by Eric 'Oz' Ozolins
Last Friday I received a call from Dr. Stunz and crew at the Harte Research Institute asking if I would like to tag some sharks for them... in particular sticking a satellite tag in a big shark. I've been waiting for this call and said absolutely and met up with Greg, Phil, and Megan later that day. They entrusted me with a high-dollar sat tag hoping to get one in a big Bull or a Tiger. I guess with my recent luck lately I was a deserving choice for the mission. I received the sat tag, additional regular insertion tags, and DNA sampling equipment. I was very stoked and told them there looks to be a window in a few days and if so, then I'll try to make it down. While I can't guarantee I'll catch a big shark anytime soon, I'll sure do my best.
Well forecast was getting good quick. Water was looking good during the weekend and getting better, still with moderate seas though. Come Monday and Tuesday, things were forecast to be nice until Wednesday. I really wanted to leave Sunday. However, the truck was down during the weekend with a bad ignition. Come Monday morning I had some top secret Rockstar help by dwdart and within an hour him and his great mechanic had a shiny new ignition installed in the truck. I decided to leave Monday evening after getting the truck packed up in a hurry. While hoping to make it down in time to run some baits, that didn't happen. Driving was mostly 2WD, just slow with soft sand. My loaded down truck is starting to whine about the recent trips and the transmission is acting up, lets hope she last til Sharkathon.
Anyhow, I get down the beach late and see the large waning moon rise. Man I wish I had baits out. Oh well. With the entire drive down the Mullet were absolutely packed in the wade gut. Thousands of Mullet would leap as the headlights from the truck reflected on the water. This was a common scene starting around the high banks south. Anyways, I get down the beach a while and stop where there was reported bird action recently. While not seeing the water structure and bars due to being dark, I take a risk and stop. Come sunrise water was calming down, wind wasn't bad. Only issue is the cold water upwelling and currents were impacting this portion of beach very strongly. Water was semi-dirty til past the 2nd bar and chilly... 74 degrees. This was totally unexpected. Regardless I pack up the Hobie and head offshore in search of some Jacks. Only surface action to speak of were Bonita feeding starting about a mile out. I began to troll some lures and immediately get infested with medium sized kings...
This one slightly bigger...
With no Jack action, I would stop after my 4th King. My only hope would be to follow around the Bonita and hope the Jacks would show up. I did this for a couple hours as the wind was beginning to pick up. The water clarity far offshore was better than it had been all year. Finally I come upon a large Cobia on the surface... I throw a topwater a few times and while the fish inspected it, it did not induce a strike. After a while I switched to fresh Mullet which I brought out... that should get her!!! Well, I get hooked up finally but I don't think it's a Cobia...
It didn't take long to realize that it was a shark, but what exactly? About 5 minutes pass and I finally get a glimpse of the fish. Fairly decent shark. As I get it to the yak I noticed it's a quality Spinner, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.5' - 7'.
I play with the fish for a bit and get some pictures until the shark finally bit through the fluoro leader.
With not coming through with any fresh bait (Jacks), I decide to cut my losses and head in and thaw out some frozen baits. I immediately get a Cownose Ray out and rigged and have it sit for a few hours.
I also get some old Jack baits rigged and ready...
In total, I have 4 big baits ready and finally get them deployed for the night. The water is cold but with no weed on the beach I'm going to give it all I have hoping for a fish. I get the Avets ready and the 50W's sibling - the 80W makes a rare appearance.
Sexy Mother _ __ !
Well here is the general view of the conditions...
Soldiers standing guard throughout the night...
Things remained surprisingly quiet even as the moon came up. I head to sleep and around 2am get a wake up call on the largest Jack bait about 600yds out. Fish rocks the truck ripping line for a few seconds, then drops the bait. I wait... and about a minute later fish comes back, and picks up the bait... then drops it. Ahhhh not this crap again. The fish would not come back for this particular bait and the next morning when bringing it in would reveal a hellacious bite mark out of it. If I had to guess a pesky Tiger. Anyway, as darkness would remain on the beach things would be quiet.
Come sunrise I wake up. Tired I look around, notice the wind blowing a bit and the swells picking up. While wanting to go out in the kayak to once again try to obtain some bait, I decided against it for conditions would not be optimal for the Hobie. I go back to sleep... yay.
Within a few minutes of closing my eyes the 80W, the largest badboy on the rack, I had strategically placed shallow in the 2nd gut up current with a Jack roast gets hit. I immediately suspect a Bull Shark but not sure until I beach it.
The shark was a healthy female at 6' 10". I thought hard as to whether I wanted to put the sat tag in this shark due to being a healthy candidate. I finally chose not to for I really wanted to put it in a larger specimen. Anyhow, I get the shark released.
Well after the release I was still tired and since I opted out of kayak fishing, I decided to let the rest of the baits sit and soak. I think that is one of my major downfalls as a shark fishermen. I just don't have baits out in the morning very often. Most of the time I bring the baits in right as it is getting light so I can head out in the kayak and fish. With the previous week's sunrise Tiger, I'm going to let baits sit for a few more hours while I catch up on sleep.
Soooooo, the sun is coming up and I throw the tentcot on the ground in the shade to prevent the sun from cooking my ass in there. I lay down and get to snoozing. Life is good. Then 30 minutes later I am awakened from a deep sleep as the 50W with the whole Cownose Ray starts screaming like an banshee. First thought was perhaps pelicans flew into the line, but that was quickly ruled out since the reel just kept singing. I get up there, get a hook set and the fish continued to run for a few more seconds. I get harnessed in and not sure what I have at the end of my line... Hammer maybe?
60 seconds or so pass and the line goes slack. I reel in and catch up to it but immediately goes slack again. The fish is swimming in. The fish swam in 100-150yds then stopped. I felt her again, she turned and burned off about 20 yds then turned around and continued to swim straight in. What the heck is going on?? Within 5 minutes I had the shark from 600yds+ out and in to the other side of the 2nd bar. As soon as the fish saw the 2nd bar, it did NOT want to come over. It turned and made a couple short but powerful runs. This fish completely has me at a lost of words. What the heck is it. After about 5 more minutes of bull-dogging me around I finally get it over the 2nd bar and into the 1st gut. Once in the first gut it swims straight in to the first bar but stops... it doesn't want to come over. It is now up on the surface as it turns and smokes line off the reel. I finally get my first glimpse of the fish. BIG TAIL... Right now I am thinking Hammer for sure. But while I haven't seen the saber dorsal yet, I saw the damn tail.
I fight the fish with a tug of war battle in the 1st gut. The shark was thrashing on the surface and I still haven't seen the tall dorsal yet... come on... show yourself!!! I FINALLY get the shark over the first bar and into the deep high-tide wade gut. Now I finally see the dorsal, but it's not a Hammer!?? It's... a... Tiger??? What the heck is going on here???? Once in the wade gut the fish is pissed and thrashing and swimming all over the place. I get it as close to the beach as possible then go out to leader it...
As I get to the shark I grab the tail. The water in close was an off color so visibility sucked. I grab the tail and notice a dark back... no stripes or markings... and an interdorsal ridge?? What the heck?? It's not a Tiger, it's a Dusky??? It's a F ' n Dusky!!!! You have got to be kidding me! I've seen it all now. Wild.
The fish was hooked but took only a little effort to get the hook free. A special thanks once again to Catchsharks.com for some outstanding terminal tackle and leaders...
Cool shark...
Luckily Linda from the NPS's Turtle Program had stopped by and watched the whole thing from me leadering the fish on and even took a few pics herself... Anyhow, I go and get the tagging gear...
A hitchhiker! Also, take notice at the distinct interdorsal ridge...
Once again... cool shark
Undoubtedly this would be the shark I would put the Sat-tag into. While the university wanted primarily a big Bull or a Tiger, I knew the tracking of this specimen would be superior to those.
Despite being one of the most aggressive and relentless sharks I have put on the beach, after careful precision I get a normal tag, along with the Sat-tag inserted into the dorsal region of the shark. Things are looking good.
This beautiful female Dusky went 9' 4" and why it was in this close to the beach is a mystery. Perhaps it had to do with the cold-water upwellings. Dusky Sharks are typically pelagic sharks that remain far offshore, usually in cooler waters of the Gulf and Atlantic. Aside from this fish, there are only 2 other authentic landbased Duskys in Texas (within last 20 years) that I'm aware of. Those occurred both in June of 1992 and both around the same size as this one. I myself have seen only two other Duskys caught in person... one 70 miles offshore and the other last August when Kevin fought and landed one from the kayak 2 miles offshore after a 3 hour fight. These have indeed become a rare sight in the Gulf due to being the easy target of illegal longline fishing over the past couple of decades. It is a shame because these are beautiful sharks. They are sleek, dark and hydrodynamic... They are designed like an eloquent European roadster.
With the tags in and after a couple pics, I waste no time in getting her back into the water...
Man, what an awesome shark!
I get her on the drop off of the wade gut for the release and she begins swimming away. We watch as her dorsal, tail, and bobbing sat-tag swim over the 1st sandbar. Very Cool.
The fish swims off and I am very, very happy I was able to put the tag in that shark. Lets hope it properly does it's thing and is able to do the appropriate tracking. The data received from this fish would be extremely valuable to the scientific community. I still want to stick one in a nice Tiger (wink, wink Harte folks) but could not have been more pleased to have put one in this fish.
Anyhow, I have two baits still out.. I let them sit til around noon then I go and bring them in. The wind is picking up pretty good now, and the swells are getting larger and larger. While geared to stay another day or two, the weather amped up quicker than expected. I pack it up and slowly head off the beach. As I drive off the blue water is inching it's way closer and closer to the beach. By now it is about a half mile out. While the surf in churning this up in close, things are looking up for this summer. There were birds solid most of the beach working Anchovies out past the 3rd bar. Within the next few weeks they will be making their way in closer to the beach... that is when the chaos really happens! But for right now, there is (or was) no fresh weed coming in and long-rodding was not a problem. Hopefully we will get another weather window soon... a storm could pop up any time and want to get back out there before something does develop.
This was a very interesting trip for me. Had a few interesting moments and landed my 4th different species of shark over 9' from the Texas surf (Mako, Tiger, Lemon, Dusky - and last week's Hammer was just shy of making this list). The Dusky was a new species for me altogether and one I wasn't sure I'd ever get. It just goes to show you that anything can happen down the beach if you are in the right place at the right time. Hopefully in 6 months the Sat-tag will be provide some incredible data of it's depth and location over the Gulf and maybe beyond. Overall a killer trip yet once again. I can't wait for the next trip.
Til next time...
See ya on the sand or out in the yaks on the big ole pond
-Oz
