# Officially Unjinxed at SPI



## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

Well, finally was able to fish something with my 10ft rod. Am at SPI for the long weekend and was able to land this juvenile blacktip beauty.

There were lots of people watching and one of them caught it on utube.

Any constructive feedback is welcome on the reeling technique, or on anything else...

The first gut was neck deep so had to cross to the second bar with the rod in one hand and a body board on the other. From there i casted as far a as i could. Gulf side in fron to Bahia Mar condos.

Rod: 10' Ande Tournament Surf
Reel: penn battle 6000
Line: 30# mono backing, 30# mustad thor braid, ~50ft 30# mono and 100# mono leader, octopus circle hook, 4oz spider weight
Bait: 12" whiting with tail and all fins cut off

Actually had 3 bites yesterday (which btw was my bday - best present EEEEEEEVEEEER!); could only land the second one. The first broke the knot of the 50ft 30# (lost my whole leader setup), the last one I replaced the hook with a mustad thick circle hook and the shark spit out the bait with the hook even before i could get the rod.






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## POC Fishin' Gal (Nov 20, 2009)

Congratulations and happy birthday!


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## fish4food (Feb 11, 2011)

First gut was neck deep? 
Did you try fishing in the first gut? More predators hunt shallow than we think.
Happy Belated-Birthday


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## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

Thanks for the congrats. 

That beach is pretty popular and full of people who mostly bathe in the first gut and probably scare the beasts away. You probably didn't watch the utube video - there you can see the amount of people. Otherwise I would have started there for sure.

And yes, the first gut is neck-deep. that area of SPI is always pretty deep. I've been going there once a year for the last 5 years and it's always like that - which is good, I think.


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## magspa (Apr 11, 2013)

Dang wish I could find neck deep Wade gut up past access 6. Nice catch!


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

Congratulations.
Your fighting technique was perfect. Pull up, reel down, all nice fluid movement with no jerking and never let the line go slack.


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## eliris (Dec 4, 2016)

What about removing the hook? I didnt have pliers or anything alike, and i didnt want to take too long, so i just cut the leader. I wasnt going to stick my hand in there either... BTW this was caught with mono leader, so i guess i was pretty lucky it didnt touch the teeth. The circle hook worked as intended as it caught exactly in the side of the mouth.

Also, what about returning it back to the water?

BTW, How long can/should you keep them out of the water before you return them without (too much) brain damage?

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## atcNick (Apr 7, 2005)

Awesome catch! Love the lady videoing lol


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## PhishPINS (Jun 11, 2018)

Thanks for sharing, love the video.


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## 348473 (Apr 12, 2017)

Nice fish. Next time you should have at least some channel locks at a minimum. I keep everything in a 5 gal bucket ready to go. That hook is easily removable with proper tools. Live and learn. Not reaming on yah, sure you learned for next time!

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## TrueblueTexican (Aug 29, 2005)

*Sorry*

People do not scare sharks out of the guts - more there than you think, ask the Hispanic gal I witnessed getting critically bit in front of north jetty in belly deep water in 1988 - hundreds in the water playing that day -

OR take a trip along the beachfront in a helicopter , my buddy that USED to surf fish with me quit after that flyover.

You can become part of the food chain over 1' deep. That just goes to show that overall sharks are not real interested in humans in the water - they will bump you the first time, come around for a taste if the bump don't work, leave ya bleedin and wondering why you didn't leave on first warning -

OR in extreme cases you become fish food -

Leave when there is more bait than water and don't splash and play in muddy surf, or around pass mouths - that when people get bit -

Otherwise ya did just fine, I fished with Billy Boomerang back in the late seventies down there - Billy caught many a big shark right along side those playin in the water.
Gets in your blood -


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