When I was younger I remember going out in front of Morris Island and drifting live and dead bait with balloons for Blacktip sharks. We would always find a nice area out among the shrimp trawlers. We would drift through the massive chum slick created by the by-catch being pushed over the sides of the trawlers. It was a guarantee that the fish would not hit until someone broke out some type of food and when they did hit it was certain to be the lightest outfit you had in the arsenal. After many years of hearing anything about this type of fishing, it is once again becoming popular with anglers. Some of this popularity is probably due to the rising cost of fuel and making that big run offshore, but in many cases some people are just finding out how much fun it can be. Overall there is really not a lot of preparation and work involved in this type of fishing. Most of the effort is spent in the exciting part and that is catching the fish. Blacktips provide a great fight combining strong runs with acrobatic jumps and flips. While shark limits have changed over the years most people prefer to release their fish because they are not the best eating fish in the ocean and actually bringing one into the boat can be a dangerous proposition for the inexperienced angler. The other part of this type of fishing is the surprise catch. In the same waters you may catch a tarpon, cobia, king mackerel or a giant redfish. If you want to get the fight of a big game fish, but don’t have the time or feel like spending the money to fish offshore give the Blacktip fishing a shot, you may just be surprised at how much fun you have.
Andy Pickett,
CharlestonFishing.Com</font id=“blue”>