My fish can eat your fish...

[MuskieBait]

Visited family in Florida over Christimas and we did "a little" fishing "here and there"...yeah...

One night in the Keys, I hooked into the biggest fish of my life and brought it up to the 150lb mono leader (thus counting a legit catch as per big game fishing rule), but being 20 feet up high on the bridge and 2000 feet from shore, it was an impossible task to land it and our only option was to walk the shark back to shore...but the shark eventually wore though my 60lb mono after it went under the bridge 4 times.

My friend, Michael, hooked the same shark again an hour later and this time it was tired enough to cooperate. We walked it all 2000 feet back to shore for some pics before the release. We had to rope the 7' and estimated 200lb Nurse Shark to pull it over a break in the sea wall. There was no way we can pull it up with just the leader...even if it was a 400lb mono leader.





As we cut away the leader to quickly unwrap it, we saw something else. Wait a minute...what was that?



I kid you not...that was my hook and my rig still attached to the shark. That was unreal! It now became so clear why Michael had the shark under control so quickly and he was able to lead the shark with ease. It fought two persons back-to-back within the hour!

Sharking is a team event. None of us could landed it alone. Ben was the leader guy, I played cowboy and roped the shark and Michael was the 2nd guy that night to fight the shark. From left to right - Michael, myself and Ben.



I felt privileged and blessed to take a picture with the shark I had fought for so long...

Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) - Species #370



Here's a picture during its release. You can see the shallow pool where we kept the shark until we were ready for pictures, and the break in the wall that we allowed us to pull the shark over the wall.



These guys can also eat your fish without a problem...






If we have the experience and even bigger gear, we would be tempted to cut up one of the wings from the ray and toss it out as shark bait...they eat it up like a big pancake...but we don't have experience dealing with big shark yet...and our reels with 300 yards of 65lb braid plus 100 yards of 60lb mono isn't really enough yet to fight a shark that eats an entire ray wing with one gulp.

Maybe in a couple of years...

It's not all big game and rah-rah...Aside from the Nurse Shark and the Cownose Rays, I also caught 30 new species in Florida...some of them about 2" long that most people don't even bother to fish for them. We caught over 50 freshwater and saltwater species during our 19 days of fishing in Florida. If you are so inclined, you can read about the trip on my blog.

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-1.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-2.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-3.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2014/01/florida-road-trip-2013-day-4.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-5.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-6.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-7.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-8.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-9.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-10.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-11.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-14.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-15.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-16.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-17.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-18.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2013/12/florida-road-trip-2013-day-19.html

Thanks for reading!

 

[Dozer]

Sweeet report and nice nurse shark - big and clean

 

[bski48]

Really cool post

 

[salmotrutta]

Awesome post!

My friend, Michael, hooked the same shark again an hour later and this time it was tired enough to cooperate.

Bit of a spoiler, I say edit this part out until you get to that part of the story

Sounds like an amazing trip!

 

[Brian]

Nice post...

 

[MuskieBait]

Awesome post!


Bit of a spoiler, I say edit this part out until you get to that part of the story

Sounds like an amazing trip!

Ha! Good call. Unfortunately, I can't edit it now

 

[Kasim Baluch]

Thanks for sharing and looks amazing! Congrats, looks like something you'll never forget!

 

[salmotrutta]

Ha! Good call. Unfortunately, I can't edit it now

Oh well, still an epic post!

 

[NADO]

awesome read, thanks for the share.

 

[yush_gta]

great stuff!