US Army Helicopter Pilot Catches Tiger Shark
Florida shark fishing report from Reggie, a.k.a. redmedic71 from late May 2010. Reggie got into the sport of Land Based Shark Fishing during the summer of 2009 and has made many great catches so far. But on this last trip, he got the catch that everyone on the shark fishing scene is talking about, a land based tiger shark. Reggies catch was a nice mature 10’7″ shark going close to 500 pounds. 
Here is Reggies Report:
We made it to the hotel late Friday evening and immediately went to the local fishing hole to see what folks were catching and maybe talk some of them in to letting us keep some fish or just the fish heads. We did manage to get some scraps and some smaller fish heads from the nice folks fishing that night.
I got up Sat morning and made it the store that cleans a lot of fish from charter boats and scored some more and bigger fish heads there. After this, I headed out to the bay with the yak and gig in search of rays. As luck would have it, the first ray I see was a spotted ray that was about the size of a VW bug about ten yards from me. I wasn’t even going to attempt that!
Spent over an hour looking for rays and only manage to get 3 small ones.
My mom and dad finally made it to the beach later that afternoon just in time to start deploying some baits.
The first thing I sent out was a small ray on the 9/0 at about 1530hrs. Before I was able to get the second rod out, the 9/0 got hit. We made a decision before we started that we had to let this fish run a lot longer than we did last year. So that’s what we did… The run stopped just about as fast as it started.
To make a long story short, before I was able to get the 4th rod out we had several hits and I think we actually had one shark on the sand. After we get settled back in and everything is calm, I told dad that I’m making a quick dash to the store to find some food and I’ll be right back.
I return to find dad with the help of some stranger trying to get the hook out of a shark and untangled in a mess of fishing line. We cut the hook and unravel the shark and send it on its way.
The runs continued almost to the point where we were starting to get desensitized the screaming 80Ws. We were catching some sharks but they were all in the 5’ range. I think the longest up to this point was a 5’10” bull or black tip. I can’t recall…
So at this point we’re getting in a groove with the screaming reels and the smaller sharks and letting our guard down somewhat, my 80W starts a nice steady run. It didn’t get nailed as hard as the black tips and bulls were doing. It was different because this fish was acting is if it was stuck in one gear. No high speed… just grabbed and gone…. Didn’t speed up and didn’t slow down.
We let enough time go by to know what ever had it… had to be hooked. I put on the gear, strapped on the 80W, and put the hammer down! WOW! At that moment, I knew this was the biggest fish I have ever hooked! I told dad, “this is it!” The fish was still in the same gear as it started in. Didn’t speed up and didn’t really slow down. It’s like I had a log truck or something!
We put the heat on the fish and by walking backward and reeling forward we managed to land the biggest fish of my life in just 30 min. Granted, it was 30 minutes on an 80W! That’s not easy for any fish!
With the help of some nice folks on the beach, we were able to get the tail rope on and snaps some pics before it was time to say good bye to the beast we’ve been chasing for the last 11 months.
The Tiger taped out at 10’7” and boy was it ever amazing to see one in real life! My dad and I still can’t believe that we caught a tiger shark.
The night continues with a few more fish bringing the total to 5 sharks. We had I think about 10 runs in about 6 hrs time.
Here are the pictures:
