Since the salinity in the lake is less than favorable and the heat during the day is almost unbearable, what better to do than late evening bull shark fishing? Launched out of Mandeville harbor and began the search for bait. The water at the launch was mud so catching mullet wasn’t going to happen. Shortly after leaving the harbor, we found a very big school of mullet and loaded the bait well. Once we arrived at the feeding grounds and getting the lines in the water, it wasn’t long until we heard the resounding sound of a screaming clicker. We caught three bull sharks within the first 10 minutes. We finally got all of the rods back in the water after the siege of action. Five minutes pass and I notice that one the lines is moving sideways at a fast pace. I grab the rod and set the hook into a very heavy fish. As my friend tried to get one of the lines out of the way, he realized there was something else at the end of it. He set the hook into an equally massive fish. Both fish surface and revealed their identities. Both of them were massive alligator gar. The fish on my line launches itself completely out of the water and throws the hook. So I had to figure out how to land the other prehistoric beast. I ended up making a lasso out of a dock line. His fish measured 5’8; not the biggest out there, but big enough to get your adrenaline rushing.
As it got dark, we started slamming the bull reds. Not the species we were targeting but they are equally welcome. We could only keep three because the smallest we caught was 29”. Then the sharks moved back in. I couldn’t rig up lines faster than they were getting cut. Finally called it a night after all the rods had been “sharked” and the bugs became unbearable. Definatly a great night of fishing and a great way of exercising some of the heavier equipment that doesn’t get enough use. -Get_the_Net 8/4/13
Final Fish count:
11 Bull sharks 2’-3.5’
5 Bull reds 29”-34”
3 Alligator gar