So, I moved down here to be by the ocean so I could fish. So, I guess I'll write about fishing.
My porch backs up to a seawall. A major boat lane runs right along the seawall in this area. The current really rips through here when it is moving. There is a lot of sea life and I seem to see something new almost every day. There are a bunch of sea birds around all the time. Mostly pelicans but a lot of these as well.
Before I did anything, I had to get some saltwater gear. I've been a bass fisherman for a long time, and you can use bass gear but you really need saltwater tackle if you are going to fish regularly. So, I trucked over to the tackle shop, knowing absolutely nothing, to get some gear. I told the guy I wanted something for normal bay fishing (trout, etc.) and something for big fish like sharks. He sort of snickered when I said that and said "well, how big". I told him, I dunno, big? More on this later.
So, he sold me these two combos. He spooled both with braided line, something I've never used. The smaller one has 30 lb. line and the bigger has 75 lb. line. He taught me some knots and sent me on my way.
I've tried to catch the normal gamefish here - trout and redfish, with not much luck. In fact, I haven't caught either one from my property. I believe they stay in the shallower water but it might just be the time of year. There are a ton of little fish around the rocks that are up against the seawall. Grunts, pinfish, boxfish, puffer fish, snapper, catfish and more. I've caught a few nice flounder too.
I met my upstairs neighbor and we bonded immediately. He's a hardcore fisherman AND he has a boat so this is awesome. He told me that there are a lot of big sharks in the bay so I decided to try to catch one of them.
While I was talking to him, a big stingray swam by. I estimate about 2 1/2 ft. across. He caught a little fish and told me to go get my big rig and see if we could catch that stringray. Well, I did!
Hard to tell size here but, yeah.
The next night I decided to try to catch a shark. I caught a little fish, cut the tail, hooked it and tossed it out.
Just to get an idea of the tackle I'm using, here's the hook on a steel leader.
I almost immediately caught a small shark. Probably about 2 to 2 1/2 ft. long. Bad pic but more on this later.
About 30 minutes later, I got another hit and it was ON! Fought it for about 30 minutes and it finally appeared. I just went "oh crap, what do I do now". It was about 6 ft. long. I got it as close as I could but I couldn't manage it and get a camera at the same time. So, I cut the line and let it go.
Since then, we've been after even bigger sharks. My neighbor hooked one that wrapped around a channel marker about 50 yd.s away and broke his 80 lb. line. Then another one spooled his 50lb. line setup.
Last night I hooked a big one that I couldn't slow down. I finally cranked the drag down pretty hard after he took about 100 yds. of line out and my knot failed
My plan is to get a gopro to start documenting this.