PHOTOS: Larger Shark Images Dan Ficochello said he battled for three hours before he was able to bring the giant shark to the beach.
PHOTOS: Larger Shark Images Dan Ficochello said he battled for three hours before he was able to bring the giant shark to the beach.
That’s a shark and a half!
This was no accidental catch.
That’s it for me. I’m sticking to the pool from now on.
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Bump!
Steaks?
Global warming. (And I’ll bet you believed that, just for a microsecond...)
There's a "Flagler Beach" in Florida and this may just be a typo.....but then again, it may not be.
I love all the little mysteries that pop up on FR every once in a while, LOL.
Leni
“You’re swimming and having a good time and something like that could be just a few feet from you,” angler Michael Ficocello said. “It makes you think twice. It’s their home. You are intruding on their area.”
Yeah, I guess if you are swimming 300 yards out, you would be intruding on their area.
This is pretty amazing too. 124 lb blue catfish caught in the Mississippi.
That’s a baby. I’ve seen two of them cruising past a 35’ charter fishing boat that had to be 2/3 as long as the boat.
I was vacationing in a rental beach house on Captiva Island last week with my wife and another couple we invited. We love Florida and travel there from our home in Indiana at least once a year.
If you are familiar with the South Gulf coast area of Florida you know that there are probably more sharks per mile in the area than maybe anywhere else in US territorial waters. They are virtually everywhere, Blacktips, Hammerheads, Nurse, Bulls, every shark you can imagine. You cannot go swimming in the Gulf without a shark or two within a couple hundred yards of you. Most people would never know this because the sharks leave the bathers alone.......for the most part. Florida is, after all, the shark attack capital of the US but most attacks are simply mistakes made by Bull Sharks, very indiscriminate feeders, who let go when they find they bit into something they are unfamiliar with.
My friend Dave and I hooked a couple Tarpon fishing from shore on Wednesday afternoon and were pretty pumped-up about it. The first one we hooked was well over a hundred pounds. We knew that because he came about four feet out of the water and we could see he was a monster. Needless to say, my fifteen pound test line didn’t last too long with him on the other end of it. About twenty seconds actually before he broke my line. About a half hour later I hooked another tarpon that had taken my “cut-bait”. We were using light tackle and the best I could do was a twenty minute fight with a fifty or sixty pounder who eventually straightened my steel hook out and slipped free after coming out of the water four or five times.
On Thursday we got out of bed determined to catch one of these huge fish. We went to Jensen’s Marina right across the street and bought some heavier monafilament line and some Tarpon Rigs so we had a better chance at bringing one in. The Tarpon Rig hook was a lot bigger and stronger and was attached to a 100 lb test leader. As we were purchasing the heavier gear we told one of the Jensen brothers about our experience and he was surprised because it was a little early for Tarpon to be returninmg to the area. Well, whether they were supposed to be there or not was immaterial, we were hooking them.
We ran back to the beach, rigged up with our new gear, and commenced to fishing. Within an hour I hooked a another that came out of the water and, right in front of me, spit my bait out and got loose. I was pretty frustrated but even more excited because we were obviously in the right place. Hooking three tarpon in the same are is no coincidence, we were obviously fishing in a channel that was a major thoroughfare for them on there way into Redfish Pass at the end of the Island.
During the next few hours, while we continued to fish, the weather deteriorated and the seas went from one to two foot waves to four to sixes. With the surf kicking up we were forced to quit fishing because the waves would catch our line and drag our baits into shore. We were disappointed but went back to the beachhouse hoping the conditions would eventually improve. They never did. Unfortunately we were catching the outer bands of a tropical depression that went through Jacksonville and by Friday we were experiencing five to seven footers. Pretty rough conditions to be attempting to fish from shore with the gear we brought.
Well....I’m a little bit crazy when I am determined to do something so I decided to fish anyway. While my friend was safely on shore I waded into the surf with my fishing pole rigged with shrimp. I needed to catch some small fish to cut-up for bait and knew there was only one way to do it; get beyond the break and fish with a bobber while bobbing up and down in the heavy seas.
There I was, after struggling to make it through the heavy breakers I got past them and started to fish. Within five minutes I hooked a sail-cat and dragged his little ass to the beach. I put him under a towel so our new friend “Harry”, a very large Heron that had been hanging with us, would’nt get him and headed back out to catch another one. I again fought through the surf and began bobbing up and down in the high seas waiting for my little red bobber to go under again.
As I explained earlier, Florida is the shark attack capital of the US so what I was doing was not the smartest thing a human could do.....in fact it was pretty reckless. I was basically a topwater lure for a big shark but those damn Tarpon were calling and I had to catch one of them.
After catching a second Sail-cat I decided to go after a third. Some people on the beach had come down to where we were just to tell me I was nuts and maybe has a “death wish”. I assured them I was not nuts, just determined, and headed out to catch another.
When I again got past the break and beyond the braking waves I threw my bobber as far as I could parallel to the shoreline. I was floating for about ten minutes, catching only temporary looks at my bobber as the rollers alternated raising me up and dropping me in the trough. I could not see my bobber when my pole started bending from the weight of another small fish. I set the hook and started swimming for shore with my third and final bait fish.
Just as I got my feet on the ground on the other side of the breakers my fishing pole suddenly bent double and I nearly lost the pole. All of a sudden my little fish had gotten ver big. I turned around and began playing the fish, or whatever it was, trying to get it to shore. It was obvously not another Sail-Cat. After a brief fight, aided by the strong rollers pounding the shore, I was able to pull the fish into the surf and it basically was pushed right to my feet by the next wave.
Have you guessed what it was?
It was a five foot long Blacktip Shark with an attitude. I virtually had to jump out of the way to keep from getting bit by the angry beast as the surf pushed it right toward me. The shark had grabbed the Sail-Cat I hooked and was really pissed off that it had a fisherman attached to the other end.
After standing there admiring my catch for about fifteen minutes, and after everyone on the beach a got to see him and tell me how crazy I was, I cut the line and dragged the shark back into the surf by the tail so he could go free. After dropping him I ran like hell up the beach and got out of the way. The Blacktip swam into the surf never to be seen again.
Some people think I’m nuts. I just consider myself to be a determined fisherman. I guess my faith in sharks was validated. It went after the sail-Cat, not me.
PresidentFelon
And then there were none....
What law school did it go to?
I lived right there until about 4 months ago, never saw any sharks though
Most people know better than to stray 300 yards offshore.
BUMP
How the heck did he do that?