Seventy-five pounds of big, brawling brown shark. That was one of the five monster fish I wrestled in from the surf this week. Add three more brownies of 35 to 60 pounds in there, too, and a possible bull shark.
Mission accomplished.
I hit the Island Beach State Park sands with Ken Zelnicki from Surf Rocket and fellow shark-hungry angler Mickey Melchiondo of New Hope, Pa.
We blasted frozen bunker baits 200 yards out using the Surf Rocket system from 8 to 11 p.m., and it was nonstop shark action. We went 5-for-12 on big brown sharks and landed a truckload of smooth dogfish up to 17 pounds, which is 2.5 pounds shy of the state record.
When that 75-pound brownie hit, my rod launched out of the sand spike, and I had to chase it 40 yards into the undertow. At that point, I did a head-first slide and set back for a 20-minute battle. It was unreal.
