Tiger tales one of mine -- Archive

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Subject: Tiger tales one of mine

Author:
Jim Day

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Date Posted: 939948251PDT
In reply to: BeachBum 's message, "Stalked?" on 939934683PDT

I was holding back on this because I've told this story on the web before. I number of years ago I was fishing off the beach at big shell North Padre Island. I was swimming out a large bait on a surfboard ( I believe it was a large Jackfish head) when I had a run in with a Tiger. Now beach bum knows this but most of you don't. The way it works there is there are a series of bars and guts. Each bar comes up to the surface with a wave break. The guts start out shallow and get progressively deeper. The first gut's about waste deep the second eight to ten feet and so on. We were fishing big baits about a hundred yards out in the third gut, using big game tackle 12/0's. I was swimming the baits out why my friend tended the rods. At any rate it was kind of a clear day without much swell. I had the bait in front of me and was working out across the second gut thinking "man this water is really clear", when I noticed some movement to the side. I still get goose bumps when I think about it, a large shark was headed right down the gut right at me. I stopped paddling pulled my hands out of the water and watched sitting very still as it came down the gut and passed right under me. It looked like a tiger to me, all ten feet of him. Small by the standards of this discussion but big enough to scare the #ell out of me, and I'm sitting there with fifteen pounds of bait in my lap. After he passed he started to slow down: like he was about to turn. (this could of been Beach Bums first pass) My first thought "I've got to get rid of this bait". I slid it off the board as quietly as I could and turned around, I remember thinking don't make any sudden moves you don't want to get it excited, and I started to head in. Once I cleared the bar I just hauled ass for the beach. When I got in my buddy was pissed, "what the #ell are you doing" type of thing. I tried to tell him that a big shark had come up and I had to drop the bait, he did not buy it. Then suddenly the rod doubled over. Now the way you usually do this is you set the drag with just enough pressure to keep the line from slipping out. When the shark picks up the you let it run in free spool. One guy holds the rod while the other gets in his gear (harness and butt plate) you then hand the rod over and the angler straps in tightens the drag and throws it in gear setting the hook. At least that's what usually happens. My buddy was sitting holding the rod in one hand making various gestures with the other (I'm sure you can imagine), basically telling me I was an idiot, and there was no way a bait that close in was going to get bit. In the middle of his rant the shark picked up the bait and took off. To be honest It was everything we could do just to hold on to the rod. He had never reset the drag so it was almost full on. We both grabbed hold and were literally drug down to the surf. finally I managed to loosen the drag. For a couple of minutes the shark just burned off line. My friend kept yelling "I'm getting a screaming run" after a few hundreds yards the shark slowed down shook his head and spit the hook. Since the reel was in gear he didn't take the bait deep enough and was never really hooked. Though we debated it, I have no doubt that shark was the same one that passed under my board. And people wonder why I don't like swimming in the ocean.

Tight lines Jim

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
At The Surface	BeachBum	939956745PDT
No whats the story? -- Jim Day, 939977876PDT The Summer Before last...2nd attempt -- BeachBum, 940010314PDT