Oct 5 The Big Return to Fishing

Tom and Mike are great return clients and they brought along 2 buddys this morning.. I have been out of town for 21 days, so I was a nervous wreck. The fishing storys I'd been told were of great Albacore fishing and vast numbers of Blacktip and/or Spinner Sharks.... At the end of a long half day charter, we found World Class Albacore Fishing on spinning tackle and Out of this Universe Spinner and Blacktip Sharks on cut Albacore..... In between we caught Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Red Drum, Summer Flounder, and Cownose Ray. Fishing for the all the other stuff was good, but not up to Top Water Charters standards. The Red Drum were in the dirty water and hard to spot. We found 2 small schools of them. Hooked 4 and landed 2. Our Red Drum captures were 26" and 25". The Bluefish were in the shallow water with 4 foot breakers on the stern. The  Spanish Mackerel were everywhere, but no where in particular. All blind casting. The Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel ranged to over 2 lbs. The Albacore were small ones in the 4-6 lb range. We were casting over huge schools of breaking fish and honestly, Albacore fishing could've only been better if the fish would've been larger. The days highlight was the leaping Sharks. We found an area where they were jumping at a rate of 8-10 per minute. Turned out to a huge area teemimg with giant Spinner Sharks and large Blacktip Sharks. Once we arrived, it didn't take long to hook the first doubleheader. One broke off and we landed a 80 lb Blacktip Shark. Before leaving, we released a 125 lb Spinner Shark and  150 lb Spinner Shark. I lost one a 100 pounder on a top water plug on 10# spin and at one time we had 50 Sharks swarming around the boat. The final detail about the day was the 45 lb Cownose Ray Mike snagged on a stingsilver. He got winged and is headed for the grill. Total Catch for the Day: 14 Albacore up to 8 lbs, 14 Bluefish up to 2+ lbs, 3 Spanish Mackerel up to 2+ lbs, 2 Red Drum at 8 and 7 lbs, 3 Summer Flounder less than 15", 2 Spinner Sharks up to 150 lbs, 1 Blacktip Shark at 80 lbs and a 45 lb Cownose Ray