Hit up Sullivan’s island last night with the crew and @fishguy98 landed this monster sandbar shark:
The pictures really don’t do this beast justice, but if you zoom in you can see it’s girth of 48"… it’s belly was unlike anything I have personally ever seen. The fork length was a measured 69". Using the shark girth/fork length conversion you come up with this:
The official state record is 199.4 caught in 1984. Seeing in person makes me think it was extremely close to that record. We also landed a huge 73" fat tipper. Overall great night of fishing.
Usually one or two of us will walk it slowly back into waste high water, at that point they generally just swim off. We’ve gotten really good at the dehooking, tagging, realeasing aspect so we make quick work of it all.
Without an official weight it’s impossible to really know what it weighed. I would have loved to know. Sandbars are protected by federal regulations and can no longer be weighed as they must be released live.
Thats one of my favorite parts of shark fishng, that’s the hands on excitement. If you muscle them in on heavy gear they hit the sand with a lot of energy. I’ve seen five ftrs doing flips that makes everyone look at each other like you dehook it. The big ones can’t move good when beached.
Thats one of my favorite parts of shark fishng, that’s the hands on excitement. If you muscle them in on heavy gear they hit the sand with a lot of energy. I’ve seen five ftrs doing flips that makes everyone look at each other like you dehook it. The big ones can’t move good when beached.
dont forget when you get in the water with the shark and cut it loose (cue in the guy asking who wants to go swimming as i just stand there in the water)
the best thing to say to a group of onlookers though is who wants to volunteer sarcasm aside one may be surprised how many people jump right in on helping with the tape measure.
also its hard to beat the look on peoples faces once they see the fin pop up after just giggling when i said i have a shark hooked! gotta love it!
Thats one of my favorite parts of shark fishng, that’s the hands on excitement. If you muscle them in on heavy gear they hit the sand with a lot of energy. I’ve seen five ftrs doing flips that makes everyone look at each other like you dehook it. The big ones can’t move good when beached.
My group had a big lemon over 9’ in the surf a few years back, nearly stand on it’s tail on the initial beaching. One of the most impressive things i’ve ever seen in 40+ years of beach sharking. It literally stuck it’s caudal in the sand and lurched it’s head and pecs nearly straight up. It was a 300 pounder so that was a huge thud on the way down. Crazy but i watched it after dropping the tail rope.
nice fish that things a beast of a sandy!
sarcasm aside one may be surprised how many people jump right in on helping with the tape measure.