Have caught my share of Blacktips and Spinners and can add a bit to this conversation…
Spinners are the larger growing of the two. Blacktips are by far the more common. Spinners have smaller eyes and there are distinct differences in the gill slits. The most recognizable difference in all of the individuals is snout, though. The Spinner has a snout that is very sharp… think Porbeagle or Mako. Hope this helps.
Sandbars ( or Browns) used to be so plentiful that we would land 6-8 6+ footers in a single night. They are much harder to come by now. They are easily idetified by the huge first dorsal and mid-dorsal ridge along with the heavy body forward of the first dorsal. Duskies are generally not as “thick” up front and the dorsal is smaller and placed in a different location in relation to the pectoral fins than the Sandbar. Landing a Dusky these days is rare and keeping it is illegal as they are now protected. These are fine fighting sharks with the Dusky often showing off it’s freight train abilities on the first few runs. I’ve seen 16/0 reels with 130 getting stripped by big Duskies on more than one occasion. Browns like to make a hot first run then come screaming back toward the rod after the clutch is put down. Often times they will get wound and break off because guys son’t realize that the fish is flying back to the rod. This is very common whith this type of shark. Sometimes it appears that you have a “drop” or you’ve pulled the bait, that is when they swim around for the next few minutes and wrap in your slack, eventually cutting you off. I can’t tell you the frustration of sitting there for a few hours after the pick up and (what you thought was a drop), only to start reeling in what you thought was just drift slack only to haul all the way in and find 4 or 6 feet of absolutely wasted dacron or mono.
Excellent info Blue! I will remember to reel the slack in fast! I actually had this happen last year with a Blacktip. Had a nice tight anchor, then the line went totally limp. I was reeling in a lot of slack wondering when was I gonna feel my weight, then boom, there he was. But this one didnt get away!!
Thanks for the post.
THE OCEAN IS NOT YOUR SWIMMING POOL!!!
Anybody watch the Quiznos shark tourney on ESPN? Those guys have a lot of sharks down there and it’s kinda neat with the clear water. They caught lemons, bulls and some spinning blacktips. I went out and bought an Arc dehooker and a tail rope after watching them; we’ll see how they work this season. I noticed most of them use J hooks…
squalus if you ever need an extra hand let me know.i will be glad to help pay for fuel,bait.why don’t you come to the pier sat and meet all of us?are you going to fish the shark tourney on may 24?
Sharky, thanks, I may or may not be able to come Saturday, but I definitely would like to meet everyone. As to fishing with me, shoot me an email. I’d be happy to take you out. I don’t know about the tournament…
i’ll keep in touch.we will be there sat and sunday.just about everyone from surf and pier.
Don’t know if ya’ll saw it but a ten foot great white was caught off Garden City this weekend; pics on Offshore Discussion…
Good Morning 
I finally was approved to post on this wonderful forum! I grew up fishing in freshwater and have come to love surf fishing on the many beaches in South Carolina. I’ve got sharks on Sullivan’s island quite a bit and was wondering if I could meet up with some of you to fish one of these days? I hear Edisto is very nice for big sharks and Kiawah is beautiful. At this time it’s just me so I only know what I know from trial and error. I’d like to learn the proper way to catch and release, tackle, best knots, things of that nature and it’s more fun in a group anyway. I’m also interested in tarpon and grouper if they are in the area. I always catch and release. I just like to fish and have the majority of the gear but again going alone isn’t the safest for these large creatures. Any input / suggestions would be welcomed thank you very much!!