Well, where to begin...got off work at 5, got home and got a message from Steve, asking if I'm still heading out and where...and after some haggling we decide to fish local.
As I'm arriving, it's 7, I see Steve roll up, for once I'm the 1 early to the spot, sorta...he has all his stuff set up and quickly gets a bait in the water, while I shoot the sh!t, he gets bit by a spunky mid sized bat...so far so good...that was quick so I'm hoping it'll be a great session.
(http://i62.tinypic.com/1zcgwsw.jpg)
Far from it for me so far. I'm going without any bites and Steve gets a nice little hit...did he miss it? Nope, got a nice size round stingray (is this a -1?)
(http://i62.tinypic.com/f055rr.jpg)
I check my bait, nada, rebait with a mack tail and send her out.
And well, not much is going on, no kelp, nice manageable surf, sob its nice, just lacking action...just when I'm gettin bummed, I get a slow run going south if where we are situated...not much of a dramatic fight, I get it coming in, it then decides it's gonna continue cruising south of our spot. Ever determined to get his hands on the big ray we thought I had, Steve abandons his rod that's still soaking and makes his way down the beach, somewhere in the area of 150' yards. Meanwhile I can't gain line, I can only follow it...when I see it finally exposed and I hear Steve scream holy sh!t Ray!!! I'm just thinking this is no ray...I run up and see an absolute brute of a 7gill beached on Its back and Steve doing his best to keep it from getting dragged back from the waves...luckily there's some joggers who hold my rod, while I grab the tail and me and Steve gave it a mighty heave ho! The 7 was just simply to heavy and we may have dragged it 5 feet and it was simply to much...the hook removal and pics will have to be while getting splashed by waves...I remove the hook which was perfectly in the corner of the mouth..we snap some pics, get the measurement of 108.5", and make struggle of dragging him back, followed by watching him slowly, but with authority swim off.
(http://i57.tinypic.com/mav2no.jpg)
(http://i58.tinypic.com/qyzjvc.jpg)
(http://i58.tinypic.com/10mu6ol.jpg)
At this point, I'm good, I wind in, sit down and hope Steve cam nail 1...and he does, with another round stingray! By this time we give it 1 more soak, and call it a night...
That first sighting of your fish was incredible. It was huge and not the bat we both expected. Really glad t have been there to see it, and help to land it. She was so big I'm not sure I could have wrapped my arms around her girth.
Huge congrats to you on a great fish.
Awesome Ramon, maybe you found the 'culprit' that took a nip at Tom's soupie last week :o
Would of bin cool had it regurgitated,.I'm just curious what it had bin eating ;)
She looked like a Damn elephant seal for a second lol
Nice sesh guys! Congrats on another phat 7 B)
Our waters have been nice to you guys lately, congrats on a beast of a shark 8) And you had good company too ;)
Wow, wow, wow. What a way to make me happy and sad while laying in my hospital bed right now. Lol
Congrats on a 9' sevengill!!!! I'm so stoked for you even if i'm a little green with envy that you topped my 102". I had to get a surfer to help me bring it back in the water it was so heavy. That 7 you caught looks like it was eating all the starving seal pups. I would have loved to be there and get some good pics, not those aren't great but i would have had the nicer camera for a pic. :)
Once i get home from the hospital, be sure you'll see that picture on the P Soul main page! What a beast and only the 4th Sevengill over 100" that has been taped that i know about from the surf.
Brandon (shark killer) 110"
Ray chavez 108.5"
Latimeria 102"
Donfish 101"
Bravo boss
That's a beast 7gill. How did it fight? Any tail slapping, head shakes?
I knew you'd get a kick it if it...And what a fitting day. You should of seen the grin on Steve's face as he texted you letting you know of what just took place lol
Yeah would of bin nice to get a few more clear shots, but considering where she decided she was ready to come in, and with all the time takin to drag her fatass out of the water, we had to move quick.
As far as the fight went we thought it was a good size bat for sure.
Couple long runs, hardly any headshakes, only at the end I started feeling what I thought where powerful wingbeats, which where the actual headshakes.
:o Wow that thing is huge! Congrats Bro!
Epic man! 8)
WOW!!!! Holy sh!t Ray!!!
:o :o :o :o :o :o
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Nice job Team Ray and Steve.. I know those sharks can be tough to handle on the beach.
:)
Gracias guys, she was pretty good out of the water, just to heavy to deal with, this I couldn't gave done without Steve's help landing it
FRIGGAND NICE! I feel our northernly 7s are getting lonely.
Jeez what a beast
Such a nice 7
That's deffinately a goal of mine to break 100
Guess if your fishin solo your Sh!t out of luck gettin it out the water.
Glad you guys got it, I enjoyed just lookin at the pics.
Adam, I'm awaiting your post on getting some cooler water 7's!!!
Eric, I honestly don't think I could of safely taken it out of the water, I without a doubt think it was right at the 300# mark, we barely could move it...and to think I was expecting a 50" inch bat :o
Eric, i got my 102" out of the water solo, but it tired me out so much that a surfer came over to help me get her back in. I guessed my fish was 220. I'm thinking Rays is 290/300! Just a guess of course, but probably not too far off.
Awesome Ray! That was incredible! Congrats! sent you a pm
WTG Ray. That's a huge beast of a seven. Just be glad you weren't flying solo last night.
Yeah I was talkin with Steve about your solo jumbo 7 and how difficult it must of bin...I'm glad he was there to witness and help me, it's weird how sometimes things just work out.
Thanks Ron, hopefully you tie into 1 soon man!
Holy f'ing crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is a BEAST!! Great to have an awesome sand hand for a monster like that!
Thanks bud, and yes it was 8)
Awesome Seven! Everybody's gonna have to get a neck brace, we all might be looking up for a while.. ;) Congrats again.
Good GRAVY..that is a beast!! Congratulations!! I can't even imagine the size of that thing in person. I'm amazed at 5 ft leopards.. but THIS!!
Tom you must be really chomping at the bit now..
Thanks man, it felt surreal to me seeing that thing roll out of the surf thrashing around 8)
Just FYI I believe the current record is 322lbs. It'd be cool if we got a IFGA certed scale, and one of us nailed a record, Tom excluded because he already has a whopper mac record ::).
I better start lifting in that case lol
But man that would be a sweet surf catch record...makes you wonder how heavy they exactly are...
And what's this on mack record?
Don't forget my all tackle igfa record sargo! (Oh wait, someone just beat that record, but i held it for 6 years!) lol
I have a sling scale to weigh them up to 440 pounds, but the scale would never be able to be certified. I might have to start taking it out anyway to see what weights we're talking about.
No way in hell I'm holding the scale up with a nine foot shark in it.
;D ;D ;D
I definitely think it would be sweet to get the wait of some of these 7's and soups. I'm all for it...I just don't known if between 2 people we'd be able to lift a 9fter lol
From the 7s ive seen theve got big ol' beer guts.. ;D
Also, I was thinkin earlier today...
From what ive gathered most of us use 2-3ft. of wire leaders
If a 7s pushin 100" plus and they deep throated the hook I would think they'd be swimmin off with our rigs.
Correct me if im wrong but I would think a 7 that size, their stomach would be sitting further back than 3 ft.
Damn guys that looks like Florida sharkin..Bravo.
: raychavez91 April 18, 2015, 10:21:48 p
I definitely think it would be sweet to get the wait of some of these 7's and soups. I'm all for it...I just don't known if between 2 people we'd be able to lift a 9fter lol
If squatch summons his inner yeti he can curl that solo B) but he's too lazy to lug the tarp and scale around... ;)
Lo'ld^
: Eric H April 18, 2015, 08:33:50 p
From the 7s ive seen theve got big ol' beer guts.. ;D
Also, I was thinkin earlier today...
From what ive gathered most of us use 2-3ft. of wire leaders
If a 7s pushin 100" plus and they deep throated the hook I would think they'd be swimmin off with our rigs.
Correct me if im wrong but I would think a 7 that size, their stomach would be sitting further back than 3 ft.
I don't think so, I don't think their gullet is more than 1/3rd of their body in. Plus remember if gut hooked they do you the favor of punching their gut out, giving you a little leeway. I was just thinking today also, why no jaw shot? And why no sticker shot, he would've been a good candidate!?
We were just in such a rush to release it, and far from the gear that it didn't even occur to do those, I do regret it tho :-\
: raychavez91 April 19, 2015, 09:47:35 p
We were just in such a rush to release it, and far from the gear that it didn't even occur to do those, I do regret it tho :-\
Keeping the fishes health as priority is the business! Very cool! gettin "caught up in the moment " is easy to do when it's "the fish of a lifetime " but we all know sharks and rays are like catfish, they swim off pretty quick as soon as they get some flowing water in em B)
PS Party Foul ... LOL ...
Woulda been the sticker contest winner for sure ... though I'm considering strapping one to my ass for pure shock value ... :D :D
: WheresMyBeer April 19, 2015, 10:57:41 p
PS Party Foul ... LOL ...
Woulda been the sticker contest winner for sure ... though I'm considering strapping one to my ass for pure shock value ... :D :D
That would get my vote.
: WheresMyBeer April 19, 2015, 10:57:41 p
PS Party Foul ... LOL ...
Woulda been the sticker contest winner for sure ... though I'm considering strapping one to my ass for pure shock value ... :D :D
I would have had to photoshop that to save any innocent eyes. LOL
: sasquatch April 20, 2015, 04:45:34 p
: WheresMyBeer April 19, 2015, 10:57:41 p
PS Party Foul ... LOL ...
Woulda been the sticker contest winner for sure ... though I'm considering strapping one to my ass for pure shock value ... :D :D
That would get my vote.
That would get me tossing my cookies! :o