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Got down to Chincoteague yesterday around noon. The plan was to launch out of the inlet, find a nice sandy beach, catch bait, and see what was hitting.
The 5-10 predicted winds were easily 10-15 launching out of the inlet. I found a spot worthy of my tent behind a mudflat, got setup, and threw out some fish bites. Within seconds I had my first fish, a little Black Sea bass*
Threw him back with the hopes of getting some real bait. Second cast yielded a nice fat pinfish. Rigged him up on the shark rod and paddled him out about 100 yards from my camp n dropped him down. Paddled back to camp and jigged some while waiting for my big rig to start singing.
I'm sitting there jigging and notice that my rod tip is just slowly bending down towards the horizon, and then it just stops. No line peeled no nothing. Just sitting there bent over, real awkward like.
I went over to my rod and started feeling expecting to reel in a clump of grass or a small skate. It felt pretty heavy, and I was practically dragging it in the whole way. I've had rays act like that before and was expecting it to be one as it was moving ever so slightly and slowly when I got it into shallower water.
About 10 yards from shore I finally get it up to the surface. A juvenile sandbar shark that had no fight until I brought him out of the water
My brothers and I have caught and dealt with big sharks. And without a doubt these smaller sharks put the angler at a much greater risk of getting bit. These things move so erratically and with such speed, all the while trying to bite you. With a big shark you can get on the side of him, put your knee on his pec fin, and he can't turn on you. These little ones are scrappy.
Got the hook out and released him with no problem. Felt good to finally scratch my shark itch I've been having all year even if it was a smaller guy.
I called it a night and set up my camp
Woke up the next morning and the wind was blowing even harder. White caps everywhere. Sharking was pretty much out of the question so I decided to see what would hit fish bites. Sea bass, whiting, pinfish, and a nice samich sized croaker kept me occupied throughout the morning.
The NOAA forecast kept getting sketchier and sketchier. They were putting out a small craft advisory for Wednesday so I decided to head out early and beat the conditions. Going back in was rough with some decent swells, but I was happy with how the 4.7 performed.
All in all it was an awesome trip. I finally got to camp on a beach, catch my shark, and fight horse flies for two days.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The 5-10 predicted winds were easily 10-15 launching out of the inlet. I found a spot worthy of my tent behind a mudflat, got setup, and threw out some fish bites. Within seconds I had my first fish, a little Black Sea bass*
Threw him back with the hopes of getting some real bait. Second cast yielded a nice fat pinfish. Rigged him up on the shark rod and paddled him out about 100 yards from my camp n dropped him down. Paddled back to camp and jigged some while waiting for my big rig to start singing.
I'm sitting there jigging and notice that my rod tip is just slowly bending down towards the horizon, and then it just stops. No line peeled no nothing. Just sitting there bent over, real awkward like.
I went over to my rod and started feeling expecting to reel in a clump of grass or a small skate. It felt pretty heavy, and I was practically dragging it in the whole way. I've had rays act like that before and was expecting it to be one as it was moving ever so slightly and slowly when I got it into shallower water.
About 10 yards from shore I finally get it up to the surface. A juvenile sandbar shark that had no fight until I brought him out of the water
My brothers and I have caught and dealt with big sharks. And without a doubt these smaller sharks put the angler at a much greater risk of getting bit. These things move so erratically and with such speed, all the while trying to bite you. With a big shark you can get on the side of him, put your knee on his pec fin, and he can't turn on you. These little ones are scrappy.
Got the hook out and released him with no problem. Felt good to finally scratch my shark itch I've been having all year even if it was a smaller guy.
I called it a night and set up my camp
Woke up the next morning and the wind was blowing even harder. White caps everywhere. Sharking was pretty much out of the question so I decided to see what would hit fish bites. Sea bass, whiting, pinfish, and a nice samich sized croaker kept me occupied throughout the morning.
The NOAA forecast kept getting sketchier and sketchier. They were putting out a small craft advisory for Wednesday so I decided to head out early and beat the conditions. Going back in was rough with some decent swells, but I was happy with how the 4.7 performed.
All in all it was an awesome trip. I finally got to camp on a beach, catch my shark, and fight horse flies for two days.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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