I am new to salt water fishing. Last year was the first year I had ever done any fishing (rod and reel)around the coast. Definitly hooked. I think I did alright. Never went home skunked. Caught at least 1 of what I was fishing for each time. I went to the Winyah jetties several times fishing for sheepshead. I tried to keep a bottom line out the back of the boat most of the time. Caught some nice reds too. Although none were ever small enough to keep. I am sure that at some point I am going to catch a shark. I want to make sure I am reading the rules correctly. As long as I am within the 3 mile state waters and the shark I catch is keepable I don’t need a HMS permit. Is this correct? I’ve never eaten shark and would like the experience of catching and preparing one myself. I just want to make sure I do it legally. Also, do any of you have a preferrence of species of shark for eating and best ways to cook it?
I like bonnetheads. Plentiful, easy and fun to catch, EASY TO IDENTIFY, and tasty deep fried. Make sure you bleed, gut and ice them as soon as you get them in the boat. There is a good video on Youtube “Filleting a Gummy Shark” that shows how to get the meat out. Essentially, you cut all the fins off so the skin comes off cleany during step 2. Peel the skin off with pliers. Cut the backbone out from the inside. Cut off the head and tail. Trim up and you’re done. Yeilds one big slab of meat. Nice! Trim up = clean up around where the fins were, cut out any red meat.
Good Luck! O.C.
Atlantic sharpnose are also common and legal. Easy to identify by the longer nose, light blotchy patches on their side, and there’s something about their eyes that also are a givaway to me but I can’t really describe it. They like cut bait in the “bull red” size, and you may also get into a bull red or bonnethead fishing for them.
They are pretty good if you gut/bleed them like Old Cat said. There is no size limit on them so I am not sure if you must leave them “head and tailfin intact” when in the boat or not. I always cut the tail off them to bleed them out but I’ve always caught them surf fishing, so it didn’t matter.
Moral judgment under girds the entire structure of laws and is necessary for the rational structure of any significant statute. The idea that our laws can stand independent of moral foundation is senseless.----- Albert Mohler.
as the others mentioned gut and bleed em asap then toss em on ice. ive tried 2 ways to clean em and either way works fine for me. 1 is to treat it like a big catfish as others said by cutting off fins and skinning it, or #2 with a big knife you can stick the knife in along the center of the backbone and cut right along the spine just like any “normal” fish, flop the fillet over, then skin like anything else. for the other side work the knife along/under the spine and skin that side too. definately clean out the red meat and when cooking shark is very versatile. its great fried, baked, broiled, grilled, gave some to redfish matt and he liked it smoked, and i made shark tacos for the oyster roast and everyone there gobbled em up leaving no leftovers. both bonnetheads (use half a crab) and sharpnose (cut bait) are plentiful, easy to ID, and go great on the table.
Definitely important to bleed the shark, but DO NOT remove the head and fins until you land it. If they catch you at sea with a fully dressed shark, you’ll get fined.
Thanks RM, ONN, and SD. Definitely excited about getting back to the salty water. Would have been by now but trying to put in a lot of OT to fund the trips the rest of the year. Now I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do if I can find one that don’t strip all the line off my rig. Oh and redbull, as far as it goes with the mercury levels, from the things I’ve read about it, as long as you don’t eat it like 5 times a week you’ll be ok. Higher merc levels are a reason not to eat it but just every once in a while. Like me I’ll probably do one to have the experience with my son and the release any more I catch.
Oh, one quick question. Leave head and fins I got that. I can cut the tail off to bleed, is that correct?
I cut the tail about halfway through. Just don’t cut it completely off.
Once it has settled down and tired out a bit, I have a strong friend with the gaff pin the head down really well. Then I will cut the belly open and remove the guts from the cavity. Bring a few gallons of tap water in old jugs and rinse the cavity out really well. By the time you’re done with that, the fish should be done enough to throw in the cooler…with head, fins, and tail intact.
Watch out for those teeth while you’re doing this. Once your hand goes in there, it really hurts getting it out.
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
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is it safe to eat those things? with the mercury off the charts they say.
If you worry about mercury charts you won’t eat much out of our waters… Eat away.
Can anyone on this site name one person that has had mercury poisoning from eating fish? I don’t know of anyone in America that has got mercury poisoning from fish. I think there has been a report or two in Japan from eating Dolphin, or that’s were they think it may have come from.
Fred67: be careful about discounting mercury. Rarely would one get acute mercury poisoning, particularly from fish. It’s more insidious than that. It builds up slowly in your system and stays there, more or less, forever. This can cause a whole host of problems in the future. It is particularly problematic for infants and young children. Mercury can cause lots of brain development problems. Furthermore, if one plans to have children in the future, mercury eaten years before can be passed along the child by the mother or by the father’s initial “contribution” (albeit a very small amount). I think it is perfectly safe to eat fish high in mercury if you follow the guidelines mentioned above, just don’t discount it.
Okay, sorry about that long diatribe. My real intention was to respond to the initial permit question. Stretchscott: I’m pretty sure a general SC rec license covers shark fishing inside 3 miles. I’d call DNR to double check. An HMS permit will also cover you, but remember: if you have a federal HMS permit, you must fish according to federal HMS regs even when you fish in state waters (unless the state water regulations are more restrictive). Also, be sure you can ID the shark. They are often hard to tell apart and a prohibited shark will get you into trouble. If you want a free placard on shark ID, I bet the HMS Management Division will send you one.
Thank you Smoothdog. That’s what I was thinking just wanted a second opinion. As far as the identification, the best thing I have found so far is an app for my phone that I picked up from one of the other threads on CF. It’s called fish rules 2013. It’s pretty good for the fish that have pictures. I’m sure they will update slowly but surely. It has real pictures taken by people and simple drawings with distinguishing characteristics. It was a dollar. I couldn’t resist. And it doesn’t need any service to work.
ID gets me too- what’s a problem is the juvie fish. They are pretty easy to ID with pic’s if the are grown. The small ones are different that the older fish. Bonnets a no brainier. If its over 5’ it’s not a Sharpnose. A bunch of them look a lot alike.