# best fight to this date



## bull shark catcher (Aug 25, 2004)

i want to know what your best fight with a fish was to this date and explain why it was the best fight u have ever had. I like to read these kind of stories so make them interesting thanks


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## CAPSIZED (Aug 10, 2004)

Probably a 9' Hammerhead on a snapper rod and reel. Very smart fish, he tried everything. Circled the boat on top, circled on bottom, made very long runs followed by charging the boat. When we finally got him next to the boat we could see at least 3 hooks hanging out of this mouth. He had plenty of experience with anglers.


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## boom! (Jul 10, 2004)

11 ft hammerhead. Kept getting broken off on the bottom. I put a wire leader on and 1 1/2 hr later was wishing I hadn't!


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## gundoctor (May 20, 2004)

Something I hooked at Held Bank back in the 80s. 
I was using a 9/0 with a live cigar minnow as bait, fishing off the stern of the New Buccaneer. I had borrowed heavy cable leader from the deckhand.
Something hit the cigar minnow and the reel started to scream and smoke. This went on until I could see the arbor of the spool through the mono. At that point, I thumbed the spool to try to stop the fish. The crimp at the hook end of the leader slipped and I lost the fish. If that crimp hadn't of slipped, I have no doubt that I would have been spooled.
I never saw it so I have no idea what it was. The run was like a big king on trout tackle, only kings don't get big enough to do that to a 9/0.
it was probably some kind of big shark or maybe a big tuna. I read in the paper that there was a large blue fin caught in that same area by another boat that same day. 
I'll never know, but I want a rematch when I have a bigger reel with more drag, and one of my backbraided cable leaders.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Wthout a doubt it was one of three big a.. amberjacks caught out of Port O'Conner drifting a Liberty ship. I talked the Captain into putting a hook into one of the small snappers we would catch and release only to see em get clobbered by these big jacks just feet from the boat. Well let me tell you that little fish didn't get ten feet from the boat before a 45lb amberjack engulfed it in a cool "up from the bottom like a flash hit". This happened just as the Captian handed the rod off to me, the big jack took me down to the railing in a heartbeat and we stayed there quite a while before I got some line and my rod up. It pulled like a mule on rollerskates for twenty five minuets and I thought oh yeah I got this fish coming, and needless to say it taught me a lesson about amberjacks for another twenty minuets. We caught three that day over open water from 40 to almost 50 lbs., the Captian said it was hard to land them by a rig because they can break you off so quick. One other small(20lbs) amberjack was at boatside once getting unhooked and a BIG MAMMA amberjack came swooping up from the bottom and tried to eat it while we were unhooking it.


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

I was fishing the flagship in the late 80s. I had a 10 1/2 ft fenwick rod I had built and a newell 344 filled with 40 mono , about 350 yds.
It was tarpon season (llate summer) and I was wishing for a hookup.
I had about a 8 inch mullet on whole with a standard 500 lb mono leader and 16/0 circle hook.
The rod took off in Jackfish fashion and I was on it like a chicken on a cheetoe. 
When I set the hook (i always set the hook on circles) he begins to really peal off drag. He goes and goes and I'm thinkin, he's gonna take it all. Finally its down to about the last 50 yds.
It was defianatly not a Jack and ofcourse not a tarpon, but it was big.
He then stops and comes to the surface. The water was glass slick that day and you could see his tall dorsell all the way out there.
I then pumped him all the way back to the pier with no more runs.
He gets within 50 or so yards of the pier and I'm thinkin its a respectable Hammerhead. All of a sudden he starts taking drag again and this is an hour into the fight.
He takes me down to about the same spot he stopped the first time. What a power house this fish is.
I get him about 100 yards from the pier, an hour and 30 minutes into the fight and the newell locks up tight. Nothing will move , handle , spool, nothing. The left side plate is bludging out like its inflated, and has a crack in the edge and is about to explode.
The big shark is plenty tired by now and we make one last effort to get him in.
My buddy wraps the line around his hand and we cut it. We take the reel off the rod and replace it with my other newell after we strip some line off of it. 
My bud make a line splice and the fight is back on, the fish is wore out by now 1hr and 45 minutes into the fight.
I get it in and its a big Bull about 200 lbs.
We look at it and decide to rope the leader and try to break the sleeve.
As we pulled up on the rope the leader sleeve gave way with the full weight of the big guy on it.He swam away tired but unharmed. Wish my newell would have faired as well.
When I got it apart , the spool had complety broken in two because of the line going on so tight. And that pressure pushed against the side plate and cracked it .
I sent it to carl newell, along with a nice letter of what happened and got it replaced. 
I caught several tarpon and one on a newell 344, but none put up the power of that fish, nor have any other Bull shark I have ever caught .
He was defianatly good brude stock.


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## Rine_Everett (Jun 3, 2004)

I went on a charter trip with my cousin who is in the AF out of Florida after Rita went past. I took my 14/0 along for the ride. We pulled up to a spot the Captn said was a good spot and he had been catching grouper off the spot very consistently. We stayed there for about 1.5 hours catching beeliners. As we where getting ready to head to another spot, the capt took a smallish beeliner hooked to my 14 and dropped it to the bottom. He then turned and said you are going to have to catch that *^&# shark before we leave. No later than he said that the 14 took off like it was tied to a sub. 1 hour and 45 minutes later he quit fighting and I was stuck. we had to end up 'planing' him up. That is drive the boat slowly forward until he is at the top then back down while reeling. We did that 5 times before I saw a 8'11 inch Hammerhead. One of my life goals is to catch and release a 15 ft hammer, after this fight and the outcome I am reconsidering that goal. We ran a rope over his hammer to pull him forward real slow like but he never moved. We ended up gutting him and heading in. The meat was tough but not real bad, I prefer grouper though. It was still the best fight just sorry about the outcome. For those of you who have not fished with me the 14 is spooled with 1600yds of 80lb.


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## Omanj (May 21, 2004)

One summer while coming back in from a successful trip chasing snapper and kingfish at the east rigs out of Galveston, we saw a shrimper that had a deckhand waving us over. He told us some ling were behind the boat. Sure enough, I threw out a bait and a small ling bit the tail off my bait without getting hooked. We were about out of casting range and (without replacing my bait) I fired a cast back to the stern. As soon as the cigarfish hit the water, there was a huge brown tail that exploded on the surface. I had a Shimano 450 baitrunner filled with 20 # mono and it looked like the ling was going to take it all before my friend Curtis could start the motor. Fortunately, the big fish turned back towards our boat and I had to really crank the handle fast to keep the belly out of my line. Then, she stopped beside the boat and dove straight down towards the bottom. The routine became pump, grind, follow the leader. Her next trick was to hang suspended about twenty feet down for the next forty minutes - while circling around and around. Curtis' boat was a 21' Seahawk cuddy cabin and I had to do a balancing act several laps around the boat due to narrow walking space on the side rails. Luckily, there was no bottom structure for her to retreat to because we were in the middle of nowhere about 18 miles offshore and about a half mile from the shrimp boat. The day was slick calm with no breeze to cool me off. After lots of sweating and straining, I raised her up to about a depth of ten feet and we could barely see the big fish in the green water. Finally, I managed to tire the ling out and after a couple of good shots with the fish pacifier, we headed back to the yacht basin where she weighed in at 65 pounds-my biggest ling to date!


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Not my best catch but I'd have to say one of my best fights was when I caught a kingfish at the Surfside Jetty on my trout rod.


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## wacowade (May 27, 2004)

Down in Galveston last winter... I was fishing with a buddy off of one of the Rock Groins at the Seawall. I had some medium sized tackle was was catching some Whiting and small Specks. My 7 ft Surf rod and spinning reel buckled over in the rod holder. I snatched it up and my line started peeling off like a rocket.
This spinning reel only held about 150 yards of 30# mono. I had broken off about 20 yards earlier in the morning.... As I tightened the drag, the line didnt slow down much as all.. Figuring I was going to get spooled.. I just held on and prayed!!! I saw the spool 99% empty.... Then it happened. It got to my KNOT at the bottom... The Rod bent around like a Horseshoe..I waited for the line pop... And Waited.. and Waited... It didnt come... I cranked and got some line coming back in.. About 40 Yards....Then off again...Flying off the spool like crazy.. Back to the KNOT!!! Again.. No pop! Then I cranked again.. and finally got the fish up the the rocks.. 15 Minutes later.. I wonderfull 42" mad as hell bull red. My friend got wet landing the fish but I threw on my Tag and took it home for dinner. What a blast. Saw my Spool Knot twice with one fish and still landed it.. For me.. that was the best.

Wade


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## hector200 (Jul 7, 2004)

i was jolted by strike as my yozuri.mullet wobbling barely submerged was ambushed by a big rampaging jack, after 40 minuets on a 7" rod an a ABU 6000C 15 pound mono, heall of a faith.
i got the fish to the rocks, this jack was in the 30 pound range,


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## CrazyYak (Mar 16, 2005)

A 1 hour & exactly 37 minute fight with a YF Tuna on Capt. Casey in 2004. Using a Penn 9500SS with 30lb Penn Slammer Rod with 350 yards of 30lb mono. The fish was in the 100-110lb range and the line broke while gaffing, one hell of a rush though. I was using diver plug, Stretch 25 in Blue and Chartreuse if I remember correctly. Nothing like a big fish on light tackle! Now I use 80lb PowerPro but the trips I booked have all cancelled...


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## podnuh (May 26, 2004)

Jack Crevalle off the beach. I cast a live finger mullet from the 2nd bar and it hit while walking back to the beach. Had to fight it all the way back to the beach and kept handing the rod over to my brother 'cause it was wearing us out. I thought it was a volkswagen. Ended up being a 35 pound jack.


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## bambinosan (Feb 9, 2005)

I was cruising out of Freeport about 25 miles out on 180 when I crossed about a 10-15ft gully and marked some fish. We immediately set out a feather and a king hit immediately. I anchored there and we chummed up a bunch of kings one right after another. I saw a giant ling off the port side and threw at it with a cigar minnow using a large open face with 30 lb test with the drag set by using a weight of about 7.5lbs. The ling hit the bait immediately and ran at 10 o'clock wide open it didn't take long to get spooled. I had two raps left on the reel. The fish turned and headed back toward the boat. I got it to the boat and when it saw us it headed in the same direction again. It's hard to believe, but what made this a spectacular fight was that the ling did this five times and when it got to the exact spot where I had about two raps left on the reel it turned left and came back to the boat with a little help, that is. The fifth time I got her back to the boat my buddy got to try to stick her with a gaff but he missed. Ouch! Guess what? It went the same way again and about two thirds of the way there it slowed down nearly to a stop. I figured I had it this time and I began to crank it back in. The reel was slipping just a little and I could tell the big fish was tiring so I ignorantly reached to the drag and moved it about 1/8th of a turn. Yes, you guessed it, it was a big mistake to touch the drag at all for she turned again and broke off. Duhh? I have seen lots of lings but this one looked to be a hundred, but the ones we lose always look the biggest. Don't they? If my bud wasn't 6'3", and 350, I might have told him a thing or two. LOL


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## Sharkhunter (May 22, 2004)

*7 ft sand bar*

I hooked what I believed to be at least a 7ft sand bar out of SLP while fishing for tarpon. I through out an abu5500 with 12lb test line as a kind of a stunt because there were alot of small spinners around. Will I got hammered by big boy. Two hours and about 1.5 miles later we boated her. The fight was so stressful on the shark with that lite line she died at the boat. My buddy feed his whole naborhood with her though at a fish fry, nobody ever knew they where eating shark lol.


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## Bleed~Fish (Mar 4, 2005)

I get credit for half that fight wade, I was the one that almost went swimming for it!Was pretty crazy though,you ever get that picture that lady took of the fish on the grions.

A Bull red i hooked up with on the san luis pass pier, it was about 25-30 lbs, fought it for about 10 mins on a ultra light spinning combo with 8 lb test,i was using the rod to catch whiting for bait, and bang,hooked it on a small treble hook free floating a shrimp.Peeled line and ran up and down the pier the whole time,got alway after it made a mad run under the pier snapping the line.Had to retire the reel the bearings and gears all burned up, the rod bent off 2 of the eyes. Dang tha was amazing.

He lives to fought another day on somebodys ultra light.


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## spotsndots (May 20, 2005)

I'll tell this one for my dad. Back in the early 80's we were fishing in the Poco Bueno. They were pretty sure they were in the money with what they had brought in on Friday. On Sat. at noon in dead flat seas they found a school of tuna. They trolled around the edge hoping there was a big blue hanging around. All 6 lines (Penn 80's) go off at the same time basically. They start working them in 1 by 1. Five of the six were tuna and brought to the boat. The 6th was coming in like the rest. All of a sudden something hit it and started burning drag. The guy on the end of the rod was maybe a buck 50 in weight. No jumping just constant pull. After 2.5 hours he got worn out. Up until this point they couldn't do anything but pour water on him to try to help keep in cool. Then it emerged. A huge shark. At this point with the tournament over in 30 minutes they decided to go ahead and try and catch the shark rather than cut the line and fish for 30 minutes. They switched men on the reel. After another 45 minutes and 2 flying gaffs and numerous gun shots they got the beast on board. They took the shark in and donated the fish like the rest of them to a feed the hungry program they had going. Before they got to the weigh in, they took a broom handle and somehow managed to tie it/tape it to the head and had it sticking out the transom of the boat. They told everybody they had a big one. When people saw that "bill" (broom handle) they said look at the size of that one. I don't remember the exact length ( I think it was close to 12-13 feet and weighed 645 lbs. From what I remember it would have been a state record but since 2 guys fought it, it was DQ'd. Oh yea, it was a Dusky shark. I have pictures somewhere. My boys like to take them to school for show and tell. I'll have to see about finding them - where ever that photo album is.


Jim


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## Saltwater Soul (May 31, 2005)

I've caught marlin, swordfish, big sharks, etc. but one of the best "fights" I have had and most enjoyed was once I hooked a small bull dolphin (<15lbs.) on trout sized tackle. I've never seen a fish jump so much. I think he jumped over 40 times. The seas were calm, the sun was bright, and the beauty and heart of the little guy was amazing.


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

My Best Fight Was Last June We Were Fishing The Jetties Not Really Catchin Any Thing Then All Of A Sudden Bam Some Thing Hit My Top Dog Jr And Started Runnin It Peeled Off 80% Of My 15 Pound Test Trilene Then I Was Finally Able To Get Some Line Back And That Went On Four About 45mins Until I Finally Brought It Up To The Surface And We Neted A 45pound Aj I Caught This Monster On A 7ft Allstar And And A Shimano Curado Pure Luck I Guess It Was Much Fun


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## Viking48 (Jan 24, 2006)

One of my best fights was at Heald Bank where we were fishing about 50 yards from some guys who had followed us out. After catching a few I heard a splash by the other boat followed by some serious cussing. Several minutes later my rod bent and the clicker screamed. I picked up the rod and the fight changed to dead weight. As I reeled in the line I saw my prize - a 7' popping rod with a 6500 attached. Apparently the guy in the next boat had thrown a bait out, put the reel in gear then laid the rod in the bottom of the boat. When a King hit, it yanked the rod over the side before he could grab it. He was beside himself since his wife had given him the rod for Christmas and he thought he's never see it again (of course I gave him a hard time and explained that he wouldn't see it again - salvage rights you know). While cranking in his line it suddenly came tight and the fight was on. After a decent fight I landed a 37 pound King - it was still attached. I felt like I got a two for one special.


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## Txfirenfish (Jan 8, 2005)

This past October after the storm fishing on the beach near Sea Rim. I caught a 37" redfish on one of my trout rods. A two piece Shakespeare 7' medium action spinning rod that I bought at walmart for $12 and a $20 daiwa spinning reel spooled with 12# trilene big game. Hook was a 1/0 offset. Bait was a 4" live mullet. Took me 45 minutes to land her. Took a pic and watched her slowly swim away.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

When I was five years old(1958) my father took me to the hotwater discharge cannel at lake Arlington. Gave me a zebco with one of those new baits, a plastic worm. As he fished from the bow of our fiberglass boat(it looked like a 50s auotmobile with fins in back) I hit the button and dropped it down. As soon as I turned the handle, BAM the fight was on. I cranked with all my might and got it to the top ,but wasn't strong enough to get it any futhur. I keep yelling " Daddy I got one!" but he thought I was hung up and would only reply "well rod em in". The thrashing 6lb black bass eventually made enough noise to get him to look around, then he almost knocked me down getting to the rod to land it. He put it in the bathtub and later took me up and down the street showing it off. I sure love him.


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## Capt. Lowtide (Jun 30, 2004)

I remember that shark, think someone said it was a dusky. Whatever species it was BIG



spotsndots said:


> I'll tell this one for my dad. Back in the early 80's we were fishing in the Poco Bueno. They were pretty sure they were in the money with what they had brought in on Friday. On Sat. at noon in dead flat seas they found a school of tuna. They trolled around the edge hoping there was a big blue hanging around. All 6 lines (Penn 80's) go off at the same time basically. They start working them in 1 by 1. Five of the six were tuna and brought to the boat. The 6th was coming in like the rest. All of a sudden something hit it and started burning drag. The guy on the end of the rod was maybe a buck 50 in weight. No jumping just constant pull. After 2.5 hours he got worn out. Up until this point they couldn't do anything but pour water on him to try to help keep in cool. Then it emerged. A huge shark. At this point with the tournament over in 30 minutes they decided to go ahead and try and catch the shark rather than cut the line and fish for 30 minutes. They switched men on the reel. After another 45 minutes and 2 flying gaffs and numerous gun shots they got the beast on board. They took the shark in and donated the fish like the rest of them to a feed the hungry program they had going. Before they got to the weigh in, they took a broom handle and somehow managed to tie it/tape it to the head and had it sticking out the transom of the boat. They told everybody they had a big one. When people saw that "bill" (broom handle) they said look at the size of that one. I don't remember the exact length ( I think it was close to 12-13 feet and weighed 645 lbs. From what I remember it would have been a state record but since 2 guys fought it, it was DQ'd. Oh yea, it was a Dusky shark. I have pictures somewhere. My boys like to take them to school for show and tell. I'll have to see about finding them - where ever that photo album is.
> 
> Jim


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## SoClose (Jan 4, 2006)

Definately the HAMMERHEAD! We were fishing out of Matagorda in 2004 when i dropped down a lively bait and got to see my competitor ONE time next to the boat and it was atleas half the length of the 28ft. mako we were in. However after fighting for hour and 15 minutes he straightened out the hook! Thanks for the fight though...


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## Cru (May 24, 2004)

I tossed a live mackeral in front of a big Cabo striped marlin. It lit up in an amazing rainbow of bright colors and accelerated through the mackeral, engulfing it. I slammed the hook home with three strong strikes and the fish went nuts. It lept, greyhounded and lept some more, I reeled for all I was worth to keep the slack out of the line, then bowed to him when he jumped. Then he sounded and I had to bring him up... I was fishing with a Shimano Speedmaster and 30 pound Trilene big-game, 150 lb test flourocarbon leader and an Owner live bait hook. After an extended game of tug of war, where I took line with pain and effort and groaned as the line peeled back off the spool the 180 pound fish finally came to hand. We released the fish and I sat down on the engine box and drank a Pacifico. I was done for a while!


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## serial9 (Sep 11, 2005)

I had two great catches in one day. First was a 7FT Hammerhead in the late 90's around SLP. The second was this hot brunette I met at the Chevron getting beer. She turned out to be the better catch though. 5'8 125 pds of hot steaming meat. What a trip.


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## CypressTexas (Jan 2, 2005)

serial9 said:


> I had two great catches in one day. First was a 7FT Hammerhead in the late 90's around SLP. The second was this hot brunette I met at the Chevron getting beer. She turned out to be the better catch though. 5'8 125 pds of hot steaming meat. What a trip.


Can you elaborate a little more on that steaming meat????


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## SSSharker (Aug 25, 2005)

a few years ago on the Galveston Fishing Pier (91st Pier), the water was choppy, winds at 10-15knots, a storm was way out in the Gulf and coming in towards the pier. I figured that i would have at least a couple of hours before the storm hits the pier. 

so i chunked out a sandtrout head (about 6oz) on my surf-rod and waited. exactly 5 minutes later, my reel took off. i set the hook and i knew i had something huge. it kept going and going. i tightened up the drag a lil more and leaned back to try and turn its head. it spooled a good 120 yards of my line out. i kept fightin, reeling, leaning back, made me go sideline to sideline on the pier. after a good 25minutes and switching off with my friend, we finally started to see it about 40-45yards from the pier. a huge dorsal fin. as it was quickly gettin tired from the fight, i got him close to the pier, and tightened up the drag and muscled him in. when i finally had a chance to get his head out the water, it was a hammerhead. i had to hold him for about 5 minutes because my friend couldnt get the rope to work right. for that 5 minutes, i was concerned that my shock leader will give out if it plan to take a monster dive while im trying to hold its head up. 

eventually, the hammerhead was landed. took 2 other guys to help rope its head and pull him out the water from the pier. landed a 6'3" hammerhead.


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## CypressTexas (Jan 2, 2005)

eventually, the hammerhead was landed. took 2 other guys to help rope its head and pull him out the water from the pier. landed a 6'3" hammerhead.[/QUOTE]

nice......got any pics


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## willfish4food (Aug 13, 2005)

any pics of these bad boys?


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## serial9 (Sep 11, 2005)

CypressTexas said:


> Can you elaborate a little more on that steaming meat????


You know where that Chevron everyone gets beer going towards SLP is? I met her there and with some slick lines we took off to the Victorian where I was staying. The rest was history.


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## CypressTexas (Jan 2, 2005)

serial9 said:


> You know where that Chevron everyone gets beer going towards SLP is? I met her there and with some slick lines we took off to the Victorian where I was staying. The rest was history.


Nicccccceeeeeee..You happen to get a pic of her....post it up.


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## JWS (Jan 28, 2007)

about 3 years ago i was fishing at the big pier in galveston. i had 4 rods out on the t and had my buddies watchin them while i went closer in to try to catch some trout with my abu 6000 and a 7ft ugly stick. the surf was flat and not moving very much. i was fishing with a live mullet when all of a sudden my rod folded over and the reel just started screaming. i wasnt sure what i had. about 5 minutes into the fight i look down at the water and saw a HUGE school of jacks. there had to be dozens of them. they were tearing up anything that hit the water and chasing schools of mullet. at that point i knew what i had and thought i was screwed. this thing just kept stripping line and stripping line. i thought i was gonna get spooled. i was down to about 50 yards when the fish turned and started coming back towards me so i reeled in some line. i start getting it closer to the pier and it takes off again. and when it took off, i thought it would never stop stripping line. after fighting this jack for about 30 minutes, i finally landed it. weighed 33lbs and was caught on 10lb big game.


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## lonestranger (Aug 20, 2005)

I was fishing between the piers at High Island, second day with my new Kayak. Got up about 7am, beautiful morning, clear water all the way to the beach. Caught a few mullet in the cast net and went back out in the yak to try again. Scaled a large mullet and put one fillet on my 4/0 freelining. Then freelined a live finger mullet from my Ambassador 5000. I was a little beyond the last piling of Meacom's pier. I got a good hit on the finger mullet so I decided to check my bait, just then a big Jack Cravelle exploded on my bait and the fight was on. You talk about fun, a Jack on a 7' popping rod, that is fun. That guy pulled me all over the place. Three times I got him close enough to see, but he was not even nearly ready to be netted. Then, while my hands were full with the Jack, the 4/0 began to scream with a fish on it. All I could do was set the drag on it and let the two pull me around till they wore out. After about 45 minutes of this there was a big hit on the 4/0 line and it went slack, it was cut off above my 6' 150# cable leader. So now I was only fighting the Jack. Then a big hit on the Jack and then slack, I thought I had lost him but when I took up the slack I could still feel something there. When it got within sight I knew what the problem was. Half the Jack was gone, a clean bite through. I pulled it up to the yak and as I was lifting it over the side a shark hit it again, scared me to death, But I was hooked on this kind of fishing immediately. I then realized that I was over twice as far from the beach as when I had hooked up.


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## Tiny (Dec 19, 2006)

My buddy Lost a Mako, I seen the fight, too much to describe, not enough time to explain...


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

I hooked up on a shark, in my kayak, that pulled me what seemed like a mile out to sea. I have caught many in a yak, but this one was a brute. I dont know what kind, or how big, because I cut the line while I could still see the shoreline. My guess was a shark, because no other fish I have caught is that aggressive. I am 6'6 and 265 and this fish pulled me like I was nothing.


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## yakfisher (Jul 23, 2005)

We hooked a fish a couple years back with Scott McCune out at north baker on 30# tackle. Live piggy was down about 40 feet and falling. 3 hours and 8 miles of chasing later we stil had no idea what it was. Fish came unbottoned. There had been some largish yellowfin out there in the past few weeks, wondering if we foul hooked one.


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## gundoctor (May 20, 2004)

Years ago (mid 1970s), I was on a party boat at Held Bank SE of Galveston. I was freelining a live blue runner off the stearn when something hit it. 
The reel I had was a 9/0 loaded with 80# and what ever it was took almost all the line before the hook pulled. I've never had anything, except a big king on lite tackle, take line so fast.
I have no idea what I hooked that day, but there was a newspaper report of a large bluefin caught in that general area the same day. So maybe........Na that's just dreaming.
I do know the drag on my 9/0 was almost new and that run fried it.


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## artofficial (Oct 3, 2005)

Mine was a 44" bull red from High Island in a kayak. He was unusually mean and the fight lasted about 15 minutes. BIG FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BIG thanks to Jolly Roger for the photo!!!!!!!!!!


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

All good stories guys.........


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## baymaster81 (Jan 13, 2007)

I would have to say that I have Just as many stories as the next person. Thats part of what makes us fisherman..lol. One of my most recent tales takes place at san louis pass, About 4 months ago. I have a 15 ft. diawa surf rod and a shimano 6500 baitrunner. Its a pretty heavy duty reel. Landed 5ft. bulls. I wouldint say easely but it does the job. Its rigged with 65lb power pro. holds about 350y. I was fishing large live mullet with the tails cut off (it helps I swear) An hour into the soak the rod doubbles over and the reel starts to scream. The scramble was on. Picked up the rod and set the hook. I am shure that there was more to this story after that moment but I dont remember any of it. As quickley as it had started...it was over. I was up to my chest in water with no line left on my reel. The scary part is .....only 20 seconds has past. My mind runs rampid with thoughts of what could have been on the other end. I had heard a report that someone had hooked a mako in the pass not to long prior.


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## Mustad7731 (May 23, 2004)

*Best Fight ever*

This is an old story in the late summer of 1976...I had a brand new 20'
Mako cc...I'd been hearing about the fishing at the South Pass of the
Mississippi River...So my best fishing buddy and I put a trip together...

On our first day we got to the pass about 2pm and decided to anchor and
see if we could catch some bait for the next day offshore...
We anchored about 1/3 mile past the end of the jetty in the channel...
We stated catching monster bull croaker 14"-19"...Van could not stand it
so he put a 1/3 of a croaker on a Harnell 552 w/Penn Squidder on the bottom.
within 30 minutes he had hooked then landed two 4' bull sharks. The 
3rd shark almost stripped him so we started to pull anchor and follow the
fish...As I headed to the bow for the anchor...The boat took off up stream
toward the mouth of the river...then made a wide turn and headed SSE...
over the next 45 minutes my Mako headed for Cuba...With Van's shark
just lazily following the boat...We finally decided that we had to land
Van's shark so we could concentrate on the Manta Ray towing the boat.
We landed the shark which was about 3' long and ended up committing
suicide swimming into the prop of my outboard as I was trying to cut it
off. We then concentrated on the Manta Ray problem...it had caught my
anchor rope between it's feelers and pulled my boat now about 3 miles...
We pulled it up to within about 20' of the bow and it had tried twice
to pull the bow of the boat under...We finally got separated by trying
to get it to change direction back toward the NW, the anchor noisily
clanked on the hull of my new Mako just ahead of the outboard...
Not a fight on a rod n reel but probally my best fight ever....

Mustad7731
Jackie


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

Mustad7731 said:


> This is an old story in the late summer of 1976...I had a brand new 20'
> Mako cc...I'd been hearing about the fishing at the South Pass of the
> Mississippi River...So my best fishing buddy and I put a trip together...
> 
> ...


Now thats a wild ride......


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## northpaw (May 30, 2005)

My best was two summers ago off Hi Island. A group of us were chasing shrimpers and doing well in kayaks. I dropped in behind one dragging closer to shore and got hammered immediately. The others were about a half mile further offshore anchored up and this guy had me up almost on a plane towing me parallel to the beach. After about five minutes he turns and heads straight towards the rest of our group. I didn't really know what to say as we ripped straight through their anchor bouys at a good clip, so I just smiled and waved with my free hand as I cruised past headed to Cuba. Jolly Roger unclipped from his anchor and gave chase to give me a hand if needed. As he is paddling hard behind me to keep up, I hear him yell he can see my fish. Now I'm no brain surgeon, but I was darn confused how HE could spot a fish that was many yards ahead of me when he was paddling at least 30 yards behind me. "It's right under you" he yells, and as I glance to my left, sure enough, there is a 5' blacktip shadowing me a few feet down. Problem was that wasn't what I was hooked to, and it certainly didn't appear to be nearly as ****** as whatever it was in front of me. After 20 minutes of traveling towards the land of fine cigars, she finally begins to show signs of tireing, finally sounding, circling the kayak, and ultimately surfacing for our first look. A good solid 6 1/2 foot blacktip. And mighty upset to boot. 

Now I wouldn't call it a mean streak, but if you ever fish with Jolly Roger, you know he isn't afraid to have a good laugh at your expense. I had by this time caught and landed probably a dozen or so sharks, up to maybe 4'. This fish was in a whole other league. We finally reach a stalemate and TJ is there with his camera at the ready asking me when I'm going to leader this thing for the pic. As she makes a slow pass beside the kayak looking plum whooped I reach out and get a good wrap on the leader with my free hand. Baaaaaad call. The ensuing splashing and thrashing soaked me, almost birdnested my reel, stripped some good hide off my palm, and ultimately snapped the last two feet off my rod. As TJ's laughing subsides he mentions, "oh yeah, on these biguns ya really need to tire them till they hang verticle so that stuff won't happen". Thanks bud. Eventually I finish the job, holding the rod upside down to keep the line from fouling in the busted blank beyond the last good eye and waiting for the fish to do as TJ said. Several photos and the leader is cut and she slowly swims away. I have enjoyed all my time and hookups, but that fish will be tough to top. You can see the busted rod in the pic.


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## AltonR (Dec 10, 2006)

i wonder how many bests were brought to them by the Jolly Roger. Im one-of-em and yes he laughed at me too. but i did not mind. best to date approx. 7' spinner from the yak.


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## chum bucket (Feb 22, 2007)

all good stories and probaley better then mine. my first shark cought in the surf whill red fishing was cought on a pice of cut mullet and on a 6500 c3 with a 8 foot allstar heavy flippeng poll 15 lb big game. I waded out as for as i could and still have a few yards of line on the reel when i put the pole in the holder and oppened a beer it started to scream out line I thought that it was a monster red at first even the record (I WILL CATCH IT THIS YEAR ) I had to go out to the secound sand bar to keep line on the spool about an hour later I pulled up a 7 foot bull. Beeen hooked ever since on shark fishing. Now i use nothing smaller then a 4/0 wit 40 lb or bigger. 

the other best time was last year on an august night with a penn 9/0 with 80 lb spider all the way full with it this reel will hold about 900 yards of this stuff i think . I had an a sting ray with 2 20/0 circles with a 8 foot wire leader that i made my self. the fishing was slow only cought 2 reds after dark. yaked all the lines out about 10 pm again got the fire going good and set the ice chest by my chair at midnight nothing had happenned aand we were thinking off moving on. then my 4/0 went with a big bull. then it happened the nine started turning real slow and i mean like 1 click a secound then started to speed up. when fishing like this i leave my drag set and the reel ingaged so the circle hooks will set them selfs. I bareley could get the rod out of the holder. the fish took off south with out concern for me. after pumping the rod a million times to try to turn it the fish was not even concerned but i already started to hurt ... now for the really dumbass thing.... what i did was started to panic and tightened the drag up some more wee u know what happened. I lost about 100$$$ in line and 10$ worth of hooks and bait. a broke line = a broke heart but i will be there again and so will it


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## JD761 (Jun 7, 2006)

My best fight was when I first started surf fishing back in '98. Was fishing the Port A south jettie on the surf side. Had 2 Penn 9500SS and about a 25 year old Ambassadeur 4600C. Of course you can imagine which rig had to get hit by a big fish. Within a couple of minutes, I was down to 3 wraps of line on the Ambassedeur. I stopped the run by thumbing the spool, and started getting line back. After about 15 minutes, I had my first and biggest bull red to date on the rocks, 45". Funny thing is, this was before I knew what the heck I was doing. Had about 125 yds of 20# on the Ambassedeur, was wondering why I couldn't cast any weight less than 3 oz.


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## jim mcdaniel (Aug 23, 2005)

On a 72 ft. Party Boat out of Port Isabel in 1999 I (we) caught a 125 lb. YFT. I used the boats tackle, which was a Penn 4, with 80 lb. test line. We had been catching BFT all day underneath anchored shrimp boats. When we pulled up next to another boat 4 YFT came out and four of us hooked up. I was the only one of us that didnt break off. I was on the stern, that had a canvas cover over it, so the deckhands moved me 72 ft. to the bow where I fought the fish. The Captain wanted to be able to see me because he knew we would have to chase the fish. I had to fight the fish standing up with no harness and lasted about 45 min. A deck hand fought him for a little while, another deckhand and fisherman fought him, and finally the Captain came down and fought him. I got back on the rod and fought him the last 20 min. They used 3 gaffs to bring him in, over the front rail, to get him in the boat. Total time was 2 hrs. 50 min. We traveled over a mile from where I first hooked him.


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## brazman (Aug 22, 2006)

Originally Posted by *serial9*
_You know where that Chevron everyone gets beer going towards SLP is? I met her there and with some slick lines we took off to the Victorian where I was staying. The rest was history._



CypressTexas said:


> Nicccccceeeeeee..You happen to get a pic of her....post it up.


If that happened to me, it would result in the biggest fight of my life...with my wife...


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## TroutMaster76 (Jun 19, 2005)

I have heard this story before.. how big was the Ray?



Mustad7731 said:


> This is an old story in the late summer of 1976...I had a brand new 20'
> Mako cc...I'd been hearing about the fishing at the South Pass of the
> Mississippi River...So my best fishing buddy and I put a trip together...
> 
> ...


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## luvflounder (Aug 15, 2005)

I was fishing at galveston fishing pier about 2 years ago right at the bottom of the stairs!! the water green to beach and very clam and relaxing day me and my dad caught a few spanish!!!
A friend was giving up and gave me a few live croaker! I put one on my hook and threw it strait down put on the drag and decided to grab a drink from the cooler!! my dad had went to use the restroom when I hear my line scream!!! By the time I picked up the rod I can see my line all the way at the t-head Im like what in the world do I have!! It cant be a red?? So I manuvered my rod in and out of people lines thru the crowded t-head and finally 15 minutes later after a long fight surface a huge jack!! It weighed 35 pounds!!! my first landed jack!!! I was amazed I landed it because it went in and out of over 50 lines on the t-head!! I didnt even tangle my line!!! what a fight !!great fighting fish!!!


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