Tim, Logan, Kate and I made a day trip down the National Seashore. We left out around 6am while the sky was still foggy. The drive was pretty difficult considering the visibility was low due to the fog. We drove way down until we were able to get away from people and find a decent deep first gut. Even reading the surf was hard with all the fog. We found a spot and spent the next couple hours setting up and running baits. We had a buffet of food for sharks, fresh and frozen. We waited all day during the slack tide but no takers. Kate caught a pompano, and we all caught whiting and hard heads. Around 2pm the tide started coming in. We were on guard thinking tidal movement would bring some action. Sure enough my small pole bent in half. I had casted a shrimp out into the wade gut and landed a nice bull red. It had just been attacked by a shark, as blood was pouring out of the gaping wounds on it’s tail. This must be why he was in so shallow, trying to get away. I figured we had over ran our baits and maybe should have them in closer. Logan and Kate had to leave, but no sooner then they left one of the shark poles went off. Not a big run, so we knew it was a pup. It was a little Atlantic Sharpnose that ate a fresh pompano. By this time the fog had vanished, the sun had come out, and the blue water was closer to shore. Still no takers on the baits. The seaweed was pretty bad. It was hard to keep a cast out in the water without it getting loaded down with large amounts of weed. Only the shark poles up on the rack were able to somewhat keep the seaweed off with the lines up out of the water. By 5pm we decided to reel in, only to find our cownose ray baits had been chewed on by pups. Smaller baits and closer drops seems to be the ticket. But if you are lucky, you will come across that one big shark. Lots of reds being caught. There were a few massive balls of hardheads swimming in the wade gut. At one point we stopped to see what the fuss was about since pelicans were diving. We were hoping it was mullet and jacks, but nope...Just hardheads. The drive was easy at low tide. 4x4 was needed at big shell as usual, and in some spots getting around campsites. Be sure to wear lots of sunblock, spf clothes, and drink plenty if water. It didn’t take long for us to get burned. The jacks are in but we have only seen them around the jetty and random one hitters on the beach. All in all, a pomp, a red, and a pup shark was better than getting skunked. Just blessed to get to spend a day down PINS, it’s been too long.
