Report 5/25-5/26

Saltwater Surf / Pier Fishing
1

Each year I coordinate a surf fishing trip for the men in my church. I usually go out the night before and shark fish and this year I had 14 guys join me and 24 more on saturday. 38 guys on the beach trying to fish was a handful not to mention it was Memorial Day weekend. Not my first choice weekend.

Here are the cliff notes for sharks:
Short drops were key. 75yards max or 20-25yards past the last breaker.
Sting ray was the bait of choice. Nothing else was touched.
Sharks were caught on incoming tides.
7-9ft 480# cable with 20/0 mustad circle hooks. one casted and one yakked

Here are some pics
Friday night’s gang

Skyler hooked up

His personal best 90" Lemon

Back into the water for a quick release

Saturday morning sky

Working with a new surf fisherman on his cast

Father and son tag teamed this 80" Lemon

The release

Play time

Saturday morning also produced about a half dozen whiting and a few pup sharks. I watched a couple guys bowed up on their rods but each failed to land their fish. We ended the trip with a great meal at Jim and Nick’s BBQ in N Chas before the ride home.

2

nice! still trying for my 1st big shark off the beach but nothing yet.

3

Where were you fishing? What baits and rigs do you use to catch the stingrays?

Light travel’s faster than sound. This is why some people appear smart until you hear them speak.

4

Nice sharks!

5

nice work! and thanks for the detailed report -

musta been a lot of people around, did you have problems with folks wandering into your lines?

6

Just prior to us packing it in, we had a group of young kids (13 and younger) arrive to surf. Fun to watch them but I had already pulled in the shark rods and it is easy enough to avoid people with surf rods. At one point we easily had 100yds of beach lined with guys fishing. Nobody wanted to be around us.