# Biggest Fish Caught From Beach?



## jhook

This would be part 2 of my "Cabin Fever Thread",especially because some of you guys are being hammered by snow storms.The first thread was Biggest Castable Outfit-
http://www.pierandsurf.com/fishing-forum/showthread.php?t=72785
Part 2 is what's the biggest fish caught from the beach while surfcasting?It can be your fish,or a fish you'd seen, or read about on the internet,magazine,whatever.Not caught by any other means than conventional surfcasting-no yakking out baits etc.What was the fish, where and when was it caught,and what was the tackle that got the job done.Pretty much a just how big of a fish can be fought and landed while surfcasting.
Oh and having dealt with plenty of snow in my lifetime,stay safe and relax,it'll melt eventually!In the mean time let's have some cool fish stories.opcorn:


----------



## Paul McDonald

This is a pic of the biggest one I have proof of. I caught this lemon shark last summer on Jekyll Island. I was fishing with an Avet SX mounted on a HDX. I was fishing a piece of eel on a Gamma 8/0 hook snelled with 6' of 200lb mono. I have also caught some good stingrays from the surf.


----------



## jhook

Nice pic.Jekyll is a cool place. I would imagine once coastal water temps rise in the summer, large sharks are possible along the entire east coast.


----------



## MDubious

I landed a huge stingray off the beach in NMB this year. Was kind of bummed that it was a ray but, man what a fight! 11ft Star Nickel Lite surf rod and a Penn704z. I would love say it was a more "idealistic" species but, hey...


----------



## Lynn P.

*This is mine..*


----------



## Lynn P.

*Sorry..*

Can't figure how to post picture directly...


----------



## Fins&butt4me

*Not a cool fish but really big cow nosed ray. 5 1/2ft winspread. From Myrtle Beach.*


----------



## jhook

Well I have to admit my largest fish landed is also the less idealistic stingray.Somewhere around 50- 60lb. it was more work than fight!Next I think I'll just break it off!


----------



## jhook

I haven't had any luck really with a web search on this subject as to what big fish have been fought and landed from the beach.My guess is that the big fish would probably be sharks, because other than tarpon what other large species would come within casting distance?


----------



## treydunn48

jhook there have been jew fish (goliath grouper) caught in the surf pretty often.


----------



## rocket

My personal best red drum. This isn't close to being the largest thing you can land from the surf, but in the spirit of helping out with the symptoms of cabin fever...


----------



## jhook

Hey Rocket, great looking red drum.I didn't think about Goliath grouper.Here's something I found but the baits were yakked out.
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=496298&page=
Still that is a huge fish to fight with your feet in the sand.


----------



## eric

i think for regular surf casting rods and reels not yak or pier... would probably be cownose rays for us here on the north/mid east coast.


----------



## rattler

IN VAoff the beach, rays and doggies. I had some big break offs tho. On the Banks, 4.5 BULL SHARK, 5" Lemon ,And many,many rays. If Piers count, 7.5 shark of janets pier. If for the fight, 19.5lb Blue of the pier on 15lb set up and my non fishing cousin going nuts.


----------



## biggestsquid

50" drum, a nurse shark that had a large girth and was approx 6' long.


----------



## Drumdum

Have caught a mess of 40" plus to the fork drum and one over 50" to the fork out of the surf,with no pics.. Quite a few big sharks,but the guy in this pic has a moose of a shark on NC forum that came from the surf..












Here's my son with his first,one and only striper,and biggest from the surf..










There is a another pic on NC forum of a woman with a record black drum caught out of the surf as well.. Have searched the forum,but can't remember title of thread or author..


----------



## WV Cobbmullet

*OK not saltwater but*

The best fight I ever saw was a 45# sturgen on a Mitchell 300 & 10#. The guy never quit reeling even when he wasent gaining line, when he landed that fish the line looked like a tightly wound spring. French River Ontario.


----------



## jhook

In case anyone is thinking of doing a follow up thread on big fish caught from a pier I found this 
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2008/aug/21/one_didnt_get_away51527/


----------



## spydermn

jhook I was going to say something about that shark. That thing was HUGE! 

I hope add to this thread come summer time


----------



## gonefishin757

*um*

does anybody know the equipment the guy used too catch that big shark and how long the fight lasted ?


----------



## spydermn

gonefishin757 said:


> does anybody know the equipment the guy used too catch that big shark and how long the fight lasted ?


Read the article:


> One of Maxwell's closest friends was Jim Michie of Columbia, who had learned to fish for big sharks on the beaches in Texas when he was stationed there in the Navy. When Maxwell decided to invest in his own reel, he purchased the biggest reel made by the Penn Fishing Tackle Co., a left-handed 16/0 Senator that could hold almost a mile of 130-pound-test line. Michie built Maxwell a matching custom rod.





> .At times during the 2 1/2- to 3-hour fight, the line on the spool dwindled from the diameter of a bowling ball to that of a 50-cent coin.


----------



## gonefishin757

*um*

now thats crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks spy for the info.


----------



## junkmansj

60# Black Drum, Cape May NJ



http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=19478874/PictureID=521608276/a=19969717_19969717/


----------



## cobe slayer87

9 1/2 foot hammerhead off the beach with a shimano tiagra 50w packed with 200lb pp with a 20' #200 wind on and about 10' of seven strand wire. it waas balloned out. the rod was a custom 10' gator rated 80-unlimited... cant find the pics, musta lost em when the comp crashed last year... he h-head hit a 1/2 of a ~15lb jack crevalle. pretty interesting when everyone else is pulling in 4 1/2- 5 foot lemons and bulls.


----------



## gonefishin757

*hey*

dsg how long that fight last? hammerheads aint no joke.


----------



## jhook

gonefishin757 said:


> dsg how long that fight last? hammerheads aint no joke.


Amen to that!


----------



## san martian

9'7" Lemon shark on a Jackfish. Padre Island National Seashore. Im in the middle.

Full report is here: http://extremecoast.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11717&st=0&sk=t&sd=a


----------



## kingchaser34

Danggggggg!!!! thats a big lemon shark... nice!!!!


----------



## OBX Jay

Drumdum said:


> There is a another pic on NC forum of a woman with a record black drum caught out of the surf as well.. Have searched the forum,but can't remember title of thread or author..


Here it is, unfortunately the story & picture is gone.
http://www.pierandsurf.com/fishing-forum/showthread.php?t=59023&highlight=record

But wait,...
http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/fishhead/2008/12/16/potential-world-record-black-drum-released/


----------



## Blacktip Hunter

Here is the biggest King I've ever seen caught:










Here are some big Sharks:


----------



## roundman

I caught this from the surf in Brevard County Florida in September. Caught her just before daylight on a Rapala Skitterwalk. Estimated weight is 70-75lbs. I was by myself so I did not get a good picture, I was able to release the tarpon alive and saw it swim off.


----------



## jhook

Blacktip Hunter those are some serious fish pics:beer:
My OM 12 and Penn 525Mag are looking more like a Barbie pole compared to some of these rigs!


----------



## treydunn48

Roundman what kinda setup u have there seeing u wear casting and retrieving


----------



## roundman

I was using an old Shimano Stradic 6000 that I had just replaced the worm gear and paw in, the rod is a Rainshadow SP1209 I think. It is a 10 ft rod that I build just to throw plugs at tarpon. I think the reel was loaded with 30 lb Power Pro. I have caught larger tarpon in the surf but they have all been on big conventional rigs fishing bait. This fish was paticularly satisfying because I had just rebuild the reel myself and was caught on a rod I built myself. I am probably going to upgrade the reel to an 8000 or 10000 series Saragosa before next season, I did get smoked with this reel, it probably was a shark. I did have several hit top water plugs during the bait run this year.


----------



## jhook

This reminds me of a recent thread by 4nbait-"What do you love most about surf fishing" with some of the responses like the "not knowing". It's a big ocean and you just never know what's going to hit or how big it will be.Awesome stuff.


----------



## Lynn P.

*Try again....via advice from Racewire20--tnx*

IMG]http://tinyurl.com/yk7yhry


----------



## Drumdum

Nice fish Lynn for that tackle...


----------



## Sea2aeS

73-1/2 fork length blacktip... 

numerous 150-200+lb butterfly rays...

21lb 7oz bluefish...


----------



## jhook

Could some of you guys tell what the rod and reel outfit was used on some of these catches?Just what type of equipment does it take to get the job done?There is definitely some big fish hitting the beach!


----------



## Tracker16

Caught several big sharks on Johnston Atoll. We never weighed them but they were big (sometimes bigger than you and me). Folks used to go to what was called the shark shut, were all the garbage was dumped and it was an every nite feeding frenzy


----------



## Tracker16

Drumdum, What a beautiful shark. Congrats


----------



## Carolina Rebel

Haha probably a dogfish about 3.5' long. Never had much luck fishing in the surf, hopefully luck will change if I go this year!


----------



## rattler

I hope the sharks were released or eaten and not sold for soup. They have their place. Think about your 'KIDS" fishing.


----------



## Drumdum

Tracker16 said:


> Drumdum, What a beautiful shark. Congrats


 Not me,just helped Lynn out with getting pic posted... He does have a nice shark there though for that sized tackle...


----------



## bottomfeeder

That first shark posted was caught by Justin Stewart who is an admin on the texas sharkfishing site.Those guys are pros for sure.He has caught bigger I believe.They use very big reels and kayak their baits out for the most part.There are some other reports of huge Sandtigers they have caught in the last couple of years.


----------



## Blacktip Hunter

jhook said:


> Could some of you guys tell what the rod and reel outfit was used on some of these catches?Just what type of equipment does it take to get the job done?There is definitely some big fish hitting the beach!


I use a 130 Duel spooled with 1200yds of 130lb Diamond Momoi braid with 200yds of 220lb mono topshot on a 7'6" custom E-Glass Shark Rod rated 80-130lb.


----------



## bjake

Some of you are posting pictures of fish that could eat the biggest ones I have ever caught,biggest might be 4' blacktip that I caught back in the 1980's on a Abu 5000 and 5' freshwater rod.Catch a few 30 lb. or so redfish about every year now with much stronger equipment.
Jake


----------



## jhook

Hey Blacktip Hunter,that is some serious big game equipment ya got there.But those are some serious sharks you're landing proving that real big fish can be successfully caught with your feet in the sand!Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Lynn P.

*Thanks Kenny...*



Drumdum said:


> Nice fish Lynn for that tackle...


I think sizing was my problem...see you in a couple of months. The tackle was a Saltist 20, 17# Tritanium Suffix, and a G-loomis 1448 that I built up. Took over an hour to get in and 15 minutes to get it returned trying to stay away from business end.


----------



## Falconerga

1976 - I was 12 and caught a 80lb black drum (Penn 209 using half a crab)


(Im on left - with the great tube socks)


----------



## Fishbreath

Lynn P. said:


> I think sizing was my problem...see you in a couple of months. The tackle was a Saltist 20, 17# Tritanium Suffix, and a G-loomis 1448 that I built up. Took over an hour to get in and 15 minutes to get it returned trying to stay away from business end.


I love these shots. Great pic and nice shark there Lynn! :beer:


----------



## BentHook

My son got this one about four years ago on a 12' OceanMaster Heavy and Penn 555gs with 30lb line.


----------



## jhook

Hey,my "Cabin Fever" thread lives on!What an awesome pic BentHook.I haven't caught a tarpon yet and I'm becoming obsessed by it.If I ever catch one like your son's,I will still be smiling 4 years later!


----------



## BentHook

I think that's more of a grunt as he's trying to lift it after a 45 minute fight.I like the picture as it shows the tarpon better.
My son likes this picture.


----------



## Sea Level

BentHook said:


> My son got this one about four years ago on a 12' OceanMaster Heavy and Penn 555gs with 30lb line.


Jim, I saw some Tarpon feeding in northbound bait schools off Flagler -- maybe with some east wind they'll get in close enough to throw some lures at 'em. That picture of your son remains a favorite that I'd like to use when teaching classes -- would you please e-mail it to me. Thanks!


----------

