Look At My BIG Shark!!! Ha ha ha…

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I have been fishing on the beach numerous times in my life. And, while I have caught countless fish from boats and piers, and while two of our kiddos have IGFA Junior World Records (that have since been broken), I have never managed to hook a fish from the beach. Not once in my entire life. UNTIL NOW!!

Armed with some dead fish from the bait shop, hearty lines, heavy weights, and all that other fun stuff, I walked into the ocean to cast, got walloped by a wave, got bumped by a fish (which made me yelp and dance an embarrassing jig for a second), got my line pretty far out, kept the bail open while walking back, closed the bail, put my pole in the pole holder, and plopped down on my lawn chair. And, I watched…

I watched as the tip of the pole wavered with every breaking wave, and with the retreating surf. Some waves were bigger than others. Is that a fish? No, just a wave… Was THAT a fish? No, just a bigger wave. I watched as several beachcombers ducked under my line. I watched the sun begin to set. And, I continued to wait, very patiently.

It only took about 30 minutes for the pole to bend over. Yep, that was no wave! I jumped to the pole holder, grabbed the pole, set the hook, and started reeling. People stopped to stare. I reeled while relaxing the pole forward, stopped, pulled the pole back against the invisible adversary, and did the same thing over and over. He ran once. I could tell it was big! He was a fighter! Oh, MAN! I was SO EXCITED!!! Was this the trophy fish I’d been dreaming about my entire life? Would I be able to land him all by myself?! How many dinners would this monster make?! Whoo HOOO!!!

I finally got him up on the sand and…this was his actual size:

I got the hook out, put him back in the water, and sent that cute baby blacktip on his way while humming the Baby Shark song. I didn’t catch any more sharks but I did catch two saltwater catfish (we call those hardheads). But, I didn’t care. I just wanted to catch fish, no matter what kind. I got to talk to people passing by, including a couple from Illinois. I got to watch for sea turtles (didn’t see any of those). I watched a ghost crab repeatedly tossing sand out of his hole. And, I got to commune with God for awhile, staring out at his massive, brilliant beauty as the galaxy became more vivid and bright from that darkening stretch of sand.

I spent the rest of my sitting time (waiting for the pole to bend) by re-applying insect repellent countless times. Each time I had to go into the water to cast (getting slammed by waves), I had to spray myself all over again. The no-see-ums were having a field day with me. I must be very tasty. I literally have hundreds of bites on my ankles, legs, and arms. I woke up scratching like crazy this morning but I didn’t care because I CAUGHT FISH ON THE BEACH FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! 🙂

NEXT: Anchor + High Winds + Dock Box = CRASH!!!

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Angela Hoy is a publisher, a blogger, and the author of 19 books. She lived on dirt her entire life before her family gave away almost everything they owned, and moved onto a 52-foot Irwin Center Cockpit Ketch. They all live, work, and play on board full-time.

Angela is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, a free source of paying markets for freelance writers and photographers. If you want to write for magazines, websites, businesses, or others, check it out. It’s free! Her publishing services company, BookLocker.com, has published more than 9,000 books over the past 18 years. If you want to publish a book, she’d love to hear from you! Abuzz Press is BookLocker’s hybrid publishing company. And, PubPreppers.com offers services to authors who are having their books published elsewhere.

Amberjack Rampage!

If you’re just tuning in, CLICK HERE to start at the beginning. 🙂

One day last week, I was quietly working on my laptop on the boat when I heard our captain, Brian Whiddon, holler for me to come look at something. I, in turn, told the boys something was going on and they dropped their schoolbooks and followed me through the companionway.

In front of No Tan Lines, a large area of water appeared to be boiling. At first glance, from the back of the boat peering that far ahead, I seriously thought somebody had dumped some sort of chemical in the water. Only after I quickly walked to the bow did I notice it was a huge school of large fish.

The boiling water effect was moving toward our boat, and beside it. We could hear the fish slapping our boat, and see them slapping the boats on both sides of us. They moved behind us, which is when I was able to catch THIS VIDEO…which, I know, turns sideways at the end. Sorry about that.

We originally thought the hunters were dolphins but we never saw any surface. We then thought it might be sharks corralling the fish. Another idea was tarpon because we have HUGE ones in the marina right now. One that was hanging out under the pier awhile back was at least seven feet long.

The show continued for another 45 minutes or so with the school moving all over the marina. One neighbor said it was sharks forcing the school closer to shore for an easier meal.

Brian, who’s also a diver, was scheduled to dive under No Tan Lines that afternoon for some maintenance. Needless to say, he rescheduled…

NEXT:  Halloween Decorations on “No Tan Lines” and BRRRR!!!

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Angela Hoy is a publisher, a blogger, and the author of 19 books. She lived on dirt her entire life before her family gave away almost everything they owned, and moved onto a 52-foot Irwin Center Cockpit Ketch. They all live, work, and play on board full-time.

Angela is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, a free source of paying markets for freelance writers and photographers. If you want to write for magazines, websites, businesses, or others, check it out. It’s free! Her publishing services company, BookLocker.com, has published more than 9,000 books over the past 18 years. If you want to publish a book, she’d love to hear from you! Abuzz Press is BookLocker’s hybrid publishing company. And, PubPreppers.com offers services to authors who are having their books published elsewhere.