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Tyler and I were invited to go to Miami for the weekend with 2 other hockey coaches and their son's over Columbus Day weekend. One of the coaches has a condo at Trump Towers right on the beach. AMAZING place with a great view.
Sunday we scheduled a fishing charter for the morning (1/2 day). There were thunder storms around all day, but we managed to stay away from them most of the time. We got out about 8am, tried get some baitfish, but the Jacks were chasing them hard and they never stayed in one place long enough to throw a cast net at them.
After about 30 minutes of no luck finding bait, we trolled on out to the fishing grounds. Captain Bob found the edge of the Gulfstream and we fished a nice weed line and slick. Tyler caught a nice little 20 inch Tuna pretty quickly.
After that things slowed down. So, Captain Bob decided to switch things up. We put out some live bait on spinning rods and also took the tuna Tyler had caught and put it out on a heavy rod deep (600 ft). We had a school of Blackfin Tuna sweep on through and take all the baits on the spinning rods. Missed them all!! After about 45 minutes we had several taps on the deep rod, but nothing definite, so Captain Bob suggested we reel it in to check if the bait was still on. At about 500ft we got another tap and stopped reeling. All of a sudden WAM! The rod is hard over, Captain Bob floors the boat to set the hook, and the fight is on. It took all 6 of us taking 5-10 minute shifts to reel this monster out of the depths. On top of that, the thunder storms moved in and it was pouring rain and thunder & lightning all around us. For 2 hours we fought this fish. Also notice from the pics that we didn't have a harness. We only had the rod in the holder on the fighting chair, but had to haul this in using our arms/body/everything we had.
About 100 ft visibility (compared with pic above) because of the heavy rain.
Finally got it to the side of the boat and realized it was a 12 foot Big Eye Thresher Shark!!!! Then it took all 6 of us plus the Captain and Mate to get this 500lb fish over the side and onto the boat. Luckily, the fish was pretty tired and didn't move much. We actually were worried it was dead. But, after a bunch of pictures, we rolled it over the side and it swam away. All that blood is actually from the Tuna we used as bait. The shark was tired but completely healthy.
It was an epic battle that all of us will remember for our lifetimes. Even Captain Bob and Adam (the Mate) were excited and shaking after it was all over.
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Excellent report Greg!
Jealous as all get out.....
What a fish!!
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Great report and pics!
In the second pic, the net man looks like he's about 2 feet tall haha.
Last edited by Bryan (Oct-10-12 7:43AM)
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Bryan wrote:
Great report and pics!
In the second pic, the net man looks like he's about 2 feet tall haha.
HA!!! I didn't notice that. I wish I had a video of him (Adam) throwing that 14 ft net. He was a pro. It was a double spin move. If I had tried it, I would have ended up in the water.
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what level hockey do you coach, at what rink?
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bart2puck wrote:
what level hockey do you coach, at what rink?
U16 AA Reston Raiders Blue (Top Level at Reston). I am an Asst Coach and am very proud to say that Tyler is Captain of the team and a great player. I love coaching.
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GregF wrote:
U16 AA Reston Raiders Blue (Top Level at Reston).
Need to let us know when you have a game in Ashburn.....
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I am a referee and most likely have reffed a ton of your games.
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bart2puck wrote:
I am a referee and most likely have reffed a ton of your games.
I am a coach and have probably yelled vile and nasty things at you!!!.....HA!!!! JUST KIDDING!
I haven't seen any pics of you on this forum, so I will have to rely on you to recognize me and say hi. My jacket says "COACH FOLTS".
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Pacemaker wrote:
Need to let us know when you have a game in Ashburn.....
I also am Head Coach of the Broad Run Hockey Team this year. All our games are out of Ashburn, mostly on Friday nights. Will send you both schedules. Tyler would love it if you came to watch.
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That'll be a tough fish to top.
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T. wrote:
That'll be a tough fish to top.
We will just have to keep trying!
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Wow!!! Great report and pictures.
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