Fishing reports for July 12 - July 18

[Coop]

Well we are still waiting for the larger creatures to arrive in greater numbers and size,,,I think that may have something to do with the water temps being a little cooler than normal,,,still plenty of the typical smaller summertime fish,,,water temps I think are finally on the rise, so it should be any day for some pullage.

Get your feet in the sand, go fish and have fun!

[Randy Stinchcomb]

Scott, what kind of water temps are you seeing and what is prefered

[Coop]

Randy, it seems when water temps get above 70 and stay there, we should start seeing an increase in sharks, such as sandbars (which are the majority of species caught on AI), blacktips and spinners,,,sandtigers, who do not mind cooler water temps are the first to show and mainly caught at night, then as water temps rise into the 70's, larger sandbars, followed by blacktips and spinners. Water temps at one point a week ago were hovering right around 64*,,,darn chilly,,,you still can catch sharks, it just seems the optimum range for catching some of the species is when water temps get above 70*,,,I think water temps are now close to, if not above 70* now,,,last year, summer water temps right along the beach were very warm and it would be common to catch large sharks all day long,,,in fact at one point last summer, as soon as you yakem out, your into a fight with a large sandbar, yak again and do it all over again, one after another,,,sure hope that starts happening soon .

[Dave]

July 12 report from AI, winds strong, currents even stronger, fish few, It was nice to meet you ben and good to see both Sam and Oliver again. All I managed was a skate, My friend managed three small sandbars and a king, so all was not lost. I wont make it back out again till Monday eve.

[Sam]

Oliver, Ben and his Dad met up with me at the OSV entrance yesterday and headed out to the beach. When we arrived at our spot, there was a stout South wind and I tried yakking out baits twice with half a brick on each bait. They wouldn't hold.

Ben did a great job keeping his lines from straight, but no fish from anyone. It was really tough fishing. The water felt really cold again

It was nice meeting Ben and his Dad. Let me tell you all something, this kid has got it together. He has a bright future ahead of him, no matter which way he goes. He LOVES to fish, that's for sure.

It was good to see Dave and friends again. Hopefully, next time we all meet up, the weather will be better and water a bit warmer.

[ben23]

Thanks Sam, I think saying that I LOVE to fish might be an understatement...scary......... but true ;)

It was great meeting Sam, Oliver, and Dave; I know my dad had a lot of good times just like me. It should not be a problem to get him to take me down later in the summer- he had a fun time with everyone. Too bad no fish, but no worries.

I went out this mourning.....2 skate....a few blues......no runs on my shark rod. I think that must mean that I'm saving all my pullage up till when we fish later tonight.........anyone wanna shark at North Bethany??? A couple days ago there was a 6.5 foot sandbar caught- so they are there.

I hope to see some toothy reports soon......I'll hopefully be coming back later in the summer- post some pics of the sharks you catch and my dad will surley up for the trip.

BEN

ps: i'll get my dad to sign up to the site support later in the day hopefully

[Dave]

Ben, it was great to meet you, sorry I couldn't bs longer, I just didnt want to lose a pole in the rough waters. If you make it down again drop me a line. I would really enjoy fishin with ya.

[Dave]

Sam, I just picked up a 11' tica rod and a shakespeare catera 4300 baitcast reel, two to be exact, figure I will learn how to use the baitcast reel and get away from the old spinning reel. I only have one problem now. I cant wait to go and break it in. lol, I am gonna try to go out monday eve and wensday eve but I might not be able to make it tuesday.

[Sam]

Cool. I think you'll like the Tica's. They make a big difference.

[Coop]

Dave, once you master throwing a baitcaster for the surf, you'll never go back.

[igormothra]

I totally agree Scott, I love my casters. Just got a phone call from Ben exciting news, but I will let him tell that story.

[Coop]

Lets here it Ben,,,get a toothy critter?

[ben23]

hey guys- i shall begin:
After a pretty good day with blues and kings on the beach, we headed out to dinner and ice cream....blah blah..when home, we headed down to the Northern most part of beathany beach, within veiw of my room window at the beach house, and we also brought fireworks to entertain the rest of the family as I manned the fishing rods. I have a baitrunner 6500 spinning reel and a pretty flimsy 10$ OLD Kmart rod to go along with it- spooled with 20 pound test. I also had my shark setup....ocean master 12 footer with daiwa sealine 50. After noticing some shady weather with some distant lighting; we were thinking about heading in. The lightning stopped, so we continued to fish. I heaved out (far I might add:razz: ) a fresh kingfish head from earlier in the day with my heavy duty shark rig/rod. I tightened the line, and set the clicker, and she was ready. I then rigged up the smaller lightweight spinning rod with the mini shark rig that I used with Sam and Oliver (thanks for the 10/0 cirlce oliver ). I decided to use a big chunk of the tuna that Same had so kindly given me from the night before. I heaved this out and had pretty good distance (i had no shock leader so I took it easy). The rods were set, and I sat watching the sky, fireworks, and my two rods (about 9:45). At about 10pm, I heard the spinning rod go down...and saw a good bend in the rod. I picked it up and let the fish run (using the advice about using circle hooks). It ran slow, so I thought it might be a smallish ray or shark, but I still leaned slowly back in order to set the small circle hook. Fish on!
I realized that it was a little bigger, it made a really nice run and I was excited to say the least.....it was gonna be a big ray, or so I thought. After about 10 minutes of running south following the fish I had plenty of line, but let him run when he wanted to and pumped him in when he was done running. My family was cheering me on, and I was pumped- some people who were looking for crabs came down to watch me fight whatever it was on the end of the line. After another 5 minutes of gainingand losing line, we saw some sort of fin. I lost some of my excitement, because I knew it wasnt a shark, i didnt see a dorsal- just one flapping fin just like a skate wing.......but I was still happy with the fight so far. Our visibility was low, but an array of flashlights helped us try to get a glimpse of the fish. A couple more waves came in, and we realized it was a shark, i saw the tail and dorsal (or so I thought). I was really excited...it was probably going to be a 4 foot sand tiger or sandbar. The very next wave, i try to surf the fish in with the power of the wave, and when the wave crashed, I SAW IT. The entire body of an enormous beast of a shark was illuminated by our flashlights, with a head at LEAST 2 ft wide and a length of atat LEAST 7 feet long, my mind nearly explodded. I think that every person watching screamed or yelled with fear and excitement. I nearly melted, when it gave a huge head shake, this thing was a beast, and I had no idea how we could land it- it was a giant sand tiger. After several unsuccesful attempts to grab the shortened casting leader (lots of screaming and shouts of asonishment), i tried to pull it in on a huge wave. YES! the beast was beached, the water was no longer around the fish. My dad ran in and was able to grab the tail. He put all of his weight and tried to drag the fish. Not even and inch did the enormous shark move. Just after the beached shark, another huge wave came in, giving way to another run by the shark. I was able to surf the tired beast in on a nice wave, and almost got it beached when SNAP! just as it was pulled onto bare sand my 20# test gave way. Unable to realize what I was doing, I dropped the rod and ran to the shark ,wrapping my arms around its tail with all my might. As the shark's head thrashed, i realized that my fingers were a little more important than completely landing the fish. Just as another big wave gave enough water for the thrashing beast to swim, I let go, there was no way I was able to handle that fish even if I did beach it, and i decied that i'd rather have all my limbs, and let the shark go before someone got seriously hurt. With one tail kick, the shark was gone , and the amazment continued. From what I thought was a small ray, ended up being a 7+ foot sand tiger hooked on my homemade casting rig with smallish circle hook on my light gear spinning rod for craoker, kingfish, and blues. My mom was crying she was soo scared when i ran in the water. Me, my brothers, dad, and the onlooking children/ parents were shocked. That thing was a beast -nuff said

I called oliver and sam with the good/ news. Although it may not be considered a "caught fish" to some of you. It is to me. It was a family experience that we will never forget. The caos was so intense that there were no pictures of the event, all who werent helping were pinching themsselves to see if it was a dream.

anyone wanna go fishing??:icon_twisted:

like i told sam....i'm "gut hooked" on shark fishing

BEN

[travis]

good catch man.awsome story.

[Sam]

Ben, you deserve it. You have put in a lot of time and effort this week and I am glad you were able to see and feel what it is like to beach a large shark. Thanks for the story and congratulations.

This is why I created this site.