Hey guys...I am about to go on a another trip, but I took a couple people out last night and we caught something amazing. By far my most memorable fish catch of all time.

Anyone want to guess what this is?



The answer is Bull. 9ft exactly, pregnant, and easily over 450 pounds. I did some research and found a 9ft bull that weighed in at 517lbs, and this one was FAT, so I assume it was close to that. We caught it on a yakked bait. Check out this picture of it where you see how much it bulged on its sides:










Ben

Early this evening, I got the itch and finally dusted off my rods and hit the beach. I stopped at Harbor Tackle and got some nice bunker (thanks for staying open for me, Terry) and a few sinker slides.

I usually re-spool my reels every spring, but I didn't have time tonight... Heck, I didn't even tie new shock leaders. I sharpened some old hooks, heaved out three rods and relaxed. About an hour on the sand, my 1509 bends over HARD and line starts peeling. I really was in shock... I was thinking, "water is too cold for big sharks... or rays... Drum aren't here right now..." After the initial run, I got this beast turned around for a few seconds and right back out she went.

As the line was steady going out, suddenly it stopped, but the fish was still going! I looked at my spool and the line had crossed over itself within the spool. I ran forwards towards the surf and luckily, he turned again and I was able to get a few more feet of line.

I fought her for about 15 more minutes until she finally surfaced and I got a good look at her... WHOAH! What a beautiful sight! Finally, I got her in the suds and up on the sand. As I put my rod in the holder, I pulled the line to get a little slack and snap! shock leader broke!



She measured 50.25"...Normally, I release anything over 40" however I promised my sister I would bring her home a fish tonight. She is going through chemotherapy and had "rockfish" at the hospital the other day. She said it was nothing like fish, period... So, home she came.

Right place, right time and lots of luck for me tonight.

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We left Wednesday around 10:00pm in the hopes of catching the 5:00am ferry but by Rodanthe it was obvious we'd miss by a hair so we slowed down and got some fresh supplies etc. My day had started at around 8:00 am the day before as I took a 6hr round trip to get the best bait possible with the winds we'd been having. I had a feeling there would be no bait on the islands until Thursday afternoon and I was right. I was a very popular guy on the beach with 100lbs of the hottest commodity going with the wind out of the South and made a bunch of new friends. We had lines in by 7:15 or so and we were out on the bar fishing in the crowds. Being a Delmarva meat dunker the scene just wasn't for me and I didn't have a ton of confidence in the location...although there was one real sweet spot to our left that some guys had staked out pretty good. After no sleep and getting beat around on the bar for 5 hours it was time to go, the water had climbed to 62 degrees and I figured we'd have just as good a shot putting out a Delmarva spread and fishing from shore at many of the overlooked breaks and fantastic locations on the way south. Around noon we moved with the expectation of fishing through the night. We found a very subtle spot quiet a bit north of the crowd and had no one around for 500 yds or so.

We set up a 6 rod spread on the edges of the bars and hole and settled in. On this trip we fished all Barrier Island Magnum heavers that I've been working on for 18 months...they certainly tested out. For much of the trip 10oz was required in our location to stay on the edges and on the bite. I told Tyler that on the incoming we'd be in the fish, maybe not as many as the crowd south but we should find some away from the fray. Around 3:00 the doggies switched from spineys to smoothies (normally indicates warmer water and drum for me) and I knew we were close to being in the fish. Nearly exactly at the high tide mark a low rider rung spinner I was fishing bowed up in the spike and squealed off and I was in to the first drum of the trip. I have to say there is an added challenge as folks are riding by to keep a low profile with a 46" fish on but we did a pretty good job of keeping the info and location quiet save for a few folks that stopped to watch. After a long snowy winter,10 hours on the road, and being up for 34 hours it was a very gratifying fish especially in March. Tyler was Johnny on the spot with the camera as usual and no I wasn't trying to match my top and waders...









There were high fives all around and some celebration beers for my first fish of the season and my first big drum on a spinning rod (which was key tossing big weights into a 20+ SE wind). About 2 hours later at dark there was a similar occurrence. By this time the water was looking real nice, the sun was low and we were tossing mongo bunker chunks thinking the fish would be in closer with the falling sun. That was indeed the case and a 48" fat and angry sansaspot drum took my bait and I enjoyed a fantastic fight at one point faking like I had tangled my lines as some fisherman drove past...can't trust a drum fisherman...





As it got dark my confidence continued to climb and we lit up the rods for a long night of spring drummin'.

It didn't take long for another screaming run and this time it was Tyler's turn to get in on the action on his first night fish fight. With all those lines, the wind, and the current it is almost as much work clearing the lines as it is fighting the fish but we got it done and released another March drum (about 47" this time).





Reports from down the beach were sparse so we felt pretty good about moving from the mix and scoring these private hole drum. We stuck it out until around 10:00 when our eyes and bodies couldn't take it any longer. I had set up the truck for napping on the beach but we heard they were kicking folks off the night before so we opted for a room at Blackbeard's and decided to sleep in arriving for the incoming tide again after a massive breakfast at Pony Island.

We didn't hit the beach until 12:00 at just about dead low tide and decided to fish until the front hit the beach right around high tide. I made the call that we'd also be leaving early rather than sticking out the 35kt NE winds and waiting until Saturday night to get back out. After our success the day before we felt pretty good about the trip and content with our three nice fish.


Friday was tough fishing with 10oz sliding quite a bit on the hard 25kt SW blow, you could only get about 8 minutes with your bait in the zone before you were washed into the hole and started to get sanded in. It was quite an orchestrated system re-baiting and casting 5 rods in specific sequence with all the current, wind, and line in the water...the dozen or so dogfish didn't help either. Around 3:00 we started to get smoothies rather than spineys and an hour later I was bowed up again right on que. A 44" fish hit the beach around 4:00 and our confidence climbed again thinking of a repeat. The pic doesn't do the water justice, it looked like we were offshore it was so blue, just a beautiful afternoon...for now...



Not long after I landed this fish Tyler bowed up again but the current, tangles, and fish took us well down the beach away from the camera and we released our 5th big drum of the trip. Not long after we got back as we watched the front approach I commented to Ty that every time I've been on the beach when a front line hit I bowed up almost at the instant of the weather change, 3 for 3 is more than conicidence to me so we watched the rods and the front approach knowing that all hell was going to break loose weather wise in the next 10 minutes. Sure as the sun rises just before the temps dropped 17 degrees and the wind did a 180 and increased 15kts on top of the 20kts it was pushing prior a rod doubled over and Tyler was into his 3rd fish of the trip a cheating 40" with shoulders like I've never seen on a smaller fish and it put up one hell of a fight. It was old man and the sea style as the surf began to blow 20ft in the air and it turned dark and cold in an instant. I cleared the lines knowing that we'd be packing up and heading home after 3 nice fish a piece and getting it all right for a change. We got the days, the temps, the winds, the bait, the location and the gear all dialed in. There is some pretty interesting background shots in this series, check out the front. Now 4 for 4 when a front hits the beach.







Ferry ride was fun too!

I was invited to go fishing with Capt. Monty aboard the Morning Star yesterday. I had been wanting to fish with the highly regarded Captain and his crew for a few years now and finally got the chance.

It was a blast! I have been on several charters and some were better than others, however I had never felt quite as welcome as did with this crew. Captain Monty not only showed extraordinary talent maneuvering his boat to get us in just the right "spot", he also came down and fished with us nearly the whole day.

Among the anglers aboard, I was honored to fish along side the current Golden Tilefish World Record holder, Dennis Muhlenforth.
(Picture from August 17, 2009)


Of course, he outfished everyone.

Nearly every angler caught fish and I caught, tagged and released my first Codfish.



Both mates also fished with the guests and were extremely friendly, fast and helpful throughout the entire trip. I am really looking forward to going out with Captain Monty and crew again in the near future and would highly recommend this charter to anyone looking for a fun, inexpensive day of offshore fishing.

The Morning Star
410-520-2076

I would also like to note that I have never met anyone so dedicated and passionate about improving Maryland's marine habitat as Captain Monty Hawkins.
Please take some time to learn about the Ocean City Reef Foundation by going to their website.

This video is from my vacation last year up to Ocean City, MD. I fished behind my hotel on 37th street and on Assateague Island with Sam and Dave. I absolutely had a blast and can’t wait to do it again this year. If you have never hooked in to a decent sized shark surf fishing, I recommend it. You can learn where to go and how to do it on this site by clicking here.