Went out on the Folly River for the first time , We went to target some Bonnet head sharks. It was a beautiful morning but slow, the whiting started biting around 11 a.m, and right after I put 2 in the cooler, the ugly stik was bent straight over. I reeled in my first Atlantic Sharp nose, not much of a fight for a pretty chunky shark. Immediatley after that I caught a small bluefish on cut mullet.
We messed around with trolling for sea trout after that but no luck, the winds died down so we went back to original location close to bird key and had a hard time getting the anchor to hold because of out going tide so we went into shallower water almost right next to the “shore” of Bird Key. We saw a Bonnet-head thrashing about right next to the shore not 15 minutes earlier while we were drifting. Not 5 mins after anchoring in 11 ft water the rod went screaming, this was a particularly pissed off Bonnet head , He took a lot of line and of course he had the current going for him. He was a much harder fight than the sharpnose.
Thank you guys for all the tips that made my first trip on the Folly a success! now i’m going to attempt to get the smell of shark off my hands !
Stuckinahole: What other ways can I identify a fine tooth from a sharp nose…any color difference(s)?
Has anyone fried shark, I have lots of meat! I was thinking of doing a beer batter type of fry instead of dredging it in cornmeal. Any experience in frying shark ? Can’t wait to fire up the grill this weekend.
Can’t tell if it’s a finetooth or not from the picture, but I’m fairly sure it isn’t a sharpnose. Definitely interested in the opinion of someone more knowledgeable than myself.
After goggling It I can see that it’s not a Sharp nose, Well If I remember right you can keep a fine tooth if it’s 54 inch? I’ll have to be a little more observant next time
The teeth are also different. I only keep a bonnethead on occasion. All of the other sharks that I catch, I try to take a lot of photos from all different angles so that I can ID it correctly once I get home using the a couple field guides and the internet.
Nice day’s fishing. Agreed with the above, the first isn’t a sharpnose, but I can’t tell what it is either.
Love the bonnethead too, they are pretty good eating.
“Sire, it belongs in truth to the Church of God, in whose name I speak, to endure blows and not to inflict them. But it will also please your Majesty to remember that she is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.”…Theodore Beza
Sharpnoses tend to have white spots right? That thing would be a huge sharpnose in my experience.
Two good sharks for a first go at it. I had the same kind of luck and convinced several upstate friends to come see how easy it was. We didn’t catch anything over 2’…
Definately not a sharpnose, but like the others hard to ID for me. If you ever do catch a sharpnose that big, better keep it and weigh it in for a record! One over 10 lbs is a good one!
Yeah BTODAG it was enough for me to get hooked, previous shark adventures were nothing like this in our usual spots. The real adventure was getting that bonnet-head into a bass boat with two people in it Thank you all for the ID help, going to save some pictures on my smartphone so I have a reference.
Thank you all for the ID help, going to save some pictures on my smartphone so I have a reference.