Can you imagine being out 70 miles from the shore of Sarasota, Florida and coming across a MONSTER school of tarpon under your boat? How cool is that!
Thankfully Dominic Burch and his buddies jumped in with their GoPros to let us all feel what it would be like to swim with tarpon.
Pretty amazing tarpon footage, and what an experience.
Note: This was approximately 70 miles out in 200 feet of water (off coast of Sarasota, FL).
Wait until you see the size of this sawfish that angler Brian Boxx and his buddy hooked into somewhere down in Southwest Florida. Apparently they have reported this to the FWC (Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission), and they are roughly estimated this sawfish at 600 pounds!!!
Did you know that these endangered sawfish can get up to 700lbs and reach lengths of 25 feet long! At that size, their sharp “saw-bills” can do some serious damage.
As Brian and his buddy realize what they have hooked into, they also come to find out that the huge sawfish has some sort of line wrapped all around it’s sharp saw. From the video, it appeared to be some sort of anchor line or buoy line mixed in with some fishing line. At either rate, this sawfish would not have lived a normal life span without some serious help.
Fortunately for this sawfish, Brian is an ex-military warrior that never leaves a man (or fish) behind, as he risks losing his hands to free this sawfish from the thick line that was wrapped all around his saw-snout.
I was holding my breath every time Brian’s hand was close to the saw and the massive sawfish thrashed his head. Fortunately for Brian, it never thrashed back towards his hands.
Towards the end, you can even see that Brian had a slight cut on his hand.
A hero in our eyes for sure. Not many anglers would have been willing to risk their own hands and limbs to save a huge sawfish like this, and for that we thank you Brian.
Brian Boxx = Salt Strong
Growing up in Florida, our dad taught us how to surf behind a boat. And it’s not as hard as you think. In fact, it’s pretty simple if you know how to ride a surfboard.
You start with a ski rope (and if you don’t have a ski rope with a handle, you can use any rope attached to the back of the boat), the boat starts going at a slow enough speed to create a massive wake for you right behind the boat, and when you feel ready, you throw the rope (or line) back into the boat and surf away. As long as the boat keeps course and keeps throwing the large wake, you can surf behind it for ages.
But one thing our dad never taught us was how to surf with dolphins!
How cool is this video of a young guy surfing with a dolphin off of St. Petersburg, FL.
Share this with a friend that loves to surf!
Imagine coming home from work, heading out to your backyard to watch the sunset, and then seeing a 9-foot Bull Shark lurking right next to your seawall.
As someone that grew up on a lake in Florida where we frequently had alligators show up on or near our dock, I can tell you that even know we all know animals like alligators and sharks are more afraid of us than we are of them, that kind of goes out the window when you see a big boy on your property looking for a meal.
Especially if you have a dog, kid, grandkids, etc.
This footage was taken in Bonita Springs, FL, and according to the neighbors, this isn’t the first time they have seen big bull sharks at their dock as they claim someone is throwing bait in the water to attract the sharks…
The lesson here: Don’t feed sharks or alligators in your backyard…it usually doesn’t end well (just ask my mom that witnessed an alligator grabbing a cat in our backyard…)
Can you imagine watching your dog chase a shark while you helplessly sat there and watched in terror…
More on that in a second.
First, did you see the photo of the wild Bobcat that catches a shark off the beach near Sebastian Inlet yet?
If not, here is the amazing pic below (and here is the CNN link about the bobcat):
Now back to this wild dog footage…
Our only guess is that the fearless lab in the video below must have heard about the bobcat getting all of the attention, so he tried his best to trump the bobcat by getting in the water and literally chasing a shark down…
Note: You might have to be logged into your personal Facebook account to view this
Fearless Lab checks out a shark off a Pinellas beach
Posted by Marine Creations Taxidermy on Tuesday, April 14, 2015
If you are a dog lover, you take one gasp of relief now…
Wow!
Don’t forget to share this amazing dog chases shark video to your friends!
If you have ever caught an inshore fish before, then you know how addicting it can be to go out and do it again…and again…and again…
There is something magical when a fish strikes your line, when the line starts sizzling out, and beating all of the variables you must overcome to land any inshore fish, regardless if you are using a fly reel or a spinning reel…
So when we saw this incredible video by Patrick Rhea of Livit Films (check out our entertaining interview with Patrick here), we had to share it because we knew that you would relate to it.
That you would relate to the “Skinny Water Obsession” of doing anything to find the best fishing spots…
That you would relate to driving hundreds of miles to try new areas…
That you would sacrifice other things in life to be able to wet a line and catch fish.
This is the Skinny Water Obsession, and Patrick did one heck of a job documenting what it feels like.
Skinny Water Obsession = Salt Strong
While we were out fishing with our Wounded Warrior friend Scott Lilley (check out the epic footage from the 4 days fishing with Wounded Warrior Scott here), Scott landed a really nice sea trout.
And while Luke was grabbing the line about to pull up the sea trout, the trout did one last head shake to try to get free…while at the same time…
PUKING!
No joke.
We were fishing with 5″ threadfins, so when we saw this half-digested mullet fly out of the trout’s mouth, we were all a bit stunned.
Another crazy day on the water!
Fortunately for the trout, he was released…although going back to the water a bit lighter…
Mullet-Puking Sea Trout = Salt Strong
Wounded Warrior Scott Lilley is one lucky dude.
He is incredibly lucky to be alive after serving our country and losing a huge chunk of his skull/head to an explosive in Iraq.
And he is one incredibly lucky fisherman as well.
After picking Scott and his best friend Brandon Claussen (former MLB player) up at the docks around 4pm, we ended up only having an hour and a half to fish after dropping off their gear and giving them the full tour of our island living situation.
And when Scott told us that not only had he never been snook fishing, but he had never even seen a snook, Luke and I would have been happy just getting Scott on a small snook for his first evening of fishing…
But Scott had other plans…
Not only did he land a huge snook within 10 minutes of fishing, he landed a huge jack, and then one more big snook about 20 minutes after that.
In total, he brought in two slot snook (30 inch and 32 inch snook) all in the matter of an hour…all during his first time ever inshore fishing ever.
Amazing guy.
Amazing fishing.
Wounded Warrior Scott Lilley = Salt Strong
If you are an inshore angler in Florida, the ultimate catch is a Florida Inshore SUPER Grand Slam, which consists of catching a Permit, Tarpon, Bonefish, Snook, and Redfish.
And there is no place like Florida to do this.
So when we came across this awesome video (with one disturbing clip) from World Angling, we couldn’t help but share.
And yes, there are even some great inshore fishing bloopers in this reel as well.
Warning: If you get nauseous seeing someone crack their head on a boat, you might want to close your eyes about halfway through this video during the blooper reel…OUCH!
But the rest of this video is pretty amazing stuff!
Great job on this Florida Inshore Super Grand Slam!
