When do we see the largest numbers off the sc coast?
Most people will tell you the magic number is 70 deg. I however, start fishing when the water temps reach about 64. At this temp you don’t have to worry about people being in the water swimming through your lines and you should not have a problem leaving lines in the water around the clock. This is usually around mid April. Sand tigers are a good possibility this early since they prefer colder water. I caught this sand tiger the second week on April.
I have also caught blacktips in mid April but as the water temps warm up to the upper 60’s, you will begin to see them in greater numbers. By the time the water is 70-72 it pays to be on the water as much as you can. I usually fish more in the month of May than any other time of the year. During the month of May the lemons and blacktips are usually in full force. Here are a couple pics from one 24 hour trip in May a year ago.
Here are a couple lemons caught this year on Memorial Day weekend during a fishing trip I coordinated for the men of my church.
These are just a few pics of what can be caught. If you wait for someone else to post the reports you will miss out on your personal best shark. I would recommend reading past reports and learning what you can about shark fishing from here and shark fishing sites. Gear up as needed. I read too many reports of the one that got away due to inadequate gear. Most of the pics posted abo
September has been, by far, the best month for my sharking club. Over the years you see definate trends in sharks. Sandtigers in the spring along with some blacktips and (not plentiful anymore), sandbars (browns). Lemons, tigers, hammers in the summer. Blacktips, spinners, duskies (thier #'s are worse now than browns) in the fall. It does make a difference where you are fishing as well. For instance, big sandtigers are around in the spring and into late fall off Hatteras, but strangely enough we see huge, huge hammers and and even lemons late in December up there. Down here I’ve landed lots of nice browns and big duskies late in the fall, but no lemons or hammers ( which usually prefer warmer water). It can be a guessing game.
For spinners I would go with whole mullet dead and fresh or 6-12 " mullett live either floated or just swimming on the bottom. When the mullet are running you will get smoked all day and night. We’ve landed blacktips to 120 lbs. and spinners up to about 100 on our small rigs ( 20-30 lb) with these medium to large mullet. They are great tasting and we’ve gotten some huge sharks using large 6-10 lb. chunks of spinner for bait.
Blueline you mentioned a sharking club. Do you have any more info on that?
Dorado II
Carolina Skiff 25DLV
quote:
Originally posted by doradoBlueline you mentioned a sharking club. Do you have any more info on that?
Dorado II
Carolina Skiff 25DLV
I founded the Atlantic Shark Angling Club in 1983 after a few years of fishing with several guys. We wanted to keep some records and stuff like that so we casually fished together when we could. Kind of disolved for the most part in the last 10-12 years. I’ve kept the name, but as far as a group, it’s pretty much non-existent. Mostly fish with my daughter’s now ( who make up most of the club, haha). We used to be the only guys on the beach fishing in SC that I could find for years. Lots of trial and error, lots of huge sharks hooked and fought, not too many huge ones landed:smiley: but some good ones here and there. My daughters out fish me now for sure:smiley: and I love to see them having a great time. For me, paddling out baits, rigging and pulling them up on the beach is my part.
Sounds like your having plenty of fun with the family club!!!
Dorado II
Carolina Skiff 25DLV