# Any shark fishermen on this forum?



## Apex Predator (Jan 15, 2008)

I have been real passionate about shark fishing over the years. Started in 1977, and have caught quite a few monsters. After I developed a more conservationist type attitude, it has been all catch, tag, and release. NOAH has been really pleased with our tagging program. In the last few years we have tagged around 50 tiger sharks over 8' long. Many over 10'! What an adrenaline rush!










































Exuse the bad photos.  I took them off my TV from a video that we made.


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## holton27596 (Jan 15, 2008)

I love to shark fish. I will often keep 1, especially a black tip as I also love to eat them. I usually fish out of atlantic beach, and every year or so I hit appalachicola bay. Never has a Tiger on, looks like a blast.


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## puredrenalin (Jan 15, 2008)

Did a long time ago, I love to do it, really glad to tag/release em, Tigers are a blast to catch, need quality equipment, and decent size ride to get to em! But Black Tips are one of the best eaters out there!! Mmmmmm, I can smell the grill now!!


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## capt stan (Jan 15, 2008)

This is a Tiger that came up in our chum slick last summer. It was pushing 12 ft. Cool stuff seeing them big boys up close!! We had 4 others that day that were 7 to 9 ft as well You know it's big when the body looks bigger then a 55 gal drum


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## kingfish (Jan 15, 2008)

Oh yea.  I've been beach fishing since 1977.  Don't do it that much anymore but there has been discussion from the old crew about making a few trips this year.  Still got the bug for it.


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## Apex Predator (Jan 15, 2008)

They love to eat Kings.  We have found that many have king rigs hanging out their mouths.


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## Apex Predator (Jan 15, 2008)

We had an 11 footer that lost his head boatside to a much larger tiger.  He was estimated at 14' and over 1000#.  You should see that video!  I'll try and take a photo of it tonight and post it.


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## Golden BB (Jan 15, 2008)

Find a way to load that video !!!!!!!!


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## kingfish (Jan 15, 2008)

You know Apex one of my all time favorite 4/0 and 9/0 baits is a king head.  For some reason, the sandbars, bulls and every so often a sand tiger ate them like candy.  As far as favorite bait goes, NOTHING (in my opinion) beats an atlantic cownose ray/batray.  Gawd the heathens we pulled up on the beach using them.


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## capt stan (Jan 16, 2008)

kingfish said:


> You know Apex one of my all time favorite 4/0 and 9/0 baits is a king head.  For some reason, the sandbars, bulls and every so often a sand tiger ate them like candy.  As far as favorite bait goes, NOTHING (in my opinion) beats an atlantic cownose ray/batray.  Gawd the heathens we pulled up on the beach using them.



  Yep. for some reason they like them Mac's!!

Those rays are awesome bait too!!!

Used to do a lot of sharkin but kinda got away from it. The funnest is chasing those Blacktips and spinners and watching them boys get some air!!!


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## puredrenalin (Jan 16, 2008)

We used anywhere from a 20-60# tuna head for bait when we fished, that or live blues!! Worked awesome! Id love to see that video Apex!!


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## Apex Predator (Jan 16, 2008)

We've had 4-5 swimming around the boat at one time with no bait left.  They will hit everyting at that point, including the boat and motors.  We were catching them on 4-5 spanish sardines strung on a hook.  My buddy has a video link that he is sending me.  It's one from when I was deployed overseas, but it's pretty cool.


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## capt stan (Jan 16, 2008)

Man you guys are killing me... OK OK OK here's my BIGGEST BADDEST MEANEST TIGER SHARK EVER!!!!!!








cute little guy hu


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## Apex Predator (Jan 16, 2008)

Learn something new everyday!  All the marine biologist will tell you they are born bigger than that!  I've never seen a tiger pup, but that sure looks like one.


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## capt stan (Jan 16, 2008)

Apex Predator said:


> Learn something new everyday!  All the marine biologist will tell you they are born bigger than that!  I've never seen a tiger pup, but that sure looks like one.



  It is, he had to have the pogie I was dragging on a Charter that day. The colors/pattern on the small ones is awesome real vivid. I had never seen one that small either. I should have taken more pics of him, but I wanted to get him back in the water asap.


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## Shark Hunter (Jan 16, 2008)

I am a big tag and release man myself. And coincidentally it is with the "Apex Predator Program". 
The lemon in my picture was caught with a nice slab of stingray. You want an adrenaline rush, try putting that monster back in the water!


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## seaweaver (Jan 16, 2008)

Tag and release....

what are the survival rates on them after they have fought you for 20 min?
How many tags are found in the bellies of other sharks?


I learned a lot about them in school and stopped targeting them all together. I hook a lot cobia and tarpon fishing and simply cut the leader rather than wear them down to attemp to get a hook back.
Most species need to be about 5 yo before reaching sexual maturity, most grow about a foot a year. The charter boats land tons under 5'. 
After watching the shark hunter shows and meeting great savy testostertone challenged men on the docks and piers here bloviating about their skill and prowness  I created a sig line that I was forced to remove.
It read something like "Any ______ can kill a shark."
I contend more respect should be directed at real anglers that target real game fish.

My friend has a commercial harvest Ticket in Fl. and I went with him to fish and set a shark rig. He needed the money, and was taking me fishing. 
A cinder block, 60' of poly, three 6' steel leaders and a buoy.
3 hours later after a cooler of trout, we had one ten ft. hammerhead. The hardest part was dragging it on deck.No sport,No high fives. Just $150 for the jaws, $$$ per pound of fin, and $$ for crab bait to the lobsterman to pay for the months rent.
cw


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## holton27596 (Jan 16, 2008)

I spend sevral minutes moving them back and forth through the water, forcing wated through thier gills to make sure they are revived before I release them. I have had them completely limp and after 4 or 5 minutes they will start to twitch thier tale and then I watch them swim away.


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## seaweaver (Jan 16, 2008)

That helps, but they are still hammered. Dr. Matt Gilligan at Savannah State has done a bunch of research on them and changed a lot of minds around here on the release survival rates. I forget exactly the details but there are very susceptible to other shark predation for some time.
cw


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## Apex Predator (Jan 16, 2008)

We have caught ones we have tagged the week prior!  Many are caught in sucessive years.  I'm sure there is a mortality rate, but I think the research data that NOAH recieves from us far out weighs the number of deaths.  When they started receiving our tag slips they called us and set up a conference call.  It is amazing how little the "experts" know about these "Apex Predators".  When they are boatside they enter tetonic immobility if they roll onto their backs.  If that happens you have to right them or they will sink to the bottom and die.  They are usually boatside within 30 minutes or so, but we have fought some for 2 hours.  We tag them first chance we get and cut the leader close to the circle hook, which is always in the skin out side the jaw.  We use mono leader.  The tigers are strong and heavy, but not spectacular fighters.  The hammerheads are much faster and a whole lot harder to land pound for pound.


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## capt stan (Jan 16, 2008)

seaweaver said:


> Tag and release....
> 
> what are the survival rates on them after they have fought you for 20 min?
> How many tags are found in the bellies of other sharks?
> ...



 If you don't like it don't fish for them. I don't do it much either but if i want to for some fun I can and will. there is nothing wrong with it.

You sig line you removed could say trout instead of shark. one is the same as the other. It's fishing like hunting. some like dogs some don't.. it don't make you or me right or wrong. 

As I say with hunting over bait/ food plots ect. I don't like it I won't do it. but if it's leagle and you want to have at it.

But don't knock them for doing it just because you don't want to.

red fish.. all I target is the BIG BULLS I tag and release. most folks don't mess with them they want reds to eat. I want them big. But I don't knock um' for it


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## seaweaver (Jan 16, 2008)

Everyone got a sticking point Stan. If they are behaving like the ones I described that got me to concoct that sig line, I'm gonna howl.
AP didn't fall in there but I know a lot that do will read and perhaps seek something method like working like the 7's multipication tables with their child to prove their manhood or hooking a tailing red...
As for trout, I see folks who work all day to catch a trout and come up empty.
However attach something funky to a hook and toss it into a channel and catch a shark. Just like whiting.
The guys I saw on the tube killing sharks...Braggarts. How many potential braggarts they appealed too?
Nation wide?
I ain't pointing, but I'm ready.

The only thing a shark fears is a larger shark. Not too many other Game animals are like that. Polar bears come close.. but I'm sure it illegal to bait them to a hook and sheep shank.
AP declared his conservational leanings in his first post, I would like to hear more about that part when it comes to an animal that readily takes the bait and has developed super monster mystique .
cw


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## Shark Hunter (Jan 16, 2008)

seaweaver said:


> Tag and release....
> 
> what are the survival rates on them after they have fought you for 20 min?
> How many tags are found in the bellies of other sharks?
> ...



Another great example of "Do as I say, not as I Do".


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## Apex Predator (Jan 17, 2008)

Here is a short video clip.  Seaweaver, I can tell that you care, but I personally see nothing wrong with catch and release of these amazing fish.  I'll even keep a small one occasionally for the table.  The longliners are your enemy, not us recreational fisherman.  At least not must of us.

www.reelbyte.com


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## Dixiesimpleman32 (Jan 18, 2008)

not a big shark only fisherman but i have been hooked up  with several big bull sharks in the 8 to 12ft range.caught most on cut ly grouper fishing few miles of dogisland  carrablle.last year we were out little farther close to a tower and my buddy caught a  medium grunt and he filleted one side dropped it down.hooked up with a big tiger that turned the anchored boat then came to surface and broke off.i like shark fishing alot.


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## puredrenalin (Jan 23, 2008)

Sweet vids man!! That was an amazing fish!!!


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## squirrelstalker5 (Jan 24, 2008)

Can you catch sharks in the Bay at Cape San Blas?


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## MudDucker (Jan 24, 2008)

squirrelstalker5 said:


> Can you catch sharks in the Bay at Cape San Blas?


 
Yep.


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## MudDucker (Jan 24, 2008)

Over the years, I've caught just about every kind of shark in our local waters other than a Great White.  I would agree with an earlier comment, hammers are the toughest customers.  I've had a tiger go airborne with one of my kings in his mouth.  If the hook had set, he would have been a goner.  Years ago, my favorite place and way to catch sharks was Sebastion Inlet down in Florida.  We would go by the shrimp boat docs and get stingrays.  Cut them into nice size chunks.  Then go up the inlet a half of a mile and chunk the bait out.  Let it drift down to the mouth of the inlet.  It was a rare day that you didn't get a bite in every drift and hook 3-5 sharks in a day.


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## Southernhoundhunter (Jan 27, 2008)

i hope ya'll catch and kill all of the sharks ya'll catch because it sucks to be on a smoking hot trout drop and have a 4-5 foot shark hang you up for 15 minutes while the bite is on


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## squirrelstalker5 (Jan 28, 2008)

How and where do you catch them in the begining of March?


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## mesocollins (Jan 28, 2008)

I would love to go more than I do. I end up catching about one a year off of the pier at St. Simons. Since I don't catch but one or two, I keep mine to eat as long as they aren't longer than five or six feet. There is no reason to keep more than is needed and no reason to keep one too big unless you are feeding an army.


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## sharks (Feb 7, 2008)

when do the black-tips show up off the georgia coast


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## capt stan (Feb 7, 2008)

sharks said:


> when do the black-tips show up off the georgia coast




About the time the water on the beach reaches 70 deg. Normally about the 1 st of May or so they are showing up. So will the pogies


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## Wishin I was Fishin (Feb 7, 2008)

i sure dont target em, but i usually end up catchin alot more than i went to catch 


they're a good fight on medium-light tackle though... if thats all i can catch then ill sure take em


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## 270 Sendero (Feb 19, 2008)

they are fun to catch


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## Juan De (Feb 22, 2008)

I have had more luck catching nice trout in the 19 inch range than catching shark over four feet. I have chased both  for an extremely long time. There is nothing that pulls any harder than a shark with some size to it. I have had one to snap 80lb line so fast that it made my head spin. ANything that can happen while shark fishing will happen.


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## Bullshark289 (Mar 11, 2008)

awww man yall make me wanna move back to fla, i caught some 16 2-3 foot sandsharks near anna maria island and ever since then i wanna go back for sumthing bigger now that my dad has his 25 ft searay  i like the FIGHT


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## chambers270 (Mar 19, 2008)

I ended up catching two last week on a whiting drop. Both were about 30' blacktips I believe? Anyway the first time I thought I had a nice red the second time I knew it was a shark. Pretty fun on a whiting pole.


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## mesocollins (Mar 20, 2008)

The SSI Sharkers started a group a while back and tagged all their sharks caught from the pier. Before that, most sharks were kept and the fishing really got bad... Just a couple years after they started the program, we started seeing pup sharks being caught left and right. Now, when the water is warm enough, it is very uncommon to not catch at least one over 6' on any given tide... I'm sure it's just gonna get better too. They(most of them) don't do it to show off. I've experienced it. It gets in your blood after you catch a big one. There is a feeling that I can't explain that I get on those shark fishing nights at the pier. It's a combination of the dark night sky filled with stars, the moon shining off of the choppy water, the sea breeze softly caressing your face like a lover lost at sea... I don't know... It's not always to show off. It's just a world where we can get away from our troubles for a night and dream about what it must have been like for those who came before us. There's a lot of tradition in it.


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## crackerdave (Mar 21, 2008)

I'm not proud of it,but I worked on some shark [longline] boats in my younger days.Some of our best sets were right off the beaches!
I built up some seriously bad shark "karma," and I'm kinda hesitant to swim in the ocean,even now - 30 years later


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## Bullshark289 (Mar 23, 2008)

ive seen pictures from the air of an area my firends and i would swim out to a sandbar not too far offshore (20 yrds) that had sharks not 6 feet from people and they didnt even notice, but the shark must've realized they were people not food cuz nobody got attacked. just goes to show how close those "killers" get to people. and i think a reason for sharks being so close to shore is all the activity attracts fish and other sharks because they feel left out of the festivites


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## crackerdave (Mar 23, 2008)

Yeah,sharks gotta have fun,too!


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## chef (Mar 23, 2008)

i have personally been sorrounded by blacktips while wade fishing in st.joe bay,they just wanted my bait bucket, so i gave it to them and ever so gingerly walked back to the boat, and have seen bull sharks in 3-4 feet of water in that bay.


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## Rem 742 (Mar 31, 2008)

I catch lots of small and medium sized sharks off SSI (King and Prince area) and off Little Cumberland. Would love to get into some whoppers. Any area suggestions?


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## allaroundfishin (Mar 31, 2008)

Big baits and fish at night


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## Bitteroot (Apr 1, 2008)

squirrelstalker5 said:


> Can you catch sharks in the Bay at Cape San Blas?



Yes you can!  There was a kid bitten down there year before last wading with a stringer on his side.  So I wouldn't recomend his tactic to you.  But I have caught many down there, on both the ocean side and the bay side.  The "wall" down behind the Blue Water Outfitters in Port St. Joe, is also a great place for shark after the weather starts getting warmer.  I hooked and lost a 8 -10' at the pier at Mexico beach a few years back and watched a 12' landed a while back as well. This guy was a little stange, but could flat catch a shark.  They call him "shark man" and he will have it posted on his cart that he hauls up and down that pier.  He told my brother and I that he was known everywhere for his shark prowess.  Ga, Fla, SC, AL, MS, TN? KY?  We were a little puzzeled on that one but he can fish!  Inside the bay at the Cape there is a hole located just a few hundred yards back towards Port St. Joe.  You have to have a boat, but it always holds shark to some extent depending on water temp.  We always found them there around June-July. That is near the narrow part of the cape where the water almost comes back and crosses the road.  Also, on the ocean side at that same point, cross the sea wall and walk East back toward Indian pass and there is a place called the Stump Hole.  You will find shark there as well and also big rays.  Not a good place to swim mind you, but the fishing is good.  Caught many Pompino and shark in that area.  If you catch a pomp, better get him in quick, or you may not get him at all. And oh yea, to catch the Pompino, go to the beach and catch as many sand fleas as you can for bait. The Pomp will devour them.


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## campboy (Apr 10, 2008)

*Shark Fishing*

I love to shark fish off the beach at CSB.  I use cut whiting, ladyfish, bluefish, whatever is bloody.  My dad caught a nice bonnethead one year on very light tackle with a frozen shrimp. That was interesting!!  Does anyone have any advice for using wire leaders?  I have been using pre-rigged 24" store bought leaders but I break too many and would like to buy spools of wire to do my own rigging.  I use a Penn casting/trolling reel with 30lb mono.  I would like to have a rig where I attach a 3-6' piece of heavy wire to the mono and run the wire through a large pyramid sinker and have a knot or something to stop the weight and another piece of wire to the hook.  Is there any way to be able to reel some of the wire onto my rod to make casting easier?  It's hard to cast a long piece of wire and the bait under a big sinker.  Any suggestions?

Thanks


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## capt.-joe (May 5, 2008)

I like shark fishing but we do not catch shark that big. A big shark would be around 3 1/2 to 4 feet long. They are a lot of fun though.


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