it was a fun trip. We did not catch as many sharks as we wanted to, but we improved our system,

and felt we hit it harder than the last time. The big bonus of the mega kingfish was the highlight of the trip.



Great to fish with Spencer. Guy is really motivated.



Deaver

Turbow

I cant really complain living on the water in FL now but I miss camping on the Texas beaches doing 24+ hour trips. Nice report. Especially that king off the bottom!

Breeze Fabricators

Great report and the pics were the bomb.!!

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Tim Scallan
Breeze Fabricators Inc.
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Gulf Breeze Fl.
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Geronimo

Man, being able to drive on the beach sure brings back somememories. We never owned a four wheel drive but we'd let about 20 lbs of pressure out of the tires and drive down to the point at Ft. Morgan. That was in the late 70's though.

Thanks for an excellent post and sharing thepictures.

Tex@OIP

Great report! Is this the same Deaver everyone is bashing on Extreme Coast? Thanks for the report.

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cert-315

Excellent! Yall got it goin on, love the reports and pictures...and that was one hell of a King!:bowdown

Chris Couture

Awesome photos!

amberj

Very Cool Pics!!!

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