Sitting here at my house (we left this morning)
It seems like I had a better night than most......i shall begin again!
From north Bethany at the southern most part of the DE state park, next to Tower Shores
After a morning with just a couple skate, I headed to the tackle shop to get my Baitrunner 6500 checked out because I had dropped it in the wet sand the night before, when I had the encounter with the beast...and tried to wrestle it ashore. Well at the tackle store he checked out the reel , and told me it was fine. I was thinking about how close my little spinning rod came to snapping, so I bought a Tica 3-8 ounce spinning heaver. On the way home we stopped to pickup some tuna bellies, but there was only one carcass. I was able to use this for the middle part of the day. During the day I broke in my new tica with a few blues and a sand shark. I love the way these things cast! Fearing that I might run out of bait, we went back to the marina, and there were plenty of tuna carcasses. The fish cleaner guy was able to give us about 8 two pound chunks of tuna (they were the part after the gill plate- I wanted to cook em up, but I resisted.) These chunks were perfect, thick, bloody, fresh, and had enough fat and skin to keep it on the hook. With enough bait, I was excited for the grand finale- the final night of shark fishing. At about 8:30 me and my family headed down to the beach to get everything set up, the fog was THICK! Within the hour, i was able to throw out a few large chucks of bait- both rods were rigged with my big 16/0 circle hook shark rigs- this time with a little more leader for my dad to grab , and the new tica cast the huge rigs with no problem. Well with the baits in the water, I dint want to expect much, the night before I landed a shark that some people dream about, I was one lucky guy. That fish alone was MUCH MUCH MUCH more than I expected out of my shark fishing week.
We lit a fire as my family talked to the family who watched me catch the big shark. We reflected on the fight with the monster the previous night, and I talked to their daughter (shes my age), who my parents insist is my girlfriend now . So needless to say I wasnt too focused one the rods, but from what I could tell there were no runs, just missing bait. When the other family left at about 11:30, I started to really focus at trying my best to somehow maybe catch another shark. At about 12 am, I realized that my spinning rod line was limp, and I knew what that meant. I reeled it tight, felt weight and leaned in to set the circle hook. With my brand new tica and baitrunner 6500, I landed a nice 3 foot + Sandbar shark ( I think??) just as another group of fisherman came to shark with us. I was EXCITED to say the least. That was the type of shark I ecpected to catch, and would have made my week even if I didnt catch the monter 7'+ ST the night before. We took a few pics, and let her go with a clean hook removal. I threw out new baits, just beyond the eirie looking surf. Within the next 30 minutes, I missed a bunch of fish. The fish were not running with the line, they were pushing closer to the shore, so I could not hear any indication that the shark were hitting. Then at about 12:30, I had a monster run on my new tica spinning rod. It was zinging out drag, just like the beast from the night before. I leaned into the beast, and the fight was on! The circle hook was set. 10 seconds later the line went limp, and i brought back nothing but shreded 20# mono. Thats what you get for making relatively short leaders. I was bummed, but it was ok, I still had plenty of shark leaders left, I just wanted to switch the J hooks to cirlce hooks. As I was massing with my supplies and making a new rig, my dad called over from the big rod, "Ben, You might wanna check this out, there is something alive on the end of this line!". I ran over to the rod, and before I could pick it up, the fish started running. I let him take the line, but when it started to slow down, I leaned back and watched the rod bend under a heavy load- 12:40 AM. "Fish on!", I yelled to my brothers and fellow shark fisherman down the shore. The fish was peeling out drag like a train, but I let her make the run, When she slowed up, I started to pump her in. I walked up the beach as the other fishermen brought in their lines. I knew this was going to be a decent fish, based on the srtong runs it was making. After about 10 minutes of gaining and losing line, I started to make headway. I didnt have too much line to reel in because it was a casted bait, not yakked. Five minutes later, we saw the fish's fins under the view if the spotlight my friends were shining. I knew it was a shark, and probably a sand tiger, I wanted to get this in. As the waves crashed, i slowly pulled the exhausted fish into the wash, and got a wave to bring her close. But She wasnt done- making a 50 yard desperation run. It dint take me long to haver her back in the wash, where we were prepared. As you recall from my last report, there were no cameras and no tailrope, but things were differnt this night. My fisherman friend (his name was Andre and he might be joining this site) grabbed the tailrope, and was ready to bring it in. A huge wave was able to push the shark up and it was beached on wet sand, I nearly did a backflip when i realized the monstrosity (sp) of this shark. Andre tied the tailrope on and slowly dragged the fish up the beach a little bit, I kept the fish on its side, hoping not to crush any internal organs. At 1:30, the fish was beached! This thing was freaking ENORMOUS. Based on the size of the fish compared to my 5'9 frame, it was at least an 8 foot Sand Tiger shark- all others agreed (Including Andre who caught and measured and cleaned a 6.5 foot sandbar earlier that week). There was no way this fish was under 350 pounds, not with the obese body that it had. We were able to snap a couple pictures for proof, and dragged it close to the water where a large wave gave it a mouthful of water, partially reviving it. I cut the leader just above the wire (wanted to get the shark in the water- a hook removal would have taken too long) Another wave flipped it on its stomach, and promptly after, a wave gave it enough water to shoot right back into the ocean with a few strong tail kicks. It was accomplished- pictures, and release of the biggest shark I will probably ever catch. Even though it still has a hook in the side of its mouth, I am confident that it will live. I will remember this nvacation for the rest of my life. 2 nights of shark fishing- 3 shark- 2 over 7 feet (And not to mention I broke off one that felt just that size). It was Unreal. I'm glad I got pictures, or else I wouldnt believe myself.
I WILL BE BACK! there is no question about that one!!!!
I reccomend heading up to South DE park, theres something toothy about that place
, especially at night!!! 
That's one of those "catch of a lifetime" pictures and story!! Good job!!
