From 6/7/01</font id=blue>
I am 28 years old and I have to admit that one of my favorite movies is still Jaws. The scene portraying Captain Frank Mundus aboard the “Cricket II” fishing for Jaws has thrilled me time and time again. After I watched the movie the first 3 times I found out that Captain Mundus had written an entire book, “Sport Fishing for Sharks,” devoted to his experiences shark fishing all over the world. I believe I have read his book as many times as I have watched the movie. Sharks have always fascinated me for as long as I can remember and I will cancel all plans in order to watch “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel. Due to my great fascination with these creatures it should come as no surprise that growing up I would love to get 4 or 5 gallons of nasty chum and head out with a couple of my fishing buddies for a late afternoon shark fishing trip.
While the Hammerheads, Bulls, and Tigers are impressive with their immense size, no other sharks found in our near coastal and inshore waters is as challenging an adversary as the Blacktip. Even though these sharks are not as large as those previously mentioned, pound for pound they are by far the most powerful. With strength, speed and aerial acrobatics rivaling their cousins, The Mako, the Blacktip has all the fighting characteristics of an awesome sportfish.
Blacktips are found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic and generally prefer water temperature between 60 and 75 degrees. These sharks usually show up along the Carolina Coast line in early April and stay until mid-November before migrating south for the winter.
Obviously these sharks stay close to a good food source and subsequently they are often un-expectantly hooked by anglers surf fishing from the beach, or bottom fishing in the inlets. Because these locations hold such a good population of sharks, I will often target Blacktips in these areas.
When fishing in the inlets I typically anchor my boat along the channel edge or just up-curren