Well i went to galveston this week. Tuesday we left the marina at 6:30am with the guide....we went about 8 miles out and man let me tell you....IT WAS AWESOME!! i caught 8 sharks, two of which were over 100lbs the rest were around 50-75lbs and i had one smaller 25lber that i let my nephew reel in(he only weighs 60lbs himself) the smaller sharks were black tips and the larger ones were spinners....they get that name cuz of the way they spin when the jump out of the water...one of the 100lbers i was fighting was swimming so fast my line was leaving a wake....then out of nowhere he launches himself like 8 feet out of the water, spinning like crazy, then lands about 10 feet from the boat...that was the sweetest thing i have ever seen!!! he was so close to the baot when he landed it splashed us....it was so much fun and really quite a workout.....we used 80lb test mono, big shimano reels on penn rods that reminded me of billiard cues, hooks that were about the size of your hand, balloons for bobbers and big 12" dead shad for bait.....we actually only brought one shark(100lber) into the boat for pictures, the rest we cut off, it was great fun and will probebly become a yearly trip if i have anything to say about it...but next time we may go after tarpon as well as sharks...anyway it was a blast, i am at work right now, but check back later and i will have pics and maybe a short video clip

Cliff

sorry for the wait, here is the pics and a small video clip

Video

so is a "spinner" a bull shark?

no, a spinner is it's own specie.  Well known for the acrobatic jumps.  They spin when they are in the air.

A safety knife or leader knife would make a nice "Thank you" gift for the Captain.  Seeing people cut leaders with an open blade is scary, there's a great tool for that.

The pic is of an expensive one, they make $5 ones too.

Was this your 1st shark?  Great pic.

Nice pics!  Looks like a beautiful day in the gulf.

BTW, what's up with the jacket in the middle of July?

yes this was my first experience catching a shark, and it wont be the last....i hear ya about the knife thing...but he was careful and always made sure we were away from him and the knife and the shark, especially my nephew...the jacket was basically a prop for the pictures...this guide is also a photographer...and he wanted some color in the pic...other than that no jackets were needed....except for my nephews life jacket  ;D  my brother has already started planning for a trip next spring and i am sure we will make more than one next year...next time i go with my step dad, he was on this trip, we want to catch some tarpon, we have been told they are great fun and much tougher than the sharks

Cliff

I MUST do that sometime.  Very Cool

Thanks LBH I thought it was a nick name.That looksa like a lot of fun. we have Makos and threshers out here that jump but I havent chesed them yet.

we saw a couple others jump further away, but the one i was fighting that jumped right next to the boat was awesome, my step dad jumped when it came up, he thought it was gonna land in the boat, it was really close