# Monday 14th and the Taxmen



## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

I finally made it out into the gulf after swapping engines. Ran out about 20 miles and dropped my orange barbell marker after easing over the spot I headed out to. There were 2 other boats there, but enough spaced out structure, it wasn't a problem for either of us. 
I was using cigs, and dropped it down. In no time, Snapper On. Oh wait a minute, Big Fish On. Stripped easy 100yds, Now it's Fish Off. Dang Taxman figured he'd Tax me. Re-rigged, dropped again, Snapper On, Oops, dang Taxman hit me again. 
This went on like forever. I Finally reeled in a solid 15-18 pound RS, and after forgetting the dip net and the gaff at the house, I went to slip my finger into the gill by throat to lift it in (too big to try lifting with the line). As I went to lean over the side of the boat, A Huge taxman, easy 2+ foot wide head, breached (just it's head) like 5-6 inches from the side of my boat. Huge V teeth, it's upper jaw protruded out about 5 inches from it's mouth and engulfed the RS whole without it touching the inside mouth of this taxman. I believe it was a huge Bull Shark. 
I re-rigged again, and paying my taxes resumed. 
One boat left about an hour after I arrived, and the other about an hour or so after the 1st one left. 
I finally hooked a big taxman, fought it for easy 30 minutes, then it went on a hot run, rod all bowed up, drag a screaming. Then a loud snap, the dang rod broke 2 inches above the 1st guide. Now I'm fighting it with a 2 foot rod with 1 eye, lol. 
After 15+ minutes, I managed to haul it up to within 4 or 5 feet of the boat. I was wore slap out. And what was I going to do with it once I got it to the boat? Ain't going to eat it, certainly ain't going to pull a easy 8+ foot shark into the boat. 
So I decided to lockdown the spool/drag and let the line or hook break. I held the spool to stop the drag when it started to make another deep dive and finally the leader broke at the hook, thank God it was off. 
Before it broke off, I saw my marker bouy about 40 yards from the boat. But after he broke off, I could not find it? I searched all around to no avail. Don't know if a shark ate it, it broke loose or the tidal current had it pulled underwater?
An hour or so later another boat arrived, and the taxman continued collecting taxes from them as well. I went through a full box of cigs, and finally boated a 18" RS, I guess only because the taxman was at the other boat. 
All in All, I bet the taxmen ate well over 20+ RS from just me, but it was fun. I normally have my gopro's, but I'd left the behind with the net and gaff. I'd loved to have had video of that one eating/engulfing the RS at the boat, wow.
BTW, if anyone found a orange barbell marker bouy, it'd be mine. Keep it if you like.


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## O-SEA-D (Jun 28, 2016)

If I get sharked twice I leave. Ain’t no since in hanging around.


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

Yeah I know, but there are a lot of big snappa's there, well there "were". lol


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Damn a bunch of sharks !

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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## OutsmartedAgain (Oct 12, 2018)

Killing 20 snapper and feeding the sharks and habituating them to free meals isn’t gonna make snapper season any longer.

If we get sharked once we’re putting sharkbanz zeppelins on and we have had no problem pulling big red snapper past those sharks. Before we bought them once we lost 2 fish to the taxman we were moving. It’s well worth the cost and time saved. Leaving the sharks pissed off and hungry is just the cherry on top!


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## KnotSure (Jul 8, 2017)

Never heard of sharkbanz before, but they are probably just neodymium magnets. Going to try it next time I'm out. I knew I kept all those old hard drives for something. I found an interesting article on it. 





__





Geeky Rare-Earth Magnets Repel Sharks


In testing, a startup called Shark Defense has found that sharks dramatically avoid magnets made from neodymium, iron and boron.




www.wired.com


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

I be dang, never knew something like that existed. Thanks for the heads up.


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## Trble Make-rr (Sep 30, 2007)

How bout them hungry flippers ?
they take your snappers, show them to you and laugh about it 😡


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## ChrisP14 (Jun 17, 2009)

KnotSure said:


> Never heard of sharkbanz before, but they are probably just neodymium magnets. Going to try it next time I'm out. I knew I kept all those old hard drives for something. I found an interesting article on it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Let us know how this goes. Super interesting to find out how well it would work.


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## jwilson1978 (Mar 23, 2021)

Trble Make-rr said:


> How bout them hungry flippers ?
> they take your snappers, show them to you and laugh about it 😡


A shot gun fired in to the water point blank usually sends them about their way not at them Just in the water


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## jwilson1978 (Mar 23, 2021)

OutsmartedAgain said:


> Killing 20 snapper and feeding the sharks and habituating them to free meals isn’t gonna make snapper season any longer.
> 
> If we get sharked once we’re putting sharkbanz zeppelins on and we have had no problem pulling big red snapper past those sharks. Before we bought them once we lost 2 fish to the taxman we were moving. It’s well worth the cost and time saved. Leaving the sharks pissed off and hungry is just the cherry on top!


 I think you are right it’s just teaching the to chase boats for a easy meal I think that’s why their so bad down south and getting really bad here


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

That might land you in jail but whatever. Go fer it.


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## jwilson1978 (Mar 23, 2021)

specktackler57 said:


> That might land you in jail but whatever. Go fer it.


It might don’t know but I’ve seen many sharks with bullets holes in them at the dock off charter boats


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

I was speaking of shotgun in the water to scare off flippers. I’ve plugged a few sharks. We where shark fishing right outside the pass and the marine patrol gave us a warning for harassing porpoise. I told him we dispatched a shark. This awhile back though.


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## jwilson1978 (Mar 23, 2021)

specktackler57 said:


> I was speaking of shotgun in the water to scare off flippers. I’ve plugged a few sharks. We where shark fishing right outside the pass and the marine patrol gave us a warning for harassing porpoise. I told him we dispatched a shark. This awhile back though.


I agree I would not do it anywhere close to to shore and probably should not do it at all


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

Well, I paid the taxmen a visit yesterday. My niece loves to shark fish, so I took her and my unofficial 12yr old step-son. He caught a 38" cobia, which we released because I wasn't up on the regs for the length. Too far out for phone signal, so no googling. Had the Fl Freshwater Regs and Hunting Regs, but not the Fl. Saltwater Regs in the boat (?). 
Got some pics and video of it, he was a happy camper. He wasn't upset about releasing it, as a matter of fact, he suggested we toss it back. That kid loves to fish and doesn't mind the open gulf. 

We went on to the Fl Dept of Revenue and Taxes and found the Taxmen waiting on us to pay our dues again. 
Well, we didn't go to pay no more taxes, we wanted refunds. Hooked up a good sized bobo, cut opposing slits on both sides tossed it over. The current was strong and easily pulled the bait out. Maybe 30 minutes out, the line started peeling off the 9/0 Penn, and kept peeling off. Country said she was getting spooled. 
What a day to forget the anchor ball 😢😢😭. I went to pull the anchor, except the rope spool left my hand and it went overboard. I have nerve damage and drop things for no apparent reason. Oh well, there's about 600+' of 1/4" anchor rope (maybe most still on the spool), 8' of 5/16 galvanized chain, 12' of 1/4" stainless steel cable, and a folding anchor I got from Sealark. Oh well, I didn't have to pull it up, lol. 
No more worries after that, She fought it like a pro for a long period of time and regained half of the line, and it wore her out.
I was taking gopro video and video with her iphone. When she got it near the boat, I laid down the gopro/iphone and started hand-lining the shark up to the boat. Cut my hands trying to hold it when it would take off several times taking back the hand line I'd gained. After a bit of tug-a-war, we had the upper hand. 
It was a Bull Shark, a solid 8 foot female. My niece was ecstatic and words could not describe her excitement. 
I used bolt cutters (as per Regulations) to cut the hook from it's lip, I tried to remove it completely, but she was thrashing about which made it impossible, and I didn't want to keep her stressed longer than needed. Yes, she swam away quickly once released. 
After getting home, Country went through the videos, and there was a shark circling the boat with it's dorsal fin above water during the time we had the taxman at the boat. We'd never even known it if not for the video left running on the console. About an hour after releasing the taxman, we were floating for kings, lings or whatever, and another taxman came straight to the boat, dorsal fin high above water. It was about 10' from the boat and still on a collision course with us. I stood up, and it turned away about 4-5 feet from the boat. It was the darnedest thing I've ever saw. Maybe it wanted my hull numbers for the next time we're at they're office? I tell you, they're thicker than fleas on a june dog out there.


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## Awhite08 (Jul 28, 2012)

CurDog said:


> Well, I paid the taxmen a visit yesterday. My niece loves to shark fish, so I took her and my unofficial 12yr old step-son. He caught a 38" cobia, which we released because I wasn't up on the regs for the length. Too far out for phone signal, so no googling. Had the Fl Freshwater Regs and Hunting Regs, but not the Fl. Saltwater Regs in the boat (?).
> Got some pics and video of it, he was a happy camper. He wasn't upset about releasing it, as a matter of fact, he suggested we toss it back. That kid loves to fish and doesn't mind the open gulf.
> 
> We went on to the Fl Dept of Revenue and Taxes and found the Taxmen waiting on us to pay our dues again.
> ...


I've been wanting to get revenge on some sharks after they have grabbed at least 1/3 of our fish this year. I think next trip we are going to bring some shark gear.


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

^^^ take a pair of bolt cutters. ^^^ it's a regulation.


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## Mark W (May 4, 2017)

Trble Make-rr said:


> How bout them hungry flippers ?
> they take your snappers, show them to you and laugh about it 😡


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## Mark W (May 4, 2017)

I've had some luck reeling in with the clicker on. Anyway I had two fish stolen by flippers then turned the clidker on and got one in. Maybe luck, maybe they didn't like the clicker idk?


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## CurDog (Nov 14, 2010)

I've never had a day where the dolphin continually ate my snappers coming up. I've lost maybe 3 at most in the same spot to flipper. I'm sure it may have happened to some people, just never happened to me. But these sharks are a different story, it's like they never get their belly full.


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## Sailorboy (Sep 28, 2011)

at 75$$ that is an expensive weight.to loose on a break off..what if on a hook up you clipped it to the nine with its own reel... might end up knitting a sweater ... any other ideas


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Sorry you had so many fish confiscated, but it sounds like a pretty interesting day out there sharking. If you get a chance to post any photos or link those videos, please feel free!


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## Tim (Oct 24, 2007)

Tax man or flipper eats twice, throttle up to the next spot unless you enjoy feeding them your snapper!


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