I need some help on targeting large sharks. 8 foot plus. Mainly on how to present large baits. Do you just drift the baits out on a free line, put them on the bottom? All of the above? There is not a lot of info out there for our area unless its land based and I don’t think those rigs would be the right choice for fishing from the boat. Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.
Trial and error works well. Each area has a presentation they like.
Bigger baits are gonna catch bigger shark. Find someone to donate you some big fish heads.
Little fellows are all over the creeks right now, from my experience fish the deeper holes near the mouths of creeks. Some may chime in, but I’ve never really had a better tide with sharks, but seem to do the best on them at dead low or dead high.
Most of my shark catching has been by chance, not on purpose.
“Why Bruce?”
Agreed I’m just trying to shorten the learning curve some.
fish sleep repeat
I will say this, the shipping channel between port royal and Hilton Head has never skunked me. Even in colder weather. Have had several hook ups on a whole whiting with a 9/0 hook.
A friend of mine fishes in the Edisto shark tournament regular and he uses Amberjack heads and a 12/0 hook. He’s a little secretive on location and sometimes bait, but I know he has used smaller sharks, eels, and also sting rays with half of one wing removed. I know that he also chums for them.
An 8 plus foot shark is a big boy!
“Why Bruce?”
I don’t shark fish much anymore, but for a few years it was my favorite thing to do. I was too poor to afford to troll and I enjoyed the fight.
If you go to the ocean side of Deveaux Bank on the end of the North Edisto river and anchor up about a half mile from the beach and half mile from the sand bar you can’t miss the big sharks. They come through almost exactly an hour after slack high tide. If you don’t hook up within 30 minutes you are in a bad spot. Their favorite food is Spanish mackerel, followed by croaker and cut rays. Whiting works and is easy to find, but doesn’t seem to bring the big ones in for me. The water is shallow and rough, so take your sea sick meds.
If you can find Spanish mackerel you will have a really fun time. Most days we hook around four 5-footers and one big one.
Use the biggest, thickest hooks you can afford. The sharks don’t really care if the hook is exposed so just run it through the firmest place you can and don’t clog the hook. When they take the bait we usually give them about 6 seconds before setting the hook in case they are chewing on it.
We would use long cable leaders and hang the baits about 5 feet under a balloon, and run three of four lines at different distances from the boat to cover more area. Leave the clicker on and the drag low. It’s exciting when the alarm goes off.
We fought a few that didn’t even know they were hooked in the muddy water until we were already off anchor and had been pulling on them for several minutes. My arms are getting sore just thinking about it.
of course big baits for big fish, but one of the most effective baits ive used are both spanish/king mackerel carcasses, bonito heads, and ladyfish. that being said my biggest shark (8 foot 8 inch sand tiger) was on a pompano carcass dropped only 150 yards out. sinkers can be made from just about anything. in heavy current i fill up coke cans with quickrete with 12 gauge wire legs running through them and they hold like a champ, but are a pain in the @$$ to reel back in. if you go to the juice section and find the 6oz pineapple juice cans, those work great when the current isnt as bad. 50lbs of quickrete cost about $3.50 at lowes, the 12 gauge wire about $10 for 100 feet, and cans as applicable. you just need to be able to cut the wire and drill holes through the cans. PM me if you need more details on how to make these. also if you look at wal mart, dicks sporting goods, … in the workout section, a 2.5lb weight plate costs about $2.25 and zip ties not very much for a whole bag of them. the plates hold great and once you get it moving is much easier to reel in than the cement anchor since it will start to plane in the water. that being said, the plates dont hold nearly as well with large baits in current. i use anywhere from 180-400lb single strand wire for the leader with 10-12/0 mustad wide gap circle hooks and have 0 problems. i use about 2-3 feet of wire and about 10 feet of 300lb mono for my leader. wire for the teeth, 300lb mono for the tail/skin. big ones are definitely there to be had from the beach, but from a boat id mix up some down low and some up high. id have to imagine a freelined ladyfish would get smacked quickly and bottom fishing i have the best luck with the bait just a couple feet above bottom. also from the boat id use the 2-3 foot wire leader and maybe a length of 150lb mono in the reel. i recently topped off my 9/0 senator with 150lb mono (on top of 900 yards of 80lb braid) and it takes the beating of the tail no problem when i lose all my 300lb leaders to the bottom. goo
Thanks for all the help. This has really helped. I’m ordering some 20/0 hooks from ebay. I plan to try this weekend and I will let ya’ll know what happens.
fish sleep repeat
I need to catch some big sharks, too. I have hyped my friends up too much. If you have room for one more, I’m down to catch something big.
Future Beach Discovery 124F
It floats and has rod holders. Fine by me.
“My biggest fear is that my wife(when I’m dead) will try to sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.” - Koos Brandt