# 12'3 Tiger and assorted sharks from Charleston!



## 32605 (Nov 1, 2012)

Hello everyone,

It is tough to start this report as I can’t decide where to begin. *************** landed a total of 8 sharks this week. We are now at 23 over 5’ for 2014 as a team. So I guess let me just get to it. I hope you enjoy. If you strictly only want to see the images go to http://requiemfishing.tumblr.com/.

Saturday April 26th 

Richard went out to surf fish alone after hearing that the sharks may be in. I don’t have a lot to report for that day as I was not there, but he managed to land his 1st black tip, and 2nd shark over 5’ ever. A nice 68” tipper on spinning gear. First black tip in Charleston that we were aware of and we watch every outlet like a hawk! This also ignited us to start fishing in Charleston again.










Sunday April 27th

Richard and Jacob go back to the same spot and get another black tip on spinning gear. Another big one! 71” which was the biggest as a team for Requiem in South Carolina to this point.










Saturday May 3rd

We were approached to host a land based charter for some guys who don’t like boats. So Blanding, Spencer and myself took them out and caught a variety of fish in a semi-new spot. Being that Mahi heads were all that we had available to start, we were nervous about how successful we would be. Luckily bait was in the surf. We picked up some whiting, a puffer, a sharpnose, and a 4’ black tip to start off the charter. We released the black tip and were happy we at least got them a bigger shark than what they had ever got before.
As the sun went down we got a hit on Blanding’s rod and it seemed to just pick the bait up and swim away. No hard run at all. We ruled out black tip, but thought maybe it was a lemon shark. After 15 minutes the client brought it into the surf and we were surprised by a nice 87” sand tiger! It was great to see another one, since last year we only caught a juvenile. This one was maybe a foot and a half bigger, but was over the 200lb mark, it took 2 of us to pull him into shallow water for pictures. Boy was he feisty! 


























Sunday May 4th

Today we tried a new spot again on the same island as the weekend previous but in a place where no one was swimming at all. After all of the publicity of these big hammers in the news lately we have decided to make sure we keep it as low key as possible. 

As I am driving there I get a picture of Jacob harnessed up. “Damn… I really need to stop sleeping in!” I think to myself. As I am maybe 10 minutes away I get a picture of a massive sand tiger. Taped out to be 8’11 or 107 inches. Awesome work team, too bad I missed out!! New biggest shark record for 2014 for the team, beating our Blanding’s bull a few months ago. 


























I get there and setup my 30w and spinning gear and just take in the scenery! Ocean was flat and we were in a super swanky area that no one would bother us. Not long after I hear someone’s 30w go off, and Richard is running! Not too long later I am leadering his 3rd shark, a 72 and ½ inch black tip. Nice way to beat the record set only a week ago!










Maybe another 20 minutes pass and my 30w goes off. When I harness up I feel a little bit of weight. I say maybe this is another sandy t, or a lemon. Instead it just turned out to be a 77” black tip! My personal biggest black tip and the longest for Requiem so far! Not quite as heavy as Blanding’s 2013 tipper, but came out to an estimated 125.2lbs with (girth^2 x FL) / 800. Very happy with that, and it tied me up for most sharks on the team at the moment. 


















However… Jacob’s spinning rod was going off again… which ended up being another 67” tipper that Richard’s dad got to reel in some of. Shark 22 of 2014 on the sand for Requiem. 


We hoped another bait would get hit as it was just getting close to sunset. Jacob’s 30w went off again with another Mahi head (the sand tiger, and Richards’s black tip were both caught on them this day) but the hook pulled just as we got the mono back on the reel. Fish was heavier and feistier than the black tips, we guessed lemon but never got to see it . Great day of fishing overall with the team. 










Monday May 5th, Cinco De Mayo


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## 32605 (Nov 1, 2012)

This is where I get a little more emotional. The first half of the report is the usual fishing we do. Catch some decent sharks easy in, tag and release. High five hang with the team. Good stuff. For this part of the report we head away from civilization bringing our tent cots and sleeping bags, just enough food for 3 days and plenty of beer and water. 










We arrive at our spot and it takes us a long time to figure out where to post up. We set the big rods out with big pieces of ray. My 14/0 has a 15-20lb midsection, and Blanding’s Makaira 50w (which will be for sale in the next few days as his Everol ships this week!) We anchor up and start unloading, but I think before we even finish we hear his 50w screaming….. And then it’s dropped. This is a good sign we say, as we were having some doubts about shark production here. We get camp setup and crack some beers. His clicker screams again, but stops soon after again. Damn it. 
We stand there beer in hand watching the rod for a bit, and the sun set and say we should have taken some good photos with my new camera…. And just as we walk back for another beer we notice my rod just start bouncing. Line starts to come off slowly… tick tick tick. Thinking it may be the current I inch up the drag, tick tick tick. Rod bounces some more. 










“We have a fish, grab the harness.” I say to Blanding. I take the rod out of the rod holder and loosen the drag giving it as little resistance as possible. We watch it eat, and tick tick tick goes the line. After maybe 30 seconds and 100 yards I inch the drag up now hoping to start setting the hook. 8lbs, tick tick tick. 15lbs, tick tick tick. 20lbs, tick tick tick finally about 25 lbs is when I knew we had her on. Yet still the reel looks as if it is in free spool. By this time we are another 100 yards out. Drag is put to 30 lbs and for the first time I come tight on the fish.
“This is something good. We have NEVER felt this weight yet my friend!” I shout. Line is still coming off so we bump it to about 40 or 45lbs and we are at less than half a spool. “I can’t believe it… 1st bait on the new reel, and we have a fish.” “Maybe it isn’t a fish… it’s that damn crab trap I said maybe we should have reset the baits because of. “This is karma for sending those photos of me sitting in the harness at full Saturday on a real crab trap!” Bounce bounce goes the rod… ya crab traps don’t fight back and not at 50+ lbs of drag. 

I start to gain line back when we are in drag #’s that I needed Blanding to hold the harness to keep me on my feet for. She probably took 400-500 yards of line. We get her about 250 yards out and see our 1st glimpse of her in the dead calm and slightly visible water as the moon is just poking out. “Is that her fin?! What is that!?” We see a fin, followed by some thrashing of her back tail, and we knew inside this was a tiger. We didn’t say it, as if we didn’t want to freak out, but we knew. “That tail was huge!” 

When she is 100yds or less we see she has the damn crab trap wrapped in the leader, I don’t know when or how long she had this, but thank god for running 200lb line or I don’t think we would have landed her. What we saw though was how massive her fin was. She went on to bulldog us at 100yds for a good 10-15 minutes and I had to crank the drag up even more to inch her in, although with some of the line back on the spool it wasn’t as bad. 
When she was in close, Blanding walks out to tail rope her and looks back and just says “I’m scared.” He knows that he has to get the rope on and after she calms down a bit he manages to wrap it around somewhat and tells me she’s on! I go set down the harness and come to help. “On 3, well use a wave and pull her up for pictures.” “1, 2 , 3” nothing. She didn’t budge an inch. Ok again, everything you have! “ 1, 2, 3 nothing.” We give up and say well have to release her here.

I run and grab the Nikon lightning fast and manage 2 pictures with enough light before every time I try getting a picture it says “image to dark” and won’t focus. DAMNIT. Blanding grabs his iphone as we turn her sideways quick to start getting her back out. We cut the hook as her face is in 2’ of water and the moment she freaked out before with her mouth open it was clearly big enough to eat me whole. Snap a few blurry iphone pictures and say we just have to make sure she is safe. I thought about how bad I wanted to get a smile shot from my 1st tiger, but then looking at her if I tried to straddle her, she was so wide my feet would’ve been off the ground. Ya, that isn’t happening. We get her turned backwards and pull her back into deeper water. Moments later she whips her tail is gone like nothing ever happened. 


























Lesson learned here.. We can’t fish this area or for any monsters without 3 people minimum again, and I had to buy a light source for my Nikon the moment I got home. It felt like when Zach and team Rebel missed photos of their sawfish. When we taped her the top of her tail was eye level. I saw the measurements 147” and I said are you sure you are on her nose? Blanding said as close as I am willing to put my hand! 

30 minutes after our celebration beer and texts to other people, Blanding’s makaira has that same slow roll going. We hook up but immediately break off at his splice. Looks like it chaffed on the sand. The rest of the trip we had a ton of runs, but only this 4’ black tip to show for. Overall it was an amazing trip and we will be back with more numbers, better photography equipment, and more Everols. 


If you made it this far thank you so much for reading, and check us out on facebook for more photos : http://www.facebook.com/requiemfishing or on tumblr to see just the sharks we’ve caught so far: http://requiemfishing.tumblr.com/ or of course at http://www.requiemfishing.com
I don’t think I would have landed that fish without 200lb braid, or my everol, so contact Keith [email protected] if you want a customizable monster reel. They took care of my team making all of us happy and we can’t be happier than to be an official team now. They picked a good time to do it! Right before our biggest catch ever so far.


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## Razor1138 (Jun 13, 2012)

Awesome read! Now that sounded like a real fun time! Stinks about the Nikon. Thanks for the write up!


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## dlpetrey (Oct 30, 2013)

Awesome read. Just awesome. Thanks.


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## madmax (Jun 13, 2012)

Awesome fishing guys!


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## Broken bone (Apr 1, 2014)

I don't think I could even poke a toe in the water with that tiger nice fish all of them.... Congrats


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## Surfmantom (Jun 6, 2012)

That's an awesome report and a heck of a trip. I will be running a few baits out this weekend around kure beach. Hoping to hook up.


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