# Shark Fishing Question



## Gio (May 27, 2012)

I am a fairly experienced surf fisherman who has never targeted sharks, although I have caught a few small ones.
I would like to give it a try one night, but am not sure hoe far I need to get the bait out, and whether I can get it out far enough without a kayak.
I have a 6/0 on a 7' boat rod, with 65# pp, and everything I need to rig it. Will this work to get the bait out far enough to fish?
Your help woul be appreciated.


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## foreverfishing (Nov 30, 2012)

if you are casting probably not unless you can sling it like 100 yards. it also depends on the amount of line on your reel and the depth of the water. you want somewhere around #00 yards of line left on your reel after your bait is out. never know what you"ll hook. deeper water=more sharks...generally. some guys swim out there shark bait...shark bait...in your hand...in deep water...you expect to catch sharks in. not the best choice but it has been done so you can try that. hope this helped man. good luck and tight lines.


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## rosco725 (Oct 15, 2008)

On a north wind grab a teach bag and float it out and attach it to the leader with realllyyyy light line after you get as far as you want just jerk on the rod ad hard as you can till it falls off


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## Ugly 1 (Feb 8, 2013)

Before you go swimming out baits or trying to cast a 6/0 100yards both of wich are really bad ideas! PM me when you want to go and we will use my yak to run baits out. UGLY


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## Destinartist (Apr 24, 2013)

Same here, I have a son in law coming in for the weekend, we are going out nights with the regular surf rods with wire leaders and chunks of ladyfish just casting. And beer. We will see!!!


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

don't use straight braid in the surf.... mono topshot is your friend. long soaks at 200yards, the sand bars, shells, bluefish, blacktips etc.. will cut that braid like a hot knife on butter.


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## Drone82 (Jun 22, 2009)

You would be surprised how shallow decent sized sharks get...which is why I REFUSE to swim at dusk/dawn anymore! I have a 6' heavy action rod and a Daiwa (spelling) Regal baitcasting reel with 80lb power pro that I use for shark fishing. Cheap stuff, but caught many a shark on her ranging from 3-6 foot. Its a pain in the butt to cast because of it's short size, but I havn't had any issues. As long as I can get it 50-75 yards, I'm happy.


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## Gio (May 27, 2012)

Thanks for all of the info, and invites. I think I have a better idea of how to make things work now.
Ugly and Andy, I will be in touch.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

yes, at night we put baits at 50-60 and 80-100yards plus the longer drops. we always get picked up on the short baits. during the day, on a bright sunny day, you need to get a little deeper unless the water is dirty. there may be one or two cruising the shallow crystal water but the majority are in a deep first gut or cruising the second.


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## Gio (May 27, 2012)

Thanks for the info.
One more question. I have a Penn Fathom with about 400 yards of 50# braid, I can put a mono topshot and steel leader on it. It has 30Lb drag on it. I can cast this one a fairly long distance. Would this be acceptable for shark fishing? I went looking in the garage for my 6/0, and I think I traded it back when I was downsizing my bottom fishing rigs. I also have a 4/0 and a 3/0.


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## Ugly 1 (Feb 8, 2013)

Gio said:


> Thanks for the info.
> One more question. I have a Penn Fathom with about 400 yards of 50# braid, I can put a mono topshot and steel leader on it. It has 30Lb drag on it. I can cast this one a fairly long distance. Would this be acceptable for shark fishing? I went looking in the garage for my 6/0, and I think I traded it back when I was downsizing my bottom fishing rigs. I also have a 4/0 and a 3/0.


 I watched Avidfisherman try to cast Lowprofiles baitcaster on Saturday, colossal FAIL!!! the bait and weight landed about 15 feet off the beach and the reel had a big bird nest built in it. After a lot of profanity and panic Avid started to scramble to get it fixed before LP returned from running baits out in the gulf. Lucky for Avid the 6ft 7" 260lber likes to run baits 1/2 way to Mexico. After about 15 minutes Avids arms go up and I here some cheering and Avid yells its fixed! I go over to make sure Avid gets the line back on the spool somewhat level and I here his buddy Chris that is holding the deadline say OUCH then more profanity and something about its tugging and then ouch again and throw his hands up in the air yelling! Well I guess while they were fixing the line a shark swam up grabbed the bait 15ft from the beach and took about 50yds of line off the beach before giving Chris some good braid burns and a new respect for sharks in the shallow water. LP returned to Fish On instead of reel tangled and Chris from Georgia reeled in his first shark about a 36" sharpnose and all was good in fishville. Moral of the story....... sharks come in close to the beach in very shallow water all the time, just get some bait in the water and fish!!!!!! UGLY


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## Gio (May 27, 2012)

Excellent story Ugly! Point well taken.


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## Todd (May 16, 2010)

Depends where you are fishing, big valleys between sandbars or flat all the way out, etc. with a helping of personal preference. Folks that catch a nice fishy on a new lure or certain spot will swear by that lure or spot even if it doesn't produce again. As outlined previously, you can drop a pile of bloody stuff right off the beach and get someone to come eat it. I fish where it is flat with a slow drop off with no normal distance out used. I kayak baits out 100-200 yds or so depending on mood, how long I feel like paddling, or any such thing and regularly catch stuff. When someone else is taking them out I put them out farther not because I catch more stuff that way but because I don't have to do the paddling.


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## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

I have a dumb question, but I need it to be answered because I too am gonna give this a shot in the near future. After you pick a rod/reel combo, make a leader, and hook your bait, do you guys use pyramid weights to keep your bait out there like any other surf fishing trip, or do you let your bait drift? I have been reading all about shark leaders and setups, but failed to understand what to do about the sinker... or lack there of. Thanks guys


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## foreverfishing (Nov 30, 2012)

bigtallluke,
you can either use a rock/ brick or whats called the "mouse trap" style weight. its a type of surf sinker. http://www.tx-sharkfishing.com/shark-fishing/shark-fishing-leaders/ scroll down on this page and you'll see it. its very effective, I l know Lowprofile uses it and i'm sure others on here do too.


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## Ugly 1 (Feb 8, 2013)

bigtallluke said:


> I have a dumb question, but I need it to be answered because I too am gonna give this a shot in the near future. After you pick a rod/reel combo, make a leader, and hook your bait, do you guys use pyramid weights to keep your bait out there like any other surf fishing trip, or do you let your bait drift? I have been reading all about shark leaders and setups, but failed to understand what to do about the sinker... or lack pthere of. Thanks guys


 hey Luke what size combo are you thinking about getting? The size of the weight depends on the size of the bait and the current or surf conditions. If your using a surf rod and casting smaller baits a pyramid weight works great. If the surf/ current is heavy a Sputnik or spyder is even better. If your going for big sharks with big gear and big bait you want to make sure it holds so the brick, rock or even a biodegradable bag filled with sand will work. Nothing sucks worse than yaking bait out and getting soaked and spooked in the dark just to have your bait wash up on the beach a few minutes later! When your ready to brawl some sharks let me know I'm still fishing several days a week and your welcome to join anytime. UGLY


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## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

foreverfishing said:


> bigtallluke,
> you can either use a rock/ brick or whats called the "mouse trap" style weight. its a type of surf sinker. http://www.tx-sharkfishing.com/shark-fishing/shark-fishing-leaders/ scroll down on this page and you'll see it. its very effective, I l know Lowprofile uses it and i'm sure others on here do too.


Thank you for the reply and for the info. That link was very helpful, and I couldn't stop reading once I started lol!



Ugly 1 said:


> hey Luke what size combo are you thinking about getting? The size of the weight depends on the size of the bait and the current or surf conditions. If your using a surf rod and casting smaller baits a pyramid weight works great. If the surf/ current is heavy a Sputnik or spyder is even better. If your going for big sharks with big gear and big bait you want to make sure it holds so the brick, rock or even a biodegradable bag filled with sand will work. Nothing sucks worse than yaking bait out and getting soaked and spooked in the dark just to have your bait wash up on the beach a few minutes later! When your ready to brawl some sharks let me know I'm still fishing several days a week and your welcome to join anytime. UGLY


I have a Shimano TLD 50 LRSA soooled with 460 yards of 60# mono mounted on a half hitch custom roller rod that I use for trolling. I was gonna use that to yak a big bait out. I will most likely use a piece of brick or whole brick depending on bait size. I have never shark fished, but me and some of my friends really want to go out one night and give it a shot. I'm trying to do all my homework now so that atleast one of us can be educated out there lol! We will only yak one bigger bait out, but we will probably sling a few smaller baits out with surf rods also. The other option for a combo is a senator 6/0 spooled with 100# braid that my buddy just got. The more I read about braid in the surf, the less appealing it sounds, but I'm sure it will work and it might be better than putting my trolling reel on the beach with all the sand


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## foreverfishing (Nov 30, 2012)

I have never used braid but from what ive learned reading stuff on here you can use it just be sure to put a long mono top shot on it to help with abrasion.


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## Ugly 1 (Feb 8, 2013)

bigtallluke said:


> Thank you for the reply and for the info. That link was very helpful, and I couldn't stop reading once I started lol!
> 
> 
> 
> I have a Shimano TLD 50 LRSA soooled with 460 yards of 60# mono mounted on a half hitch custom roller rod that I use for trolling. I was gonna use that to yak a big bait out. I will most likely use a piece of brick or whole brick depending on bait size. I have never shark fished, but me and some of my friends really want to go out one night and give it a shot. I'm trying to do all my homework now so that atleast one of us can be educated out there lol! We will only yak one bigger bait out, but we will probably sling a few smaller baits out with surf rods also. The other option for a combo is a senator 6/0 spooled with 100# braid that my buddy just got. The more I read about braid in the surf, the less appealing it sounds, but I'm sure it will work and it might be better than putting my trolling reel on the beach with all the sand


 we lost 3 leaders to the gulf on Saturday night alone. all 3 were attached to braid that failed to handle surf fishing conditions, I cant say for sure if it was rub on the bottom or bite offs from toothy fish but I can say that I have not lost a single leader on my rigs that are running mono. If I use braided line again it will only be for backing. The 6/0 is a great rig for sharks! I think I would still put a top shot of 150 - 200yds of some 50-60lb mono depending on how far you are planning on running bait out. Replacing expensive shark leaders without the pleasure of fighting sharks will get old quick! Good luck to you and your friends on hooking up with a big shark, I hope to see a great report in the very near future! UGLY


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## Drone82 (Jun 22, 2009)

As far a weight goes, in my experience, we have a better hook up rate using sliding egg weights. The big fish can pick up the bait and run with it without getting as spooked by the sudden pull of the weight.


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## bigtallluke (Jul 14, 2012)

Thanks for all the help guys, its much appreciated! Looks like I will have to wait untill June to make it out there and give it a shot with my buddies... everyone has different schedules, but we are gonna make it happen. I'll give a report after, and hopefully we will have some nice pics to post.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Drone82 said:


> As far a weight goes, in my experience, we have a better hook up rate using sliding egg weights. The big fish can pick up the bait and run with it without getting as spooked by the sudden pull of the weight.



do you really think it wont feel the drag of the 100+ yards of line or the reels set drag? having a sliding sinker makes no difference with sharks. if anything, a fixed weight above a 10ft leader helps set circle hooks.


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## beeritself (Nov 25, 2010)

lowprofile said:


> a fixed weight above a 10ft leader helps set circle hooks.


Bingo


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## AVIDfisherman (Jan 31, 2013)

Ugly 1 said:


> I watched Avidfisherman try to cast Lowprofiles baitcaster on Saturday, colossal FAIL!!! the bait and weight landed about 15 feet off the beach and the reel had a big bird nest built in it. After a lot of profanity and panic Avid started to scramble to get it fixed before LP returned from running baits out in the gulf. Lucky for Avid the 6ft 7" 260lber likes to run baits 1/2 way to Mexico. After about 15 minutes Avids arms go up and I here some cheering and Avid yells its fixed! I go over to make sure Avid gets the line back on the spool somewhat level and I here his buddy Chris that is holding the deadline say OUCH then more profanity and something about its tugging and then ouch again and throw his hands up in the air yelling! Well I guess while they were fixing the line a shark swam up grabbed the bait 15ft from the beach and took about 50yds of line off the beach before giving Chris some good braid burns and a new respect for sharks in the shallow water. LP returned to Fish On instead of reel tangled and Chris from Georgia reeled in his first shark about a 36" sharpnose and all was good in fishville. Moral of the story....... sharks come in close to the beach in very shallow water all the time, just get some bait in the water and fish!!!!!! UGLY


Thanks for putting me on blast. Another moral of the story dont let AVID cast your conventional reels because it will birds nest.. haha


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

I've caught sharks on less and I've lost sharks on more....

I hooked one once on a 5000 size spinning reel and 6ft fiberglass rod. He picked up the bait and went cruising on... I set the hook, he kept going... I tightened the drag, he kept going.... Reel grenaded and line ran out, he kept going.... haha It was like I hooked a bus! I don't think he ever even knew I was there. This happened about 50-75 FEET off the waterline...

I've caught 4ft Sharpnose on a bass rod with 15lb mono and no leader... Circle hook did it's thing. haha


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## Randall2point0 (Feb 11, 2011)

Wirelessly posted

My worse sharkin experience ever was a trip out to Fort Pickens. Lugged all the gear around the point so we could fish gulf/pass, kayak bait out about 200 yards, after a while with no run I bring the line in to change bait but I couldnt reel it in. There was so much grass on my line it was about the size of a water hose, I had a 200 yard, sandy, grassy, water hose, Dacron out! That crap was so heavy, I eventually started to walk back on the beach and start reeling in, get grass off, reel some more, back up on the beach, then do it all over again. Eventually I grabbed the spool and started running back with it because I was so frustrated then the line popped. Packed up and went home, epic fail.


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## MoganMan (Feb 24, 2013)

Lot's of helpful information in here guys, keep up the good work, I hope to be posting a picture of myself with a big shark soon!


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