# Crystal Beach 7/19



## sumbeech (May 19, 2005)

Met up with Shark-Gitter about 1:00pm Friday afternoon, he had been at the beach since daylight and had worked his way from H.I. to the west end of Crystal trying to dodge dirty water and seaweed. After my arrival I promptly baited up at set out my lines. Promptly got slimed by a big Gafftop, rebaited and got set up again. Shark-Gitter takes his turn on a Gafftop. I noticed a bunch of birds start going crazy, they absolutely came out of nowhere. A huge school of Jacks and othercritters were DESTROYING the water. Shark-Gitter gets a run and hooks up, I then get hooked up, we had double on till S.G. gets broke off about 30 seconds into the fight. Meanwhile I'm getting ripped hard, finally muster a Huge Blacktip (Maybe a Spinner) to the beach. When a say huge, I mean quite literally the biggest Blacktip I have ever personally laid eyes on.
Any good estimates on the wieght? I'm 6' 3" 240 lbs. Afterwards S.G. hooks up and breaks off 4 or 5 more. I then hook up and land another large Blacktip, then S.G. finally beaches one of his own. Not bad for a trip that lasted from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. More Jacks came cruising by throughout the afternoon.
The first pic is S.G. and his Blacktip, the second pic is me with the smaller of the two I Beached, and the third pic is of the big momma, give me some ideas on the weight, I could get resonably close if it were a bull but Blacktips are somewhat of a leaner build than a Bull, so I can't get an accurate idea.

Shark-Gitter









Sumbeech


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## Torpedo (May 21, 2004)

HA! Great pics!


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## Skavatar (May 24, 2004)

nice blacktips


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## willfish4food (Aug 13, 2005)

wow.. how far does your bait gotta be to get into some action like that?


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

the big ones looks to be a spinner,, has black on its anal fins,,, great catch,,, big congrats,, good fish . Has got me pumped this morning,, sweeeeeeeeeeet


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## hector200 (Jul 7, 2004)

Great report,


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Yea! I believe its a spinner. Great catches and report!


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## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

Great catches! According to the ichthyology page for the Flordia Musuem of Natural history:

_Spinner sharks reach a maximum total length of 9.8 feet (3 m) and a maximum weight of 198 pounds (89.7 kg). However, the average size of these sharks is about *6.4 feet (1.95 m) and 123 pounds (56 kg).* Female spinner sharks mature at 5.6-6.6 feet (1.7-2.0 m) TL and males mature at 5.2-6.7 feet (1.6-2.0 m) TL. Upon reaching maturity, the spinner shark grows approximately 2 inches/yr (5 cm/yr), reaching maximum size at 10-20 years of age. This species is generally smallest in the northwestern Atlantic and largest in the Indian Ocean and Indo-West Pacific._

I guess that would give you a pretty good estimate on weight. It's by far the biggest spinner I've ever seen up here though!


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## ssmarinaman (Mar 5, 2005)

wow!!! nice sharks guys,,


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## surfbass (Sep 12, 2004)

Congrats guys.Man those are some great spinners. Crystal Beach is some exellent fishing Monday-Thursday. Sharks like that can sure make the swimmers stay shallow.LOL


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

I'd call that a good days sharkin for sure. I'd do just about anything to catch some that big off the beach. If you're 6'3 that spinner has to be almost 7' if not more! Thanks for the report and pics.


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## Sam Hunt (Apr 25, 2005)

Great fish and post ! Thats pretty encouraging after all the weeds the past weeks !We are still patching up from last weekend but just about ready for somemore !


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## saltwatersensations (Aug 30, 2004)

cool shark pics. Make you wanna think twice about wade fishing.


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## Steelersfan (May 21, 2004)

Great spinners....


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## Bigdaddy4760 (May 21, 2004)

Hey Tony

Them are some good fish and pic's, I will be back home in 18 days I will give you a call when we are headed to the beach.


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

surfbass said:


> Sharks like that can sure make the swimmers stay shallow.LOL


talk about irony: http://www.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=f1d281f21a999d35


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## Oso Yakman (Jan 2, 2005)

Those All Look Like Spinners To Me. Great Trip Dudes!!!
Tha Big One Is Awesome.
Osoyakman


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## Oso Yakman (Jan 2, 2005)

Those All Look Like Spinners To Me. Great Trip Dudes!!!
That Big One Is Awesome.
Osoyakman


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

*Cool Pics Sumbeech!*

That was a huge shark. He looked like he was liking your bear hug there in that last pic though.
Great report.


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## chapel (Apr 29, 2005)

thats an awesome fish! what kind of reel did you land him on? I'm just curious about what it what take???


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## sumbeech (May 19, 2005)

*Reel used*

First off, I would like to thank everyone for their comments on the shark. The equipment used was a 8' surf rod w/ a Newell 338-j5 loaded with 30lb line. A side note, my youngest son, Brandon, who is ten wanted me to post a picture of his first bull shark that he caught a couple of weeks ago and also wants a nickname for the boards(Sharktooth) so here is Sharktooth with his first Bull Shark.
Tony


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## Skavatar (May 24, 2004)

is the date correct? you posted on 8-19-05, but the title says 7-19-05. if it was 8-19-05 then that would be the same day and around the same area that 12 year old got bit....


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## sumbeech (May 19, 2005)

It was 8/19 not 7/19, fat finger syndrome ya know!


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## surfbass (Sep 12, 2004)

Nice bull Sharktooth. Congrats


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

That is one bigg arse spinner. Great catch.


Sharktooth:
Thats an awesome Bull Shark. Congratulations.
Hope there are many to follow.
Good fishing.


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## Stripline (May 25, 2004)

You wouldn't catch me hugging any sharks like that...especially big ones!


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