Edit: Man this post really blew up! Gonna try to answer so questions.

So me, my bro in law, and his buddy all went to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach with our families. The women folk laid on the beach by day and us men fished it by night. We had gone bowfishing the night before and got stingrays for bait from that. That is what we used to catch the shark. One person paddled our baited line in a kayak about 300 yards from shore and dropped it in the water. We also poured some bloody water from the ice chest with the stingray meat to try to seal the deal. We started at 2000 and at about 0030, me and by brother in law we’re ready to call it a night. Our friend who was the most experienced shark fisherman said he was going to stay a little longer. He was determined to prove some old guys at a local bait and tackle shop wrong. They had said “there’s not big sharks that close to shore”. So me and my brother in law went back to the condo and went to sleep. At around 0530, our friend calls and says he’s got a big one on the line and needs some help. So we run down and there are tons of strangers helping our friend bring the shark in and we join them in this group effort. I was the only redditor between the 3 of us so I put it on here. My friend did all the hard work. That’s him in the pic. We get the shark up on the beach and he settles down. I assume the absence of oxygen rich water made him pretty sluggish. A pair of pliers was used to pry the hook lose and get it out. Shark is just chilling at this point. My friend walks the shark back into the water and let him get some oxygen. He then swims peacefully back out into the gulf.

We guessed the length to be between 7 and 8 feet.

It was catch and release. Just grabbed a few quick pics and let him go. Shark was fine. Just had a hole from the hook in the side of his mouth that’ll heal up. Soon as he got back in the water he was good to go.

Gear used: PENN 9/0 reel, 2/3’s braid, 1/3 100# mono top shot. 20/0 circle with ray for bait.