The pier and the causeway 06/24/08

High tide at Matanzas Pass was at 6:23am, but my son Ben and I weren’t out there for it because I set my alarm to go off at 4:30pm instead of 4:30am. But we didn’t oversleep too long and actually made it to the Ft Myers Beach pier by about 7:30 that morning.

I had seen plenty of bait there the previous day as well as schools of small jacks and our plan was to catch bait to catch jacks which in turn would become shark bait for our next night time sharking trip! We were going to pier fish the falling tide which ended about 11:00am then move to the Sanibel Causeway and kayak fish the B span flats on the rising tide for ladyfish and hopefully a few bluefish and Spanish mackerel that would augment our shark bait supply.

We weren’t the only two-legged fishermen on the pier! This guy proved as adept at stealing fish as he was at catching them!



Schools of big threadfins were boiling the surface of the water…



So we rapidly set to work with the sabiki bait stick to sabiki up some bait…







Our efforts yielded some small jacks and we contributed fresh live bait to several other fishermen (and fisherwomen) on the pier who graciously contributed their resulting jacks to our shark bait cooler! One fellow gave us four whiting for the cause as well! We also kept a bunch of threadfins. We figured we could fish them on the spinning rod for smaller sharks and whatever else might nibble them as an offering.

We left the pier at about 10:30 feeling good about our upcoming shark expedition. We stopped at Bonita Bill’s to chew the fat with Kirby and Byron and enjoy a couple of cold snacks, and then headed to the B span of the Sanibel Causeway.





We planned to swap out using the kayak but Ben wanted to first fish the bridge so I readied the kayak…



And enlisted Ben’s help in a shove off from the shallows…





And I started backstrokin’ for deeper water…



I got to my favorite spot but the tide wasn’t really moving in very fast. While the tide was slow, I got four lizardfish…



And a bunch of hits from short mangrove snapper…



Some local fishermen watched me curiously from their nearby perch…



When the tide finally started moving, big bait schools showed up and the trout bite started…







All ten trout I got were released. The ladyfish were totally absent. Not a single ladyfish hookup. I did manage one nice Spanish mackerel though and he went into the fish bag!



Quite a toothy critter!



Meanwhile Ben fished the B span pilings.



He managed one catfish that we kept for the sharks.

We swapped out the kayak and Ben headed for my spot.



Ben also caught and released ten trout to 15 inches, got 6 lizardfish and another catfish.

Some ominous weather was building…



And I considered honking the horn of the van to signal Ben to head back in. But it wasn’t necessary. Ben is a blimp pilot and has quite the good weather eye. He timed it perfectly to allow himself maximum fishing time, yet sufficient time to paddle in and load up the gear before the deluge hit.







By 4:30 we were loaded up and headed off to Sanibel to scout some spots for our shark fishing trip. The weather got really REALLY nasty very fast and the water was whipped to a white froth! We were both glad to be off the water safely with a cooler full of shark bait!

Life is good!
Tarvus

Bunche Beach and Ft Myers Pier 06/23/08

I got a late start today and didn’t get on the water until about 1:15 this afternoon. I went to Bunche Beach because I thought that would be the best opportunity to catch some ladyfish, jacks or even catfish that might be used for shark bait later this week.

I tried all my usual spots with all my usual bag of tricks, but true to form, every single time I go out and try to deliberately catch ladyfish, I wind up getting trout! But I had fun catching and releasing these fish…









The trout hit on small Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow plugs. I was also dragging a green bucktail jig behind the kayak. That produced a small gag grouper which flopped off the hook into the kayak as I was getting my camera out then flopped back into the water. So, no pic of the gag.

By 3:00 the thunderheads were building and I deemed it best to get my butt off the water. I had thoughts about wrapping myself around a nice ice cold brew somewhere, but on a whim I headed to Ft Myers Beach. I decided to scope out the pier action.

True to form, at the pier all the tourists were at the far end tossing heavily weighted shrimp and squid as far off the end of the pier as humanly possible. But as I walked out, I saw massive threadfin schools getting plundered by predators! I also saw massive schools of jacks cruising the pier. Since jacks = shark bait, I hurried back to the van, grabbed my sabiki bait rod and my redfish rod, tied a 1/0 Owner circle hook on the redfish rod leader and hotfooted it back out to about the midpoint on the pier where I had seen all the bait. It took a couple of minutes but I soon had a sabiki line full of nice fat threadfins. I hooked a 1/0 through the back just behind the dorsal fin and underhanded him out to the periphery of a school of threads getting busted something fierce from below. I totally believed I was gonna get hooked up immediately, but it didn’t happen right away. But after maybe two minutes, my greenback got all sorts of agitated and I saw three or four large brown backed predators taking their shots at him! My line went tight and the drag started running! I felt sure I had a jack on but imagine my surprise at a fat, FAT 18” trout on the other end of the line!

Those tourists, they’re really funny. They get all excited seeing somebody sabiki up bait, they watch that same bait get hammered in the very vicinity where the bait was caught, they ooh and ahh over the resulting fish, but they still bypass the massive slaughter of bait in progress with the threadfin schools midway out the pier and they continue to walk to the end of the pier where they throw over-weighted shrimp and squid as far from the end of the pier (and the baitfish schools) as possible and wonder whey they aren’t catching fish. Go figure!

There was one mother there with her boy who looked to be about 12-14 years old. He was a nice kid and she asked some intelligent questions and I was happy to show her the sabiki rig, suggest where she might get one for her son to use on his pole, demonstrated how to use it and showed her the un-weighted circle hook rig I was using to fish the live bait. I also pointed out the bait schools and how I was fishing my bait in their vicinity near the structure of the pier itself. She watched the bait getting hammered and saw me miss a hookup when something big popped my bait! I’d like to think she will get her son set up to do some pier catching while they are vacationing here!

About this time a group of about four unruly adolescents decided it would be cool to jump off the pier right in front of me into the bait that I was working with my sabiki. What a contrast from the nice young kid who was interested in fishing! I exchanged some colorful and creative verbiage with the pier jumpers. I wonder if they are related to the Cranium boys? More than likely…

But the day was getting long in the tooth, the bait disappeared thanks to the pier jumpers, and the thunder was drawing closer with that cold wind that comes just before the sky opens up.

I headed home, cleaned my gear, filleted that big trout that I kept, showered and headed to El Tropical Cuban Cafeteria on Hancock Bridge in Cape Coral with my wife and visiting son to enjoy some deep fried pork chunks, black beans and sweet plantains along with a Presidente beer!

And I’m going fishing in the morning too! J

Life is good!
Tarvus

Sanibel Sharkin' 06/19/08

My son Ben and I headed to Sanibel Thursday evening to do some night time shark fishing. It was our first time targeting sharks and it was to be a learning experience for us. I had purchased two used Penn Senator 9/0 reels on eBay and we mounted them on some 50 pound 6’ boat rods also acquired on eBay. Both reels were filled with 80# mono. We also took my Penn 750ssm on a 7’6” heavy rod.







We were experimenting with different terminal tackle. I had bought 4 different types of leaders to try but we only used two types on this trip: a 6 foot double 15/0 circle hook rig on 400” cable and a 10/0 circle hook rig on 280# cable. I had some frozen bait in the freezer so we thawed it out and pre-rigged two ladyfish on the 15/0 double leaders and a small jack on the 10/0.



We left the house at about 5:20 and rolled onto Sanibel right around 6:00 pm.





We arrived at our destination and started setting up our gear before 7:00 pm.



It was a bit breezy with some small waves and chop on the water, but I readied the kayak…





And proceeded to paddle out the baits for the 9/0 rods…



We dropped the baits out about 150 to 200 yards – just beyond the slow speed marker buoys.



I got caught broadside by a wave coming back in and was unceremoniously dumped out of the kayak. Fortunately for my dignity, Ben did not catch a photo of that whole event!

After beaching the kayak, I waded out to the first sandbar and cast the Penn 750 with the little jack for bait into the second trough.

Then we settled in our beach chairs…



observed the progress of the sunset…







and waited.



When it started to get dark, I poured myself a cup of coffee and tried out my new toy – a headlamp! It came in handy later on!



Right at 9:00 we heard one of the 9/0 rigs go off. I strapped into my harness and grabbed the rod out of the holder letting the fish pull line against the clicker.



When I judged the time was right, I levered the reel into gear, reeled the line tight and BOOM! Fish on!



It wound up being a 3 ½ foot blacktip shark. Not a huge fish, but my first shark off the beach nonetheless!







He had the circle hook deep in his mouth so I clipped the cable, dragged him into the water…



and watched him take off like a shot when the first wave swept in!



Not too long after this, the other 9/0 went off. Ben donned the harness and picked up the rod with the fish still pulling line against the clicker.



He engaged the reel…



briefly tussled with the shark…



but lost the fish and reeled in a mangled bait.





Undaunted, Ben volunteered to paddle out two more baits for us. He took ‘em WAY out past the buoy. While Ben was paddling back in, the second bait he dropped got hit! At first I thought it might be hung up on the kayak because it got hit within mere seconds of him dropping it. Once I realized it was a fish and not the kayak, I opted top let Ben take the rod when he got back in. Ben fought the fish briefly, but once again it managed to escape.

Soon the other 9/0 went off. But Ben reeled that one back in with just a mangled bait as well. We had one ladyfish left which we cut in chunks and used to re-bait both 9/0 rods. I volunteered to do the honors of paddling them back out. We had a 360 degree light on the kayak mounted on a pole in the seat back rod holder, but it is difficult to see the waves coming in the dark – even with the light! I managed to make it out without a repeat of my getting dumped in the surf. It gets really eerie in the dark out there all alone lemme tellya! You start thinking “Here there be dragons!” Looking down at a couple bloody chunks of ladyfish leaching juice out thru the scuppers is not exactly a comforting thought either! You start feeling like you are smack dab in the middle of the food chain! I managed to get the second bait all tangled up around my leg and under my seat so it took quite a while and a few choice words trying to hold the light in one hand, balance the paddle on my lap and untangle the mess with the other hand! I eventually succeeded and paddled back in without further mishap.

We had paid to park until 11:30 so around eleven we started getting stuff ready to trudge back to the van. Ben lost his $100 sunglasses and in the ensuing search, we backtracked up the beach a ways. Fortunately Ben found the glasses, but when we got back to our spot, the Penn 750 was buzzing like a morning alarm clock and by the time I got it out of the holder it was nearly spooled! When I reeled the line tight – nothing! I brought the line in and the entire 6 foot cable leader was gone as was my 6 foot of 80# fluorocarbon leader above the cable! The line had been bitten through – not frayed, so we surmised a shark had rolled himself up in the line and bitten it off above the leader.

We reeled in the first 9/0 and the bait was untouched. But the second 9/0 was also missing the entire leader! This one was very obviously frayed through the 80 pound mono main line. Once again we figured the shark had wrapped himself up then rubbed the line through. We had not heard that reel go off so we assumed it had to have happened when we were searching for the sunglasses. Though we had only moved 100 feet or so away to search, and were only gone a few minutes, the noise of the surf easily drowns out the reel’s clicker.

We packed up our gear and headed home. Final score:
Us 1, sharks 2

A fun and educational evening! We learned a lot and will be ready for ‘em next time!

Life is good!
Tarvus