Had a big shark hit a topwater plug yesterday . . .

[Ted in Tallahassee]

So I'm on the flats east of the lighthouse in about 3 or 4 feet of water yesterday morning, it was cloudy overcast with a little wind blowing and the water looked like a giant sheet of wrinkled aluminum foil laid out shiny side down. Even the best polaroid sunglasses couldn't cut through that glare more than a couple yards from the boat. So I'm throwing a full-sized Heddon One-Knocker in bone just to see if anything would hit it. It was already on my rod, my other rod having just a jig on it with no popper.

The weeds were terrible. Nearly every cast you'd have some weed fouling the hooks on the plug. So I'm retrieving the plug after a long cast, trying to walk the dog depite the weedage issues, and as the plug is nearing the boat I think I notice something unusual . . . is that a pressure wave behind my plug? Like something big that's following it? As I continue retrieving, as the plug comes closer and closer, it becomes clear--there's DEFINITELY a serious pressure wave right behind my plug! But what's odd is that it is not overtaking my plug. It's like it's just staying right behind it at the same speed my plug is moving. The problem is, my plug is now so close to the boat--like 10 yards-- I'm concerned that whatever it is is going to see the boat any second and be spooked. I was in the back of my 15 foot jonboat and I had cast towards the bow, so the maker of the pressure wave was going to see the bow of the boat any second. So I sloooow the retrieve way down to almost nothing, just twitching the plug, in a last ditch effiort to force the wave maker to get to the plug before being spooked. The pressure wave is right on it--and with a rather mild "Bip!" the plug is taken, and I yank the rod up, and it's on! It continues in the same direction and goes by, right next to the boat, and I look nearly straight down and finally see it! It's a SHARK! Every bit of 4 feet long and then some. I could see the end of the white Zara Spook sticking straight out of its mouth like a cigar, the rear treble being what's hooked him. I'm thinking to myself, "a SHARK? That's weird. Never saw a shark do that. Well, I'm in for a fight I guess, my line should be OK even though it has no wire leader since the back treble was what hooked him." So as he passed the stern and realizes he's hooked and turns on the steam, I'm standing there bracing for a drag-burning run, but instead I see my green braid line cutting through the surface of the water up, up, up--is he going to JUMP?--and just as I drew my eyes to the area he looked to be headed he leaped high out of the water, gyrated in the air, and I saw the plug get flung out of his mouth and go flying straight out to the right. He landed with a huge SPLASH! and it was over. In the millisecond in which I saw the plug fly out of his mouth I must say a sense of relief washed over me. I didn't really want to spend the next 15+ minutes horsing a dumb shark back to the boat. But something else about that mental image of the shark gyrating in the air was ... weird. When he was in the air I had a full view of the side profile of his tail. I thought to myself, "that's funny, the top part of the tail wasn't longer than the bottom part, and the tail otherwise kind of looked weird ...."

It was a full five seconds before I realized it.

Wails of anguish rolled over the barren waves and up into the indifferent universe.

[bman]

Well written post

I've had a lot of black tips take topwater- they can also be jumpers.
They are fun to catch and smaller ones eat great

[silverking]

The mesmerizing image of Megalops atlanticus skyrocketing into the stratosphere. Always makes the heart go thumpity-thump!

Bman is right too. Blacktips and spinners will eat topwater and swimming plugs and go airborne as well. Good fighters.

[big bend gyrene]

On the shark note, hooked a 6' to 7' bull shark on a top dog around the Hickory Mound area 10 years or so ago... have tough time remembering details of lots of other fish fights, but not that one... it did one circle around it as I was reeling it back in to my canoe and then I paused it as I didn't really want it to spool me on the light tackle I was using. Second I started reeling the top dog back in, it spun around and nailed it about 15' from the canoe. Proceeded to spool me... line got to the knot and it flew free of the shark's mouth! Pretty sure I still have the lure some where... couldn't fish it after that as it was pierced in several spots.

Like Bman, I've had a number of blacktips and spinners make awesome spinning leaps. Rarer, but I've had a few cobia do smaller submarine surfacing type flatter leaps as well. If you think you confused the shark with another species, can't help but wonder if it was a cobia if you saw it since they look way more similar to sharks than tarpon do.

[Ted in Tallahassee]

What fish looks a whole lot like a shark when you look at it from above?

No dorsal fin cutting the surface when it took my plug, odd I thought ...

Why could I see my plug sticking out of its mouth, when a shark's mouth is slung back a ways underneath its head?

My wails of anguish at losing this fish were not wails of anguish from losing a shark ...

[Apalachee Inshore]

Cobia

[Ted in Tallahassee]

Give that man a cigar!