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Trigger
 
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4 - 5 miles off the beach on Monday; Well, we get a late start around 2pm as my clients couldn't go out any earlier. The gulf looked pretty good, but that changed fast. It went from 1 - 2 ft seas to 2 - 4 ft in a very short time. We fished for a solid 4 hrs hooking up some red snappers and one fish that took over an hour to land. Jenny brought up her fish, but the man in the brown suit decided that he wanted a snack, and this is what was left. As you can see, I brought out the light tackle for Snapper, because we were not getting a lot of good bites, but I did keep one big rod out spooled up with heavier line.
We fished for a little while longer, and then Becky said, "I've got a bite, and it's pulling the rod out of my hands!" I took the rod, and sure enough, this was not a red snapper. I said, " I think we just hooked what ate Jenny's fish."
I told Mark to get over here and put the boots to this fish. Well, all I can say is Mark and his family will never forget this trip. Mark told me that this was the longest he has ever fought a fish.
He's a bass fisherman from Tennessee, and after a solid 45 minutes his arms started to cramp up and he had to hand off the rod for a few minutes to rest up and get a drink. I took the rod and let him recuperate for a few minutes, and then he went back to work on the man in the brown suit.  What a battle! Of course, with 60lb mono and 60lb leader, it was a battle that we could lose very easily. I didn't know how the fish was hooked, but I was pretty sure the fish was hooked in the mouth since we hadn't been cut off, yet. Everyone on the boat wanted to see this fish and after about an hour we had him boatside.
When we got the shark boatside, it was a very cool sight. My crew had never seen a shark in the wild before and needless to say, they were very excited.I put the gaff in the shark's mouth, so we could snap a few pictures, and then we released him back to his stomping grounds.  Now, I'm no shark expert, but I think it's a bull, but I'm not positive. I estimated the shark to be over 7ft, maybe even 8ft long. He was very fat and had some nice pearly whites!I guess he may have weighed somewhere around 200 + lbs . This fish was very fat, but we weren't going to keep him around discussing diet tips.
Shark experts, what are your thoughts?
Tight Lines.
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Capt. John Rivers
850-341-9816
Pensacola, Fl
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters
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Mingo
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Bull!
John Moon- BuckWild "The Original"Pathfinder 23DV-F225 yammy "Liquid Chaos" http://www.myspace.com/jlmoon79  
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Mingo
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BuckWild (5/13/2008)
Bull!Shark that is!
John Moon- BuckWild "The Original"Pathfinder 23DV-F225 yammy "Liquid Chaos" http://www.myspace.com/jlmoon79
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Sailfish
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Good for you for giving them the memory of a lifetime. That's what counts. Yep, bull shark it is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "H2O: 2 parts hydrogen 1 part obsession." Jon
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Trigger
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Wow! Thanks for posting. Great pics Capt. It is great to see people from out of the area having a reason to come back here. What a story for them. Thanks for posting.
You catch some, you lose some but the beer will never say no or try to run away.
18' White Ranger Center Console.
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Trigger
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| Here are a few more pictures. I cropped them to get a closer look at the Shark. As you can see in one of the pictures, my first attemt to put the gaff in his mouth failed as he turned at the last second. It's a good thing I had two gaffs onboard so I could get a gaff in his mouth and keep him boat side for a few pictures. I was very careful to release him some what unharmed. 
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Capt. John Rivers
850-341-9816
Pensacola, Fl
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters
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Trigger
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Cool report and great pixs, bet those folks never forget that trip. 
SEAPRO 19
Yamaha F115
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