Team Rebel- 2010 Year in Review
Friday, November 19, 2010 at 12:57AM The year of 2010 for Team Rebel has been the best year we have ever experienced here in Florida throughout our many years of angling. As with every season comes the highs and lows of the journey that we embark on each January, and this year was no different. People left our lives, and people have come into our lives, all for the better in the end. This year a lot changed throughout the state, we experienced weather that was the coldest it has been in thirty years, along with the spell of the seemingly ever present El Nino finally cast aside from the coast of the Sunshine State. Species showed here in numbers and times in which we had not ever seen before, and some species regular migrations, which you can usually set a clock too, did not show. It seems as time moves by, and we get older, we spend less time each year chasing what we love to do, mostly in part due to everybody's adult schedules these days. That's why this year is even that more special, we at Team Rebel overcame some of the most extreme controversy and tasks we have ever faced, and the rewards were reaped to a point where some of our expeditions led to some of the most epic captures not only for us, but the angling community has ever seen. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get the cliff note version of our season, as well as a taste of what is looming near on the edge of the horizon.
The season began with the then four member team, beginning to awake from a winter slumber, to the sight of thousands of spinning sharks cresting through the air on the local beaches. Traditionally the sharks will never hold their ground in the hoards they appeared in locally, but never the less we took advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself towards us for some fast and furious action at the jumping denizens in the surf line. After about a hundreds or so of these little, fast moving terrors, we set our focus on the main objective for each year....
After witnessing one of natures most spectacular occurrences, a massive rogue hammerhead shark feeding on a live free swimming black-tip shark in the surf zone at dusk, we knew it was time to get our rears into gear and chase the giant we had gazed upon as it was straight out of the heavens. Not before we got our newest team mate Tyler on board for the expedition though, and he was molded and made for the sole task of chasing giants with us. After a week of fishing we were finally able to accomplish the goal we had set for ourselves, to be the first to catch and release an estimated 1000pound hammerhead from a shoreline, the largest hammer head shark that has ever been caught from shore. The whole story can be found in the link below to
After the epic capture of the beast of the port, we decided to kick back a bit and do a little bit of soul fishing, we got in some good light tackle wade action a few times during our brief stint, and pounded out some quality snook and freshwater tarpon.
But alas, the itch to return to the sea was too strong to resist, the youngest member of the team, Viktor, was having a banner year of fishing himself, and we didn't want his hot hand to grow cold. We headed towards to ocean again in hopes of a late season sturdy hammer-head, and Viktor's hard work paid off as it usually does with the monster below. To read more about this expedition click the link
Tyler had to head back up to the great white north for a period of time, and while he was up there he didn't disappoint, with some trophy Striped Bass catches and some solid Blue Shark action mixed in as well. Team Rebel knows no boundaries.....
"Team Rebel Takes the Block!!"
The fishing had been great up to this point, but we decided it was time for a short vacation, so we packed up and headed West to watch other anglers catch some sharks for a change and unwind at the first ever Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge. We arrived and were greeted by our long time friends Sean and Brooks Paxton, and showed to enjoy the spectacle of the tourney which they had masterminded over the course of the last year. With the support of MOTE marine laboratory, the tourney was the first of its kind to be streamed live to bystanders on land, along with the satellite tagging of many of the larger sharks caught in the tourney. Great show guys! Can't wait to see what you guys have in the works next!
"Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Challenge"
The tourney was a great success and it was a great time with great people, but it was time to get back to our coast and prepare for the impending mullet run that was making its way southbound. But unfortunately our style of fishing was phased out by extremely rough surf, thus forcing us to the inside for the majority of the migration. The Bite was borderline insanity on the bridges over the course of the migration, but Chris again stole the show with his light tackle demolition of this absolutely prehistoric Snook.
"Monster Team Rebel Snook Report"
The mullet run was fading, and some tropical weather had presented itself to us, so a change of pace was in order. We headed inland with a new friend and newly appointed team member, Jessica, to get back to our roots and chase the prevalent Large Mouth Bass for a couple of short days during the squall. We had a great time, and caught well over a hundred pounds of bass, and another bright point in our season had arrived with Jessica becoming a large motivating factor now in our future endeavors.
We ended the season by doing some serious research, and coming out with the multi-part expose' "The Demons of Durban" to highlight the beginnings of the land-based shark fishing lifestyle. This piece spread far and wide, therefore earning its place on our 2010 highlight reel,mostly due to the fact of how much I enjoyed researching and writing this piece.
UPDATE: We have just returned from our last expedition of the season and have something in the works behind the scenes to prepare this for the public and angling community.
You may ask what this picture is here for? Well everybody will find out shortly. What is on the other end of the line , to many is considered the holy grail of land based shark fishing, a task deemed impossible by many, was accomplished by us here at Team Rebel, get ready.......
Reader Comments (2)
To anyone intrested, I'm the only son of the late Peter Botha and that I frequented the south pier as a young lad in the 1950's and experinenced many a catch frenzy.
Many of the pics portraid in your article originated from from my late father's pernsonal album. A book was published in the 70's called "Fisherman's Tails" very much in line with your artical.
If there's anything I can help with, please drop me a line.
Derrick
I think if you should move to catch sharks with your bare hands.