By Capt. Tom Bailas
This particular morning my day started off with the usual routine of preparation for a full day charter. Our guests arrived at the dock and they were 4 young strong guys with the ability and desire to catch a BIG FISH.
My first thought was going to be dropping large baits down and having them pull up a big goliath grouper and take a photo and release it. So, I stopped at a piece of structure to catch our bait. Within 10 minutes we had caught two barracuda that we could use for the goliath. I cut the belly strip of the barracuda for the bait and dropped it down about 40 ft. Within seconds the line went tight and the rod bent to its full capacity. We knew this was a HUGE fish. After an intense 10-minute battle, the 400 plus pound Goliath grouper was boat side. The guys were so excited and got some pictures and we safely vented the fish and released it back to the structure below.
They wanted another big bite for the next guy, so I immediately sent another piece of barracuda belly down. The bait sat for almost 10-15 minutes until the rod went off and the line was dumping out fast. I knew then we had a shark. He fought the shark and got it to the boat to see a nice 8ft sandbar shark on the line.
Now two of the guys were wore out and the other two guys were anxiously waiting for their turn to pull on a big fish. Well it didn’t take long, as we did the same thing and ended up with a monster fight on our hands. Our line was peeling off the 100-lb. tackle so fast that my mate had to dump the anchor so we could chase this fish. We caught up to the fish, gained about half the line back, and the tug-of-war game began.
The battle lasted over 2 hours with all four guys taking turns on the rod. The shark finally came to the surface, so I could get a look at him and yelled “TIGER SHARK!!!” It kept going back down and I suggested that two guys get on the rod, one push up and apply maximum pressure and the other reel down. Thirty minutes later we got the enormous Tiger shark to the side of the boat. We took video and pictures with it in the water and I released the biggest Tiger shark I have ever seen. We estimated it to have been 14ft and upwards of 1000 lbs. or more.
When handling sharks, you must be very careful removing the hook and respect the creature! Release them safely and hope they bite again one day!
Remember to always follow state and federal regulations. Be courteous of other boaters and keep only what you can eat.