After Deaver, Mark, Troy and Travis left for home Jake and I stayed in florida and continued to fish. Jake ended up getting stung by a big sting ray but decided to stay on the beach and keep fishing with his foot soaking in a garbage bag full of burning hot water. He fought through the pain and I ran out fresh baits for the both of us before sunset. We were met on the beach by Heath aka Hunter22 and his girlfriend Tara.
After a short while conversation stops when we hear the drum roll of the 14/0. I get in the harness, set the hook and quickly realize that this fish is a monster. It took line of the 14/0 with great speed under heavy drag. The reel was over heating already and bottles of water were getting dumped on the drag. I wrapped my hand in my hoodie sleeve and tightened down the smoothie drag to the max and had Heath spot me in the harness for a little while because I couldn’t hold that much pressure on my own for much longer than a few minutes. Probably the single most memorable moment in my fishing career was laying down in mid air holding the harness straps going to the reel and looking back over my head and seeing the horizon behind me. That one memory sums up the fight better than anything else.

We see the sickle fin in the surf and the giant Hammerhead hits the beach and tapes out at a very healthy 11’9”. We work quickly and thanks to Heath’s help we are able to get her back in the water and on her way.

Once again, I would like to thank Heath and Tara both for their help in our time of need. With Jake hurting pretty bad it would have been nearly impossible for us to handle the situation on our own. Heath went and got Jake some painkillers while we stayed on the beach. Heath and Tara both went above and beyond and it would be a pleasure to spend time on the beach with them anytime in the future.

The next night I add a BT.

My dad joins us and we only have energy to fish for a couple hours but we get three BTs for our efforts.
Jake’s BT

Dad’s first BT of the night

Dad’s second BT of the night

I spear a giant 50lb ray the next day.

We get into some nice bulls.
Here’s a 6’9” I caught

I caught another healthy one going 6’11”

Now I never thought I would say this but, shortly after that fish I hooked and lost an 8’ bull to a full speed freight train of a jump. I had heard rare stories of big bulls jumping but I had never seen it in person. It is quite a sight. I was disappointed because that was definitely my personal best bull that shook the hook in flight.

I added another bull going 6’2”

The next day Jake lands a nice 6’5” Bull Shark.

I add a small BT.

Jake follows up with another small BT that was so feisty he couldn’t even sit down and get a picture with it.

I had dozed off but then I get a nice wake-up call when my dad gets me up because he says he is hooked up. He pulls in this nice 6’4” Bull shark.

Later in the night I hear the drum roll once again and I set up to a good heavy fish. Pulls some tight drag than it’s a tug of war with lots of giving and taking by both sides. When the fish hits the bar it takes off 75 yards of line and that’s when I was really impressed by the fishes fight. Get it back to the bar and it takes off another 25yds then another 25 yds when it hits the bar again and then another small burst before I finally get it into the gut. Jake gets a good look at the dorsal and says Tiger.

We get the rope around her tail and the three of us get her up the bank. Jake holds the head open and I get the hook out nice and easy. Quick measurement at 9’3” and a couple pictures and we send this very beautiful tiger on her way as if nothing happened.

The next day my dad hooks up in the rain and fights the fish on his 12/0. Gives some nice head shakes at the bar and trys to make a run for it but I go ahead and leader this very pissed off Lemon shark. It measured 8’ on the mark and is my Dad’s first Lemon shark and new personal best. Congrats Dad!

Next I hit a fish right at sunset and we put a 7’10 Lemon on the sand.

Later my Dad adds his personal best bull shark going 6’9” and a very stout fighting fish at that! Ripped some line off a 12/0 like he was a 7 footer!

Jake gets a nice topwater mackerel.

Then he gets a nice thick 6’6” bull.

After the sun sets I get bowed up on a nice fish that ripped line of the 14/0 on its initial run. Then again shows its strength at the sand bar taking line. I had a feeling it could be that 8’ bull I had been searching for and when we got it into the gut I knew I had it.
It taped out at just over 8’total length and was a male. It’s the largest male Bull Shark we have caught. After some quick dental work and a couple pictures this bull was off to terrorize more fish.

Conditions change and the fishing slowed considerably over the following days. We kept at it and worked very hard to get atleast one monster pick up every single night. Most of these resulted in broken lines, missed hooksets, and very aggravated fisherman.

My dad in particular had the worst luck with 5 or 6 consecutive cut offs even though fresh line had been respooled. He did everything right and yet the sand bar made it a nightmare but to his credit he just kept re rigging his rods, re spooling and kayaking back out. That’s what it takes.

Jake also bowed up on a monster fish on his 14/0 and ate the sand when his line snapped. There are a lot more heart breaking stories behind the scenes that drive us to work harder and harder to get the fish we want.

Dad adds another BT.

Jake’s Dad joins us and we have a great father/son and father/son trip going. His dad had never been fishing for sharks with us but quickly saw why we like it so much.
Jake knocks off another 6’2” bull.

We tried and tried to get around these 6’ bulls but they were devouring all of our baits.

Next night I added another 6’9” Bull Shark. Lots if the same length fish…interesting

Next night My dad hooks up and when his Bull shark hits the beach I hook up on another bull.
My dad’s 6’4” Bull.

Here is a classic! My dad does a comparison between his jaws and the Bull’s!

My 6’ Bull.

Jake gets the sandiest feistiest little BT we have seen.

The next day I catch a nice 24inch fork length mackerel.

Jake’s dad gets a nice little pompano.

Later, the legend of the full moon hammer materializes in Jake’s 9/0 getting slammed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz is all you can hear. He sets up and the fish keeps on going and Jake starts screaming, “It’s a Hammer! It’s a Hammer! I know it!” I do a few circles running around in panic mode trying to get my 9/0 as a back up because at the time it looked like the fish wasn’t stopping. Luckily the fish turned long before we had to worry and Jake muscled the shark to the sand bar after a 30 minute long fight on very tight drag. With the full moon lighting my way I headed out to the sand bar to get the shark. We see the long sickle fin in the moon light and I scream Hammer!!! And a very pissed off hammerhead at that. This fish was the angriest Hammer we have dealt with by far. A quick picture, clipped leader and this beautiful 9’3” Hammerhead safely swims off. Jakes first Hammerhead and new personal best! Congrats bro!

Jake wasn’t done for the night though when he added yet another 6’9” bull shark.

That concludes our trip of summer shark fishing florida. We had many firsts and many bests and we couldn’t be happier. Many lessons learned and many memories made that wont be forgotten. Thanks for reading everyone!

Matt Zapala