# Pins trip 06.05.15-06.07.15



## Dr.Phil (Jun 11, 2015)

First Post, figured I would share.

I received a call Thursday afternoon from my buddy that is a pretty good surf fisherman. He told me to check the surf cams and that we needed to head down to PINS this weekend. I had told him, there is no way. I had plans that I could not cancel so I was doing my best not to read any forums or reports. When I sat down at my desk Thursday afternoon, I couldnâ€™t resist. I checked the cameras and reports and cancelled all my plans. I also made a lot of people unhappy in the process, but I didnâ€™t care. I knew what the possibilities were and it paid off.

We arrived at our camping spot on pretty far down PINS and finished setting up camp about 2:30 AM Saturday morning. We had planned to wake up an hour before sun rise and head down to the jetties to fish for a few hours, then head back to camp and put out shark lines. We woke up late about 6:45 AM and were about to head to the jetties when we saw something that I have never personally seen to this extent. There were huge bait balls getting crushed by thousands of fish only about 200 to 300 yards out. With only one kayak I headed out.

The first trip out, I landed one jack and four Bonita. All caught on trout rods that I already had rigged up with a bone Heddon Spook Jr. I donâ€™t think it really mattered what we were throwing at them, it was a frenzy. Talk about a blast. Once the kayak was filled with fish the sharks began circling, which can be a little eerie at times. I was comfortable with them at first until my kayak was tail slapped a couple times. That was my cue to go in.

We spent the rest of the day switching off turns in the kayak with the same success till about 1:00 PM. At 1:00 it seemed like the bonita had left giving us an opportunity to catch different species. We began to hook into smacks, kings, and believe it or not even a few chicken mahi (no pictures for proof on these guys, they were released)

Back on shore we had shark lines out. We were catching as many spinners and blacktips as we had baits out. We would drop the baits right as we would get to the bait balls and hook up almost immediately. The person on shore would fight the shark while the other would fish off the kayak.

When coming back in from one of those short trips my buddy yelled at me telling me to go follow his line out. We believed that his weight was stuck on a bar. Once I followed the line out, we realized it was not stuck at all. I gave it a couple tugs and the fight was on. Turns out it was a southern ray measuring 7â€™5â€ from head to tail and 4â€™7â€ from wing to wing. He ate an entire bonita. This is the biggest ray I have ever seen, and if I donâ€™t see another one this big the rest of my life then I will be happy. And yes, we released it. I cannot bring myself to kill a fish that old and large just for a picture and the weight.

We spent the rest of the day completely exhausted, taking baits out and fishing the bait balls. I even hooked into a monster tarpon (by my terms) and fought him for a good 2 or 3 minutes with one decent jump. I thought for sure I had him until I tightened up on him too much and lost him. It was a blessing just to see them cruising around out there though, so I cannot complain. Maybe one day.

Once night fell we cooked up some Spanish mackerel tacos which were great and got straight back to fishing. We were able to catch a handful of blue crabs. We put them out for bait and were able to catch 6 or 7, not huge, but good size bull reds. We also had shark lines out throughout the night, but had no success until sunrise when my buddy fought a good sized hammer head. We decided to end the trip on that fish and head back home. It was the best trip I have ever had to PINS and not sure I will ever be able to top it.

Sorry for the long read. 







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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

Awesome report and pictures, that will be hard to top.


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## jimj100 (Dec 1, 2012)

I hate to say you were rewarded by the gods for cancelling your plans and making people mad..... but.... kinda looks that way!! congrats on a heck of a trip!


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## Dr.Phil (Jun 11, 2015)

Thanks guys, it was definitely a trip of a lifetime as far as I am concerned and will be close to impossible to top. 

And yea, JimJ, they were unhappy at first but when I got back they understood why I went. Times like those are what we live for.


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## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

Wow. That's great!


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## Aadams31 (Dec 4, 2008)

Nice report,

But whats up with your boy wearing sliders only. C'Mon Man


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## Dr.Phil (Jun 11, 2015)

haha, don't worry I have given him so much hell for that and I will never let him live it down. 

I was off in the kayak and when I got back I said the same thing. He said he was in the middle of changing when his reel went off.... but regardless, he will catch hell from me for a long time haha.


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## IrishSharker (Jan 20, 2015)

Spandex makes the world go around......


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

Thanks for the report.


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## Greatwhite (Mar 28, 2011)

Nice fish. I spy some of my old gear in one of the pics.


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## gaftop (Feb 20, 2005)

Nice report and variety of fish. What a stingray!!


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## 535 (May 23, 2004)

great report, thanks!


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## artys_only (Mar 29, 2005)

Great report !


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## saltwater4life (Aug 5, 2010)

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, great trip and report! Will be hard to top that one!


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## edjman (Aug 13, 2013)

Awesome report. Wish I could have been there!


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## GeeTee (Aug 8, 2014)

Wow dude that is an epic trip - imagine you missed out on that ......


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## poco jim (Jun 28, 2010)

Dr.Phil said:


> Thanks guys, it was definitely a trip of a lifetime as far as I am concerned and will be close to impossible to top.
> 
> And yea, JimJ, they were unhappy at first but when I got back they understood why I went. Times like those are what we live for.


That's why we fish, to beat those days


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## cfbaseball09 (Jul 29, 2011)

Heck of a trip. And thanks for the great report


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## poco_bueno (Jun 17, 2015)

Sweet pics, catches and report. Congrats

Ray


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## bingorocks (Oct 30, 2014)

Awesome trip. I'm looking forward to getting down there this summer.


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## acoastalbender (Jul 16, 2011)

Great post...

.


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## Shark_Reeler (Aug 16, 2014)

Great report guys! 

- Ron


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