don't say ocean or you will have to shut your $$##@@ mouth

had a nice rod broke into pieces at Navarre by a shark mostly my fault

I'm with you until the 'swim the bait out by hand'.

A squid inks & extreme chits. I'd say both are rather good defense mechanisms

I witnessed this for the first time a the age of nine. My daddy and I were trolling right off of Inlet Beach for kings one afternoon and I hooked one that about snatched me in the gulf. This fish was a beast and in my nine year old mine it was the world record king mackerel. Daddy didn't touch the rod and I managed to reel it up to the boat and when my dad went to gaffe it the tax man bit the dang thing in two! It scared the ever loving chit out of me! Now my daddy was a crusty ole dark tan skin salt water man and had pretty much seen everything you could offshore living and growing up fishing in Panama City Beach but that was the first and only time I ever heard him say GD and turned tee shirt white.

Tourists need to be more worried about the mako's that roll up in here in the spring following the cobia migration. Spend a couple sunny days in a cobia tower and you'll think twice about swimming in the gulf. I'm talking 400-1000 lb stud makos right on the sand bars. Google search "snapper trapper mako" and watch the video of them catching one that was right around 1000 a couple years ago within 100 yds of the beach. Google Mako shark destin, fl and you'll see a bunch more pics. Four of us rigged up last spring with snatch rigs and snatched one free swimming out of the tower off Navarre that was around 500. 4 cobia rods with 30 lb mono and 60# braid and he just swam off like nothing was happening. Once the first chaffed off on his tail, it was all over. Unbelievable how strong those fish are. One bite and youre dead with something that big.

I love fighting a 50lb king that "gets off" then you just pull up a head and gills.



My favorite are the the tuna trips I see pics of at the Ram on a summer night. 150# yellowfins head only.

I told a buddy that goes out there often I think a good prisoner "relocation" program could be implemented as well as paying for some high dollar entertainment. Take child rapists and molesters out there on a hot summer night. Idle out 100 yards from the Ram Powell or Beer Can rigs when the water is exploding and let em swim for it. If they can touch the rig and make it back to the boat they are free. Strap a slit open 30# blackfin to their belly for good measure.

I like the way you think.

Some of my buddies caught a mako a few years back that was 1063 pounds and was caught right off the beach at Navarre. I read today where they said the PC white shark was the first ever caught off the gulf coast. In the late sixties, Elmo Horine caught one 247lbs off Navarre Pier. He was featured on PJC's channel 8 network. A friend of mine still has the picture stored away somewhere and has been trying to locate it.

Go para sailing