Sharks are almost a sure thing this summer. Black Tips and Bonnet Heads 2-3' with an occasional 4' showing up. On light tackle it's a ton of fun. Kids love it as do Mom and Dad. Sharks are great for family charters as the action is steady and keeps the kids interested.
Scaled sardines and threadfins were readily available on the Skyway Bridge. These sardines were monsters, Godzilla white baits. It took some chumming to get the bait up in net range and away from the pilings. Baits on the flats are tiny and a true pain to gather. If you toss a 3/8 or larger mesh net plan on spending lots of time picking out gilled baits when the day is over.
Rigging for these gray speedsters is very simple. 3' of 30 or 40 pound fluorocarbon leader finished with a 3/0 circle hook. I stay away from wire leaders unless we find BIG sharks otherwise this basic set up works great. Once baits are out I start cutting up Threadfins into 4 pieces and toss into the tide. The typical flat we are fishing for sharks is 3-6' deep. We are also catching Trout, Mackerel, Redfish even snook in the same spots. We also run into Jacks and Bluefish.
Black tips are my favorite as they often jump and what angler doesn't like to see a fish jump. Today in the mix of Black tips and Bonnet Heads we took 2 with white spots. I am going to have to do some research and see what species they are. Both were very aggressive chasing the baits on the surface, both also tried every way to twist and catch hold of me.
We also lost 2 large redfish taken in an area that was holding big bruisers in May and June. I am looking forward to checking this spot again this week. I did take a few minutes and looked for snook on the beach but did not see any from my tower.
Capt. Steven
