Another gorgeous sunrise to start the day ... water was murkey, current running north. Low Tide at 08 sumthing ... fished from 0630 to 1130 .... 4 oz sputnik holding most of the time. Lots of bites, but primarily fingerling whiting ... and a few hard head cats thrown in for good measure. Landed what I thought was going to be a monster ... put up a nice fight and it had my 11' estuary doubled over ... turned out to be a really big cat ... with someone else's leader hooked in it's side ... (no line, just leader) the extra leader had a 5 oz and a 3 oz pyramid sinker on it ... add that weight to my 4 oz sputnik ... I was reeling in 12 oz of lead... and a 1 lb cat ...
Put one of the 8" whiting on an 8/0 long shank hook (using 100 # mono leader) and a 5 oz pyramid ... Threw it out as far as I could after wading out to waist deep ... wasn't long befoe the Team Alabama was doubled over and the line was screaming off the reel. (Diawa 4500t Exceler w/30# PP + 65# PP shock leader) Luckily I was using one of my heavy duty PVC pipe rod holders ... it held up just fine and the rod stayed on the beach :-) ... wasn't long before a shark came straight up out of the water ... did a couple of flips and started thrashing on the surface then started another long run ... I was afraid that thing was going to strip off all my line. Started using my finger to apply a little pressure ... but shark was having no part of slowing down or coming any closer to the beach. It was fun while it lasted, but the line eventually broke. Not sure if the knot at the shock leader (double uni) parted or if the 30 # power pro broke or if the shark just came back around and hit the line above the shock leader. Maybe too much pressure too soon. I'll keep trying till I get it right ...
Estimated the size at about 4 feet ... give or take a little. Not sure what species ... had a pointy nose and a nasty disposition ... had a quick look at it when it jumped but it didn't stay in the air long enough to study it real close ...