Team Rebel Takes the Block! (NorthEast Shark Report) 7-17/7-18-10
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 12:59PM Well it has been a short while since Tyler went back to Yankee land to chase after the cold water fish with the new southern mentality of fishing and metal riding shotgun. But nonetheless, he has had a strong showing up North and will continue to do so until his return to the great South East. Not to be left out of all the fun we are having down south here, teammate Tyler O’Toole embarks on the journey to Block Island for some Shark Slaying action.
This is what Tyler Reported in to Coroprate Command :
“ Our trip started at 4am Friday, July 16, 2010. Destination: Block Island. Loaded up the Regulator with our gear and we were off the dock by 6:30am. Joining me was Eric Christie (a long time friend and fishing partner), and his father. We had an 80mile run North, out to the fishing grounds ahead of us and we couldn’t be more excited being that it was our first shark trip of the season. We couldn’t be blessed with a more beautiful morning.
Water calm as glass made it an easy 2 hour run where we made our first stop in Montauk to pick up some essentials: Chum, Bait, Tackle, Food etc. From there we were off, in route, 30miles off of Block Island where we would set up and begin our drift for the big boys! On our way out we made a quick stop to catch a few fresh Bluefish before we continued on, to the fishing grounds. We reached the fishing grounds around 11:30 in around 190ft of water, water temp 71.4 .We set up our gear and began the long tedious process of chumming, chumming, and more chumming. We set 4 lines out on balloons, 2 surface baits on the outriggers, 1 mid water, and 1 deep water. 2 hours pass and no takers, 1 by one we checked our baits but the weren’t even touched, hm.. well I guess… BANG!! The line pops from the rigger (surface bait) and the fish starts peeling drag, I pick up the rod and slam the lever in gear, bow up, FISH ON!!!! Buddy Eric throws the fighting belt on me and I begin to work the fish in.
20 minutes later we see the first sight of color. Blue Shark, studd in fact around 8ft. Eric takes hold of the leader, slowly leadering the fish in close to the boat as his father takes a few quick shot before its time to cut the wire.
Snap leader is cut, safe release, no harm done! High fives all around, Woo Hoos, we are pumped up now! 30minutes later when hear, tick, tick, tick, zzzzzhhhhhhh line peels off the reel once again. Buddy Eric picks up the reel and Fish On!! Blue Shark!! About 6ft, beautiful looking shark!
Later on that day we hooked into 4 more sharks in the 4-7ft range. Finally ending the day with a double header! Both Eric and myself doubled up on 2 Blue Sharks, and boy was that a fun way to end the day!
We ended the day with a nice batch of Blue sharks, unfortunately no other species were caught that day but a fun day none the less. We then headed back to Block Island where we would spend the night and rest up for the next days stripped bass adventure.
Saturday was a short day for us, waking up around 10am and heading out for a few hours to do some stripped bass fishing, inshore near the Island before heading home. Fished with live eels, both Eric and I caught numerous Bluefish to 14lbs and a bunch of bass to 32lbs.
After a great morning of fishing we called it a day. Packed our gear and began the long journey home. Looking back, a few days now writing up this report is was a trip that will never be forgotten and another mark in the books for Team Rebel; tackling the species from the Northeast!”
Until next time.. Team Rebel Out!