2008 November | PINS FISHING, Fishing The Padre Island National Seashore

Archive for November, 2008

Texas Boy Catches Backtip Shark at Padre Island National Seashore

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Jakob Lopez landed a big fat 5′7″ Blacktip shark during the Sharkathon Tournament October 2008. Jakob fought the large shark unassisted to knee deep water, where his father Raoul leadered the shark. Jakob was grinning from ear to ear and placed in the Tournament. Jakob is seven years old and a resident of San Antonio. His father is onE of the administrators on the WWW.TX-SHARKFISHING.COM website.

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Bringing home the bacon, “SHARKATHON Full report”

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Well guys here goes…It all started with a dream, haha just joking.

My self and Chris Romo started planning this trip a year ago. All year we have been fishing hard and trying to hone our skills and get the whole shark catching process down. After striking out last year we knew we had to step it up and find that missing link. A few tackle, rigging, and S.O.P. changes along with a better knowledge of the beach were all keys to the locked “sharking doors”. Thursday night we started loading up and double-checking all gear. This trip was going to be all or nothing so I took all the bait I had which filled up two huge coolers and 9 shark rods. Friday morning finally came and we slowly made our way to the four-wheel sign on PINS. After a bunch of last minute stops we finally hit the beach around 11am. We got all signed up and then took off to our first spot of the weekend which ended up being a very wide and deep second gut in the mid thirties. Within about 15 minutes we had three baits soaking. We ran a 4 wide, and two 9/0’s with skipjack, cownose, and nice size bluerunner. We let those baits soak while we rigged up more big baits for the night deployment. After about 4 hours we hot swapped the baits that were out already then ran the rest of the big baits which consisted of the tail section of a jack fish, and a 10 pound cownose on a pair of 12/0’s. We also sent out a pair of 6’s and another pair of 4hlw’s. We had baits in each gut plus some out to 600+ yards. After all baits were out, we started to set up camp and catch fresh bait. The night dragged on with out a single click so about three hours before daylight we hot swapped all baits except the pair of 12’s. The sun came up and about five hours later so did all the baits. I made the executive decision to move the camp so we loaded up the trailer and headed farther down the beach. We kept driving and checking out all the camps until we ran into rocky from Roy’s. We stopped and asked if they had done any good but they didn’t turn a single click all night either. Rocky did tell us about a good pinch a few miles south so we kept heading down. We came to the spot and it looked really good so we set up shop again. Once again we ran three long rods with fresh bait while we rigged up the bigger baits. After running the full arsenal again we watched and waited for that awesome sound but all was quite. We got busy catching fresh bait and finally getting something in our stomachs then we decided this wasn’t the spot for us so we packed it all up and headed farther down. On the way down we passed more big camps with towers and the whole 9.

We decided this was going to be our last move of the trip so we were going to hit a honey whole myself and Chris romo had scouted out a few weeks earlier. We made it down to our spot and once again ran three rods out with the fresh bait while we rigged up the big baits again. We were under the EZ up rigging baits because it was 2 O’clock and the sun and heat were really kicking. I just finished rigging the head of a jack when I happened to glance over and see the 9/0 slightly bounce two times. Right away I knew that bounce so I jumped up and ran over to the Yukon climbed on the tower and started to reel in the slack. Chris Romo walked over and asked what happened and right at that time I came tight on the line then all you heard was that beautiful sound, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Holly crap shouts Chris as the sound gets louder and faster and line disappears from the reel. His first run lasted about 150 yards and bent the hell out of that 10ft gator. I couldn’t do much but hold on and smile. He finally stopped and I started to crank on him but it was no use cause as soon as he felt me again he was gone on another blistering run. By this time he was about 500 yards out and it was time to put a hurting on him. So I hammered down and started to drag him back in. he decided to cooperate for the most part and made his way to the backside of the second bar then he decided he didn’t like that and like nothing turned and went back out. I wanted to get this fish in pretty green to insure he would make the release so I tightened the drag again and really started cranking. Once again he got to the backside of the bar and took off, only this time he was headed south. I wanted to stay in front of him so I yelled at Chris to get in the truck and follow him. Chris jumped in the Yukon and threw her in reverse while I was still fighting. Now I had a mobile fighting tower and was able to catch up with the fish with out a break in the battle. This helped out a bunch because I was able to get some line on the reel pretty fast and also get him over the bar fairly easy.

I told Chris I could see him so he parked the truck and jumped out with the tail rope.
The 9/0 was almost locked and I could see the fish was a good size and in the first gut. I thought he was about done so I let my guard down a little and sure enough he made another dash for open water that nearly pulled me off the tower. This time the run wasn’t as far and I got him right back into the first gut where Chris Romo and Chris Massy were waiting. Chris Massy grabbed the leader and Chris Romo roped the shark. Once he had the tail rope securely on the fish I jumped down and helped them drag this fat female bull to the beach.

Once she was on the beach we took all the necessary pictures then it was time to let her go.

I tried to sit on her to pin her down while Chris removed the hook but my weight was noting compared to hers and she tossed me right off. Finally Chris Massy held her down form behind the dorsal and once again I sat on her which was really hard since she barley fit between my legs. Chris Romo made short work of the stainless 12/0 j hook and popped it right out, then we dragged her into the deep wade gut and she took off like nothing ever happened.

Chris and myself looked at each other while she was swimming off and couldn’t say anything. We were nothing but smiles and laughter until finally we said what we were both thinking, “we just won it”. It was an awesome feeling because as soon as we woke up Friday morning we told each other we were going to take it this year, and we actually did.

After another round of high fives it was back to work and we ran every rod we had in hopes of another awesome fish. About an hour later the same rod starts screaming and once again. I’m up on the tower fighting what feels like another good bull. Once I got the fish to the second bar it just stopped and wouldn’t budge. Right away I told Chris I think it’s a big ray because it’s stuck to the bottom. We played the waiting game for about 5 minutes then he started to move and I locked him down so I could drag him over the bar. Sure enough it was a big ray and once again Chris and Chris leaders this beast. We took a few pictures then it was off to reek havoc on some other fisherman for this guy.

The rest of the rods sat quiet all night till about 9am when we packed it up and headed for the check in. Once we got to the check in we talked to a bunch of people and pretty much figured we had it in the bag but the suspense was killing me anyway. Then after what seemed like an eternity, they finally got to the shark part of the tournament and sure enough the guy say’s, “ in first place, with a length of 83 inches”, and I knew it was ours. I ended up taking home a $4,200 dollar check plus a new kayak, and the big metal tiger trophy. I also got something that I was saving the past two years for, which was a new Avet 50 two speed. And on top of that it was mounted on a custom Bimini shark a thon rod. Only one word can describe this set up, “Beautiful”.