# Snapper Trip turned into a Shark Expedition



## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

Friday, Lynne, my wife; Josh:aka, "jdhkingfisher;"and I set out Friday for an 8 HR Snapper trip out of Orange Beach. We entered the pass about 7:15 and immediately saw a water spout. The weather radar was showing a massive thunderstorm that many of you have seen. See Aderanline's pic, it's an excellent shot of the waterspouts that were in a storm that once was 60 miles wide. We hung near the beach until the storm dissipated, so our trip was already on plan B. We ran out to some close spots and were doing well with Snapper, planning on keeping only really nice Snapper. We probably had caught 20 Snapper off 2 spots, only keeping 2, when Josh asked me if it was ok, if he went down w/ a bonita strip. 

I said sure, what can it hurt. Immediately, he is hooked up. I said great, the kid is about to tangle with a shark for 20-30 minutes and it will give me time to sit down, drink a beer, and eat a sandwich. Well, pretty quickly, Josh and I realized he was not "hooked to the bottom" he was hooked to something of size! And it was on our Snapper rig with 40# line, 60# leader, and a 5/0 circle hook. 

About 30 minutes into the fight, Josh got the shark close enough that we could see enough of it to assume it was a good sized Tiger. It was also holding good sized Cobia and other fish. We weren't fighting a 50 lbs Shark, but something of serious size! 

We began to take the situation more seriously and started working on getting closer to the shark, knowing with light tackle and mono leader, that the deck was stacked in favor of the shark. 15 minutes later we get the shark close enough to get the wind on leader inside the rod, giving us a "release". The shark is less than 10' from the boat and looks to be close to half the length of my 23.5' boat. In just a few seconds it made another run, but much shorter than the earlier ones, giving us hope that we could get this thing boat side. Josh, slugged it out with the shark for another 20-30 minutes and had it close enough that we were thinking, ok this is really going to happen, when the line finally parted at the hook. 1 Hour and 15 minutes, with 60# Mono, the shark was finally free. Amazingly, we released a Tiger Shark that we assume was a 400 pound shark.

We were all estatic, this was a fishing story to remember. We couldn't believe that a Shark that large had been caught with just 60# mono for a leader. You have to love those circle hooks. We elected to move to our third spot to give the second spot a break, since the Tiger came off the other one. 

We hit the next spot and BAM, I am hit with a serious bite. It turns out to be my largest Snapper to date. 23 lbs..... then we go back over the spot and Lynne picks up a 12 lbs Mangrove 'Black' Snapper.

All 3 of us wound up with a significant catch. Needless to say, we had a great day...... Here's some of our pics...............


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## FLbeachbum (Jul 17, 2008)

Great day on the water. Thanks for sharing.


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

Guys sorry the pics did not post. I'm working on it. The administrator is saying I'm not "authorized."


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Good read


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## Snatch it (Feb 17, 2009)

Wow hope u can get the pics up soon! Great report!


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## BobbyD (Aug 12, 2009)

Magic236 said:


> Guys sorry the pics did not post. I'm working on it. The administrator is saying I'm not "authorized."


I have had the same problem doing multiple pics. try uploading one at a time.

sounds like it was a fun trip


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## Teater (Jun 24, 2011)

OMG! Hurry with the pics I want to see them 

*on edge of seat*


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## Nopierpressure (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks for the report!! Can't wait for the pix!


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

*3rd attempt with the pics*

OK here goes the 3rd attempt w/ pics. It looks like this will work. I have better pics of the large Snapper and Black but they need a 90 degree rotation. Hopefully, Josh can get some of the video on here as I don't have a shark pic.


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

*4th attempt*

Well, this is one way to keep your thread alive. Here's the last pic


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## Per-Diem (Mar 24, 2010)

Nice Catch!!!


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Thats a bruiser for sure


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## jdhkingfisher (Aug 6, 2010)

all these pictures were takin off the full video and its hard to stop the video in the right spot for the best pics, but here is the best ive been able to get, the video is awesome, will be finished with it very soon


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

Very nice. Can't wait for the video


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## jdhkingfisher (Aug 6, 2010)

*heres the vid*

lets get the views up on this vid, show your buddies. let me know how everything looks editing wise. 

look really hard when you find the shark next to the prop wash and you can see the biggest cobia barely, and when the shark fades into the prop wash keep an eye in the prop wash cause he really shows himself then briefly.
http://youtu.be/MnMtRYTyXKs


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## Lil Curve (Feb 23, 2011)

Beautiful snapper, and great story. We went out Sat, it was a shark day. We went for snapper and pulled in 7 sharks. NOTHING AT ALL like your boys shark...these were babies. lol


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## Rammer Jammer (Oct 1, 2007)

jdhkingfisher said:


> lets get the views up on this vid, show your buddies. let me know how everything looks editing wise.
> 
> http://youtu.be/MnMtRYTyXKs


Nice video. I thought the editing was good. The underwater stuff and the "helmet cam" stuff are my favorites. Keep em' coming!


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