It seems like forever since I'd been fishing and I desperately wanted to get out on the sand this week. After checking the surf report, I knew last night was my only chance. We have huge surf predicted for the rest of the week and sure enough, I could see it getting really big as I drove to work this morning.
I was so anxious to start fishing that I bailed a bit early from work and got to my spot right away. The conditions looked decent and turned out to be really good the whole night. 2-4 foot waves, very little salad, current, or wind. I was expecting it to be pretty cold, but I was comfortable the whole evening.
I set up two rigs. My 12' Penn Prevail with the Penn 9500SS and my 10' Daiwa Emcast with the Penn 970 Mag Power. Both with the same terminal rigs. Once I had them soaking I settled in to enjoy the sunset.
(https://i.imgur.com/AfopdhOl.jpg)
With the weather we've been having and the changing beach terrain, I wasn't expecting much. It was a really quiet evening. A couple of people walked the beach with their dogs and kids, but as the sun set I had it all to my self. I checked my baits a few times while I waited, but it was really slow. No bites or bait stealers or anything. Then about 6:00 some kelp rolled through and I had to reel in both rigs and reset. At around 6:45, I'm thinking to myself that I'll give it another 15 minutes and if nothing happens I'll head home. Right then my longer rod took a good bounce and then a deep bow! As I ran up to the rod, the drag was singing that beautiful song of "Fish On"! It was pulling so hard I had difficulty getting the the rod out of the holder. I finally did and set the hook a couple times just to be sure. The fish just kept running. Must have taken 150 yards on the first run. I was expecting a Sevengill, but this sure wasn't acting like one. Once I got him stopped, we had a few minutes of standoff where I couldn't gain line and he wasn't taking any. When I finally started getting line back, he started heading north. I worked him in closer and closer as he went, but as soon as I got him in the breakers he took off again and peeled another 80 yards off. This run must have tired him out because after he turned I was able to work him back in and with a few well timed waves got him in the skinny. I could see now that it was in fact a Sevengill, and a pretty good size one. It had a huge head on him and heavy body. Since I was solo, I loosened the drag and set the rod back in the spike so I could drag him further up on the sand. This was the heaviest 7 at this length that I've landed. He cooperated well for a quick hook removal, measurement and pics. Then I got him back in the water and he took off immediately. This male taped out at 89".
(https://i.imgur.com/kF7x33ql.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/r1Kxf3Bl.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mC5bcUxl.jpg)
After he swam off, I sat down for a few minutes to enjoy the adrenaline rush and send pics to a couple friends.
I put out another bait, but it sat idle for the next half hour and it was time to pack up.
Met another buddy on the way out to share some bait then home to tuck the kiddos into bed.
It was a good day :)
Nice report, Chad, and nice fish!
Good job, Chad!
Best,
Fred
Great fishin' Chad! 8)
Excellent, Chad. Thanks for the pics!
Nice work. Looked like a awesome night.
We have a different kind of seven gill in Florida that is small 2'-3' that we catch on rare occasions deep dropping. Nothing like the brute you caught.
Congratulations,
Scott
Great story and fish, hope this year is amazing for you brother!
Nice one Chad way to go!
I'm glad you got a weather window to fish. We are getting winds and high surf in Norcal. Dominick
wwow, nice way to star the year
nice shark
Nice one!
Good start to 2019 ;D
Nice one Chad! How is that 9500SS holding up with such a large fish? I always believed it could handle it, but most didn't.
This is a good start for sure...good job!
Sal
That's very nice,,,, :D big fish,,,big fight,,, ;) and I hope you get much more this year,,,great job!!!! ;D
Good job !!
Great Work Chad.
Well Done! ;)
Well done Chad. Glad you could find a fishing window and got some of the good kind of luck!
Nice work with the 9500SS Chad! I think the Mag 10 might have struggled with drag and line capacity. ::) ;D
Mike
You can't beat having the spot and view all to yourself, and the fish is just icing on the cake!
Thanks guys!
I sure was good medicine to be on the sand for a couple of hours, helps some of the stress melt away :)
Sal,
The 9500SS is working great! With the upgraded drag, handle, and titanium double dogs, I have complete confidence in it!
Thank you so much for helping me get it set up right! I've landed some really big bat rays (100+ lbs.) also that put a lot more stress on it than the sevengills and it hasn't missed a beat. And since it has 450ish yards of 80# braid, it will handle most anything I can hook from the sand except maybe a big white shark.
Very good Chad, thanks for the update. Keep posting these great reports.
Sal