Caught 4 sandbar sharks just outside the breakers off a small beach inlet on rising, maybe 200 yards out, all on live horse mullet. Question for you shark guys: Are sandbars weak fighters? They all seemed to pull less than a bonnet, even the largest which was the biggest shark I’ve ever caught (maybe 5’, 50 lbs) They seemed to swim to the line at the surface rather than pull or dive. Haven’t caught a lot of them but seems like a characteristic in my limited experience.
i dont have a ton of experience with them but recently caught a 7 footer. on the strike it took off like a freight train, stripped about 50 - 100 yards of line on the initial run after it surfaced and thrashed, made several small runs as i was pulling it in, and took 20 minutes to get it on the riverbank even with a 9/0 and 80lb line. ive also caught a 5 footer on a charter that took a good 15 mins to reel in but havent caught a smaller one like that for a fair comparison. the 7 did swim towards me a while, making me think i lost it, but stripped another 50 when it took off again. may have just been lazy ones but again i havent caught tons of them either.
Do you have pictures? The main weakling in the surf are fine teeth. Sandbars are not that prevelant in this warm water and are better fighters than blacktips. I think you’ve caught fine teeth sharks not sandbars.
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How do you get the hook out of their mouths?
Very carefully
quote:
Originally posted by robkonowitchHow do you get the hook out of their mouths?
Though I’ve never been fond enough of a hook to have to buy these pliers. 
Thanks, Stan. I think it could have been. I did think the dorsal was less pronounced than I had remembered. I’ll take a closer look at the teeth next time.
Sandbars ,( or Brown sharks, are very hard fighters pound for pound. Usually starting the fight by a screaming run, they are strong, but rarely go much over 7.5 ft… My shark club used to catch tons of them off the beaches on the Grand Strand, but, sadly over the last 30 years thier numbers dramatically slowed. Commercial fishing has been blamed for this. I beleive this was the case. In the last few years my daughters have landed several nice ones on local beaches, including 3 6-7+ footers in October. The fall is by far the best time to see Duskies and Sandbars on our coast. Look for the huge first dorsal and a very heavy body forward. This is an easy way to tell the difference between Fine tooth, Dusky and Sandbars.
We came down in October and my son caught several a couple a hair over 7. Definitely a good time for them. I’ll be down in a week and hope something big is biting