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From: Tiderunner
Date: 6/25/2008
Time: 10:10:51 AM
I’ll try and fill in for Seapuppy although I’m sure I’ll fall short.
I used to live on Hatteras Island in the spring and fall months because I was then as now Addicted to Surf Fishing and just being on the beach.
I was good friends with many of the locals and regulars and there was one night that will always stick in my mind.
Bob Eakes who did then and still owns the Red Drum Tackle shop also was part of the then King Mackerel Fleet. This was in the 1970’s before drift nets were used to catch the Kings which decimated the stock so much that these guys were put out of business in only a couple years. They used to be able to catch 1,200 pounds of Kings on a using hook and line on a good day. There were maybe 30 boats out of Hatteras who did this every day but that’s another story.
Any way, for a couple weeks’ people fishing the point had been getting stripped by a school of large sharks that had taken up residence in the shoals. So Eakes and his crew from the shop and boat took a Zodiac and rods off his boat the “Bull Frog” and went to the point one night to try and clean the tackle swipers out of the water.
Bob keep the day’s king mackerel scraps and used them for chum and bait. They ran baits out a couple hundred yards with the Zodiac and dropped them overboard and then returned to the beach to wait.
All was quiet for a time and the boys being boys indulged in a few adult beverages. Soon though, one of the big stout boat rods started to sing as the 150 pound test Dacron left the big Penn Senator in a hurry. The clicker sounded like the dog would grind off the gears! One of the guys quickly put on his fighting belts and tied himself to the rod. Through it in gear and the fight was on!
Now, its about Midnight and back then there were only a couple trucks on the Point and everyone knew everyone so as the shark took them south everyone got out of the way and let them play though fighting the behemoth that was on the other end of the line. Off down the beach they went but there was still another rod in the water so one of the guys, Lars Tolson said he was a little weak kneed and would stay behind to watch the line that was still out. Well no more than the crew fighting the giant fish were totally out of sight down the beach in the dark than the other rod went off! Lars was a big boy, Scandinavian descent and excellent fisherman, he maybe weighed in around 250 pounds and was not fat. He grabbed the fighting gear and strapped it on, took the rod out of the holder and clipped it to the belts. Then he sat down on the beach and dug in his feet and through that big Penn Senator into gear. All went well for a few seconds as that big shark stretched out the slack in what was now about 500 yards of 150 pound test. Just like a good snatch rope will, that 150# test became more like 1,000 pound test and Lars was jerked off his butt and into the water! Now moving straight out to sea head first he was drinking sea water and not beer. This sobered him up FAST! His Life passed before his eyes! And just when he thought he was a goner he managed to reached up and pulled the lever back taking the reel out of gear!
He was already in water waist deep and it took him a while to fumble/stumble back up to dry land spitting and coughing sea water all the way.
Finally he composed himself enough to reseat himself dig those big feet in again but this time loosened the drag before putting the reel back in gear. Needless to say he is now sober as a church mouse. He held his breath as the now 900 yards of line stretched out and the fight was on. He battled that fish for about an hour until the first crew returned with their great story of how big the shark was that they had landed down the beach.
Lars was tired and wet but would not let go of that fish which had almost killed him. The rest of the crew cheered him on and about two hours later in came the giant Bull Shark. They greeted it with several shots from a pistol and managed to drag it and the other big shark up on the beach with a CJ-5 that Eakes owned.
Just before dawn they wrenched the larger of the two sharks up into the back of an empty pickup and with the help of extras who had been called into help they strapped the smaller one over the back of the Jeep. That sharks head touched the ground on one side and its tail the other. They took them down the Red Drum and weighed them in on the official scales. I can’t remember the exact numbers but the smaller one weighed in at about 850 pounds and the one that almost killed Lars was over 1,100!
Because Lars held that rod so tight for so long he had busted the blood vessels in both of his fore arms and they both turn back and blue just like a bruise will. He couldn’t hold a rod for a few weeks so instead of working on the Bull Frog he worked the desk at the tackle shop until he was able to return to sea. And told this story over and over again.
Those sharks hung out in front of the Tackle shop until they smelled too bad and then they went to the dump minus two great set of Jaws. They were the best sign a tackle shop could have while they lasted and folks stopped by to have their pictures taken with them and you could say they didn’t go to waste.
Lars said The Moral of the story which is one I will never forget.
DO NOT EVER TIE YOURSELF TO A ROD WITH LINE YOU CAN’T BREAK!!!
Check this Link:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh175/ditchgray/Capelookout2007108.jpg