The wind was howling this morning, blowing at over 25 miles per hour and gusting 30.
Still 84 degrees.

Keith and I were with Captain Damon with Radomir our cameraman on board. We opted to go Shark fishing down to the Marquesas Islands. It turned out to be not a good choice, the water was cloudy and conditions difficult. After a move behind an island to give us some shelter I saw a big Lemon Shark moving across the flats, it ate my Bonito slice and screamed off.

My Big Penn 850 reel holds 400 yds of 50lb braid so it was not necessary to pull the anchor to follow it. I soon had it near the boat and what made it really neat was the fact that Radomir had an underwater camera.

The film star Lemon Shark

Several times the Lemon attacked the camera and the footage is awesome. It was a good release and about 150lbs of Lemon Shark swam away with a smile on its face. Watch out for when this footage is on Tight Lines it will be amazing.

I have always said that Key West fishing is all about opportunities and the day turned out to be a chance missed. Although we were shark fishing in a small channel I saw a Tarpon chase my Blue Runner with wire attached. They are too smart to eat wire so I quickly replaced it with a big Pinfish on mono. Within minutes I saw a huge Tarpon chase the bait then engulf it. I tightened up and a very angry massive Tarpon set off for Cuba in airborne mode. I reckon this was one of the biggest Tarpon I have ever hooked, difficult to accurately estimate but I reckon 140lbs plus. Five awesome jumps and it threw the hook; needless to say I was gutted. This type of fishing is all about taking every opportunity available, this was one I missed.

Although the big fish were hard to come by, Keith battered the mangrove snappers and caught our dinner

Our other team mates had a great day with Captain Chris on Coolwater, they had also opted to go shark fishing but in a different location. Harry and Crispy Duck had 11 sharks including a Bull Shark of around 200lbs, plus some small Barracudas they caught for bait.

Harry with one of the Barracuda that they used for bait

What made this day extra special is that they caught several sharks on the kite. This is not the normal method but it is very exciting to see an angry shark attacking surface bait.

Harry poses with a small Lemon Shark

You may recall we sent Harry to bed early because of his crap pictures, which were out of focus and not sharp. (Keith said that it was Harry who was not sharp, now I thought that was very hurtful). Harry studied the owner manual and I am pleased to report that he had some excellent pictures.

Harry and Crispy Duck leave us tomorrow and we will then have some new teammates. To celebrate we had our annual Captains dinner which Keith and Crispy prepared. We had fish pie and lemon peppered Mangrove Snapper, everyone thought that it was brilliant. It was a late night and everyone went to bed extremely tired.