PART 1 OF 3

When Grandma turned 100 this year we all got together to celebrate the special event.

At her party, I saw my 2nd cousin Vance. Now, Vance was brought up to trap & hunt.
He can tan a hide, catch an armadillo, skin a buck & run a trot line like a champ
He also makes custom knives with hand carved antler handles n etched blades.
Here is a pic of 2 blades he's working on now:

Was nice to see him all grown up. As we talked I showed him some pics & a video of what we've been catchin. When I saw his interest, I invited him on an outdoor adventure. He accepted, so this is the story of that trip...



Vance n I checked my little man out of school early so we could all hit the road after lunch. About 4:30pm we hit Houston. Actually we hit Houston traffic 2B exact

Determined to not let anything stop progress we pulled off of 45. We thought we'd burn some time re-fueling, grab a burger & get a new fishing license.

JK. But, we did eat some Wendy's burgers
Still needed a few items for our adventure, We had now burned nearly 2 hrs but, the traffic was still bumper to bumper Undetered, we pressed Southward dispite the traffic & not finding the gear we needed @ Academy. We finally creeped to East 10 when I remembered "Fishing Preacher" telling us about a place called Sea Pony Bait-n-Tackle in Winnie, TX.


We dove in to The Sea Pony just 6 min. before they closed. When we went in, we were greeted by new owner Rick (friendly guy & fellow shark angler)

Rick asked to see our beach trailer then he offered to show us his "Beach RIG" a camp/yak trailer/beach wagon set-up. Its rigged up nice w/ all the things you'd need to spend several days camping on the beach.
Now Vance n I still needed a Large spool of heavy fishing line & we were both in the market for new salt reels. Vance picked up Shimano Fin-nor & Rick sold me my 1st Avet. We were able to hand pick our Stingray (shark bait) from their freezer & several lbs. of fresh pony sized mullet (Redfish n shark bait). We were impressed with the Sea Pony's selection of large spools of fishing line, assorted gear, bait, Rick's beach wagon n the Sea Pony's other accesories!



PART 1 0f 3

looking forward to the next installment of this adventure!

Congratulations to your Grandmother! That's Awesome.

2 OF 3

We Finally hit the beach about an hr after dark.
The Mission: Land a Bull Shark, a Bull Red & if we got Juuust lucky enough, maybe even land a Big Ugly (Lrg. Adult Black Drum)
Around 9:30pm we started by paddling out 2 lines in the dark from the beach. 1 had a chunk of Sting Ray. We dropped it about 300 ysrds out. The other had 1 whole Pony Mullet which we dropped Approx. 200 yards out. They both soaked all night with no action

This is an arial pic of the area we fished. We were set up just to the right of this pic.


In the AM I woke up early when nature called. I walked on over to the pass to hit the head. As i walked I noticed 1 father n son team wearing the fish out. Looked like everyone else was gettin bit too but they were having trouble hooking up. The father n son were real nice n friendly. The Dad told me that they fish there often. He also said that all the passes n jetties were on fire if you had big live shrimp & could keep it just off the bottom. It looked like they were working on a limit of slot Reds & Black Drum. Then, they started hauling in trout
I stood there & studied them and noticed everyone else frouning & shaking their heads. After a while the Dad turned to me n said they were going to have to leave. Then he offered his spot to me. He also said I was welcome to have his live shrimp. I explained that I would need to go & get my son & cousin so they could hook a few. I gladly accepted & went back for the crew who were still on the beach. We all moved to the pass and got rigged up as best we could. My boy wasted no time.


Within 10 min Iron Boy had us a nice lil Black Drum for the grill!


If you look closely behind Vance you'll see 2 nice black ladies.
They had been fishing all AM but, only landed 1 tiny fish which they they threw back. About 5 min after Iron Boy landed his Drum, one of the ladies hooked something big. We look over & see her struggling with it. Thinking she might want help, I offered my assistance. After feeling the weight of it and seeing it turn into the current I cofindently handed the rod over to Iron Boy. He reeled it all the way to the wall. When i saw it i knew we'd either need a harpoon, gaff or at least a lrg net. One of the ladys handed me their net. We were able to net it fine but it was so heavy it broke the net!!! Then another fella came running over with his net. I had just got it up over the wall before the net gave way The ladies asked if it was good to eat. I told them It was.
I asked them if they wanted me to take a pic of them with it. They wouldnt touch it but asked if id put it in their cooler for them. I wish i would have gotten a pic I turned around and didnt see them. Someone said they jumped in their car & tore off.
I was so suprised to see them return that i forgot to ask them for a pic but learned they went to the store to purchase ice for the coolered Drum
We did scratched it off list of fish BIG UGLY to catch.

I hooked a nice Redfish that got loose as i tried to pass the rod to Iron Boy


2 OF 3

Cool!!! What's the black stuff on the hook for?

BKT,

Thanks & good question.


Sharks have highly sensetive reseptors all over their body but particulary their head. I believe its one reason they hunt so well in low or lightless conditions. We also catch more sharks at then. Some folks believe that wrapping their hooks or plastic dipping them will help a shark commit to the hook.
I personally don't do it. I just found that pic to show u what a Cownose Ray looks like on a shark rig It is believed that these sensors allow a shark to pick up electo magnetic energy as well as pressure/movement/scents from a long way among other things. Some believe that an exposed fish hook may give off a false or low level magnetic energy. That is why some anglers wrap or dip their hooks.

3 OF 3

As morning ended so did the bite. After talking to a local, we decided to head East.
We were told that there were more sharks East of the pass & oddly in greater numbers

After a quick stop at the local bait house we hit the rd again.
All weekend the Wind was shifting from the South to the North which didnt help us much.
Our trailer Flag went limp several times over the 3 day period.


Once we unpacked & set up, it was time to paddle out some more shark lines.
This time we used a Ray wing on 1 & a piece of Ray wing + a half mullet on the other.
We also put out 4 smaller rods rigged for Bull Reds.
The shark lines stayed soaking all day until a SMALL Shimp boat picked up one of our lines.

We lost approx. 400 yads of brand new 80# Line. I dont know how much braid was lost
Luckily Vance had the mind to cut the line before the shrimper spooled him. Ours wasn't the only picked up. As soon as i realized what was happening, I jumped on the yak & paddled as hard as i could to catch up with the jackhole. When i got along side him, I proceeded to give him a piece of my mind When i returned to the beach a fellow shark angler had already walked over to our camp. He told us they had managed to get the boats TX#s with their binoculars & were going to turn him in. A Game Warden came by later & told us the shrimper had the right to troll over our lines. WHAT THA??!??!?!?!?

Then he said... the best thing to do when we saw them coming was to reel our lines in
I'm still trying to digest it ;~/



I Couldn't believe it! But, why stand there n argue?
I did deliver a strong message to the shrimper. I made sure he knew to not do it again.

Enough about that...
That night we landed this nice Bull Red! It came out of the 1st gut on a whole Pony Mullet


Not a bad 1st Red Fish for ol Vance.
BULL RED
Then we landed this 5 1/2 footer...
ACTION!!!





Not bad for Vance's first shark either.

BULL SHARK & MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!



It got real Northerly after that.
Happy with our success and not too excited about the cold front, we decided to return a day early
On the way home, Vance told me the Bull Shark was the largest fish he's ever caught.


Until next time

3 OF 3

Sounds like a fun trip. Way to put the cousin on some fish!

Great three-part report, Z! Wish I could have joined you guys. Next time for sure...until then...

PS: I expected to see at least one pic of your new shark-hunting trailer/platform. Is it classified information?

You should have hollered at me. You drove past me twice. I still have the fish camp 9/10 mile from Rollover.

Thanx dudes

Classified? No.
The beach wagon/trailer still needs some finishing touches.
Still Want to add 2 more yak holders n make a spot to place the grill.
will post photos then.

Will definately holla next time Preach