Fished the IOP side of Breach’s inlet today from 6am till around noon. At low tide I could see numerous bonnet heads busting up bait so I went for them for a while. Was able to hook and land one using crab as bait. He was only around 3 feet, but put up a decent fight. Once the tide started coming in I switched over to using shrimp/cut mullet and was successful in bringing in 3 good sized whiting. All the while I had my shark rig out with 5-6 inch croakers on it for bait. I had one huge hit, but didn’t hook up. When I reeled back in the 6 inch croaker was bit cleanly off right below the head. Any thoughts on this? Should I be hooking up differently? Finally, the cow nose rays were thick all over the beach today. I was watching packs of 10 or so swim along the shore all day long. Never seen that before. Anyways, all in all it was a good day on the beach.
nice to see ya got a bonnet and ive landed a 5 foot blacktip not too far from there before but a big shark would likely gulp down a 6" croaker no prob but easily could have been a 3-4 foot finetooth, sandbar, … that will yank the rod over pretty good and bite a baitfish clean. cownose were all over when i was yakkin breach last time too and if you can snag one of those and use it for bait you stand a chance at a big shark with that for sure.
I tried and tried to hook one for bait, but nothing was working. I mean theoretically they were so close to me in the water that they could just be picked it, ha (take some balls and stupidity). Is there a sure fire way to target them? By the way Ohio, thanks for the heads up on that area. It’s been a while since I have had a time like that. You made the move to Georgia already?
if ya get desperate theres always tying a few trebles in a row and snaggin em i havent seen anything illegal about snagging rays for bait. i have no problem grabbing sharks bare handed but a slimy ray i cant get a grip on i take a lot more caution with. theres always the cast net but the barb may cause some trouble and if they were really that close theres always the flounder gig too. not in georgia yet but heading home back to ohio for a few weeks hopefully by next weekend. as for sharks ive had better luck hooking live bait through the back a about 3/4 of the way back. ive been bitten off many times hooking bait through the lips but when sharks bite across the body i almost always nail em with back hooked baits. doesnt sound like you were quite in the area i PMed ya about but good to know ya found some fish anyways.
Hi I was to the right of you I believe jagads .was doing a quick trip with the boy.was using sardines was getting the same thing.right behind the head.i didn’t have all my gear with me.i usually run the leader through the eyes hook through tail or use a shorty trailing leader with a hook snapped on with the first hook.that way i have a hook high and one in the meat of the bait as well.