# 1st One of the Year Report 3-1-13



## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

Got a text from my buddy Ryan on Monday asking if I was going to hit up the beach this weekend. I wasn't sure because my truck was still in the shop for overheating issues. After looking at the surf predictions for the weekend and getting my truck back on Tuesday I was determined to get one last trip in before the spring breakers terrorize the beach. 

The truck was running good all week and the conditions looked promising. The weather forecast called for a chilly weekend with high winds on Saturday. I wasn't too worried about it because the wind was going to be coming out of the north which usually works to our advantage.











As I was pulling into the bait shop I see my temperature gauge moving up fast. Not good. Once we pulled in steam was rolling out from under the hood and I could hear what sounded like a busted hose. After popping the hood I located the problem and of course my two buddies that I brought with me were all of a sudden mechanics. LOL, maybe it's a Hispanic thing. Once the hood is popped everyone turns into a mechanic. The heater hose connector needed to be replaced and the nearest auto parts store was 20 miles away. The two so called mechanics had some sketchy recommendations including putting duct tape on it. 

Luckily Ryan was already at the beach and was willing to run me to the auto parts store to get what was needed. Got the part installed in less than 5 minutes and put a whole bottle of coolant in. Not even a half a mile and it starts to overhead again! SOB. We pull over and check the hose. It was good, but the radiator didn't have any water in it. Aldo got the jug of water and filled it up. That fixed the issued. I guess he really is a mechanic. For a second there I thought we might not be able to fish. 































We arrived to the beach just as the sun was going down. With no fresh bait and the sun setting fast we started setting up the bait rods. Ryan had already caught a couple of bull reds and a few rays before he came to our rescue. 











I brought my buddy Adrian who had never been surf fishing. Action came quick on the crabs we had out so I let him handle the reds. It's always good to put friends on some fish, his first bull red measured 38".











The second one didn't take long to hit. That one was measured 41". Not a bad start considering what we had already been through.











A couple of hours pasted with no action, not even a whiting. Ryan got word from Nick that the sharks were here. Just up the beach they already landed two. I decided to stop trying to catch bait and use the wings off of the big ray Ryan caught earlier in the day. 

This was my first attempt to run baits out at night. Although somewhat nervous bc the moon wasn't out and it was pitch black I was determined to have some baits out no matter what. You can't catch fish if you aint fishing. I loaded up two FRESH baits and headed out. 





















It was actually pretty cool being out there at night. The baits all night without turning a single click. Right before sunrise I woke up to one of my reels screaming. As I got out of the tent cot I see that it's a freakin pelican! Never fails. Ryan was already up and had some coffee brewing. The wind had pick up considerably as expected and it was coooold. We stayed till about 9 with no action before moving to another spot. Main goal was to acquire some decent bait. 











To be continued in 2 mins&#8230;


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## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

By the time we got over to the second spot Ryan already landed a bull red and a small ray. I get the rods out and try my luck. I was only able to manage one stingray while Ryan hooked up with a really nice oversized black drum. Meanwhile my two mechanics turned into dual survivor man trying to get a fire going with 20+mph winds.











The wind was relentless forcing us to move to a spot that was protected. Although it blew the surf flat there was no way you could kayak in it. The wind would blow you out to sea faster than you can paddle in. We actually thought about hooking up the 12/0 to the kayak to assist in the paddle back in but I opted not to do so. The wind was supposed to calm down later in the evening so we were hoping the forecast was correct. 

The rods were out in full force still trying to manage something to run out. Ryan was the only one who caught some whiting. Being as generous as he always is he lets me have two so I can run out. The winds ended up dying down right as the sun was setting and I had 4 maybe 5 lines to run out. Once again I would be kayaking in the dark. 





















I ran the first two just under 200 yards. One of them was Ryan's, since he had been kind enough to come help and provided the bait I would run his baits all night if he wanted. He was only interested in trying out his new reel so one bait was good enough for him. 
However, I wasn't going to just have one shark bait out. I wanted at least three. The tricky thing about that is you can't see where your other lines are at night. Even with a glow stick on the floats. I was only able to get three baits out. I didn't want to risk running a fourth and it getting tangled with my other ones. 

After dropping the 6/0 out further then I wanted to I had to reel it in some because I could almost see the spool. It's kind of hard to determine how far out you are at night. I get back to the beach safely and get in dry clothes. Twenty minutes later Aldo sees one of my glow sticks drop. It didn't drop that much so I didn't think anything of it. I needed another beer and the ice chest was in my truck so I decided to go tighten it up while I get me another beverage.

Right when I got to the truck the 6/0 takes off. I hop up onto the rack and the fight it on! About 15 minutes into the fight I realized that I may need the harness but I didn't have it available. My arms were burning but I managed to suck it up and keep reeling it in. Ryan and Aldo went out to leader the shark. 











With it being low tide we decided to leave it on the first sandbar instead of dragging her to shore. It was a fat 7'4" Sandbar. 































To be continued in 2 mins&#8230;


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## jake100 (Oct 10, 2011)

what is the program your using for wave chart? Nice fishes by the way!


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## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

Pictures could have been better if we would have dragged the shark to shore but sometimes a good picture isn't worth the risk of killing the shark. After a few quick pics and the hook removal the shark swam off with no problems. 











Ryan hands out some celebratory cigars while Aldo chefs it up. The fire is warm and the beer is cold. With our bellys full everyone is ready to hit the sack. We've all had a long day so one by one we each go to bed. I slept fairly well that night and didn't wake up till just before sunrise. 































I reel in the lines first thing in the morning only to find the baits still intact. I decide to rig them back up and drop them out further. Meanwhile, Adrian wants another bull red. So I put out 2 rods with crab and sure enough he gets what he asked for. 































We packed up around noon and headed out. One of the baits I had out was bitten in half and the other was untouched. I really hate leaving the beach when it looks like this. We overcame some issues and got hammered by the wind but we fished hard and got we came for.


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

Awesome report what! You have had bad luck with false alarms in the morning! They just won't leave you alone.

Great sandbar too. I'm jealous. I was really hoping to get a trip together for the weekend but it just didn't work out. This was in Gorda? If so that's the first upper coast shark i've heard of this year. Congrats!

I'd give you a green but it says I gotta spread it around.


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

jake100 said:


> what is the program your using for wave chart? Nice fishes by the way!


www.swellinfo.com


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## BrandonFox (Jan 8, 2013)

Sweet!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Some great looking big surf fish, WTG!


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## Sharkhunter (May 22, 2004)

Nice Sandy!!


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

Great fish and report! I should have gone somewhere! What bait caught the shark? Whiting or ray?


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

What? No doggy balls in Aldo's face? 

Nice fish bro.


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## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

Thanks fellas.



[email protected] said:


> Great fish and report! I should have gone somewhere! What bait caught the shark? Whiting or ray?


Whiting



Fishin' Soldier said:


> What? No doggy balls in Aldo's face?
> 
> Nice fish bro.


Haha. The dog stayed in the truck most of the time.


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## TroutAle87 (Dec 8, 2011)

Wow great thread!!!


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## Greatwhite (Mar 28, 2011)

look out, claim jumpers are gonna hit you hard now man. youre producing too much down there:fish::ac550:


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## JOHNNYREB (Apr 20, 2006)

Nice job on the sandie....looked cold lol..tftr!


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## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

Greatwhite said:


> look out, claim jumpers are gonna hit you hard now man. youre producing too much down there:fish::ac550:


:dance:


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Enjoyed the report, Were yall fishing down around SS area?


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

Nice job WHAT! Impressive! I'm really jealous now since we were planning to shark fish last Sat at SS but I called it off due to strong north winds and temperature 35-55deg. sad3sm Did you get the reds on yakked baits in the 2nd gut?


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## Saltwater Boy(1) (Jan 11, 2013)

great post!!!


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

You can tell you were planning a report while you were fishing. A+ on pics and info, made me want to go.


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## jagarcia10 (Mar 10, 2011)

surfguy said:


> Nice job WHAT! Impressive! I'm really jealous now since we were planning to shark fish last Sat at SS but I called it off due to strong north winds and temperature 35-55deg. sad3sm Did you get the reds on yakked baits in the 2nd gut?


Thanks, it was a tuff weekend as far as the weather. That wind was horrible, but the sharks were definatly around. Reds were on casted baits.



johnmyjohn said:


> You can tell you were planning a report while you were fishing. A+ on pics and info, made me want to go.


I usually take lots of pics for my fishing album. I keep saying im going to start a fishing log but havent done so yet.


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## carolinaskipper (Mar 4, 2013)

Man that looks fun!!! I would like to go surf fishing all night.


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