# Shark fishing on Perdido Key



## FHD (May 26, 2013)

Went to outcast yesterday and picked up several baby bonito, cut 'em in half and yak'ed 'em out about 20-50 yards past the sand bar last night on Perdido Key. 

Had 3 good runs and one resulted in a 50 minute battle to pull in a 7' 10" nurse shark. This was the first shark of that size that my son and I had every caught and quite a learning experience as far as getting him on the beach or in fact getting him in shallow enough to get him on the beach. 

There's a tiny shelf right at the surf line and he stayed very active in that shelf making it very difficult to get a tail rope on him. I decided to just grab his tail and didn't know what I was in for with his weight. He flipped over on his back and it knocked me over. 

We finally got him up out of the water enough to measure him and get him back in the water. Pleasantly surprised that he had no problem swimming off. Interesting that we didn't catch either fish (from the other two runs) using the tail half of the bonito and caught the nurse shark on the head half of the bait. Ran the hook into the mouth and out through the bony gill to do all we could to keep him hooked. We did not bridle the bait at all. We let him make a run, let him stop, and than set the hook on his second run. Great corner of the mouth set and the rest is history. 

Happy 4th and happy fishing to everyone!


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## GeeTee (Jun 28, 2014)

FHD - Where exactly did you fish and from what time? I`m also on the key and would like to put in another session just not sure where to go - a 7ft Nurse will make my day!!!!

Congrats on the fish - good report - how about a pic??


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## FHD (May 26, 2013)

Hello GeeTee,

We fished toward the eastern end of the key although I'm convinced that the fishing is probably pretty consistent all along that key. The problem is getting out over that sandbar, although I've seen sharks grab the bait just barely over the sandbar in 7' of water. We hooked up with the nurse shark last night probably about 50 yards beyond the sandbar. 

We are using bonito bait. We buy whole baby bonito and cut them in half. I'm a real believer of the bigger bait = bigger shark mantra. 

We arrived at 7:30 and had our first baits (we only fished two poles) in the water by 8:00 PM. We had our first run at 9 PM and our second run (the nurse shark run) started at 11:10 and we pulled him on the shore right at midnight. As we were pushing him back in the water we had a run on the other pole but apparently didn't get the hook set on that one. 

Sadly, my son's wife came out with her good camera and stayed with us until about 10 minutes before the nurse shark grabbed the bait. My son's phone was too dead to support the flash and my phone was in the vehicle in the parking lot. I'm still bummed that we didn't get a picture but we did have a tape measure and of course nurse sharks are easily recognizable. 

Good luck!


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## GeeTee (Jun 28, 2014)

Thanks for the info FHD - i`m OK with bait, just needed to find out where more or l;ess you were fishing, if you`re not in the right place you can throw an entire seafood restaurant at the sea and wont catch anything.

We catch sharks differently where i`m from, take a long pole with a multiplyer reel, cast out a 8-10oz sinker 120 - 160yards, let it sit for a little and then SLIDE LINE your bait out, we use a non return clip which allows you to get a huge bait out with little effort hence not needing a kayak ;-) 

Good catch once again and looks like i`ll be going out tomorrow night if all goes well, will post back if i catch anything decent!

Thanks again for info.


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## shawnk (May 28, 2012)

I was fishing Perdido Key last night we only caught one and had one other bite and both of them were late.


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## FHD (May 26, 2013)

So, the one you caught - what kind of shark and how large?


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## shawnk (May 28, 2012)

It was a blacktip 6'3"


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## GeeTee (Jun 28, 2014)

Shawn and FHD - i`m going out tonight for my final sharking session before i return to the putrid brown seaweed infested waters of Texas - i need to give it all tonight.

You`ve both indicated the Key and East - would i be ok fishing the state park?


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## shawnk (May 28, 2012)

I have been fishing the state park your not suppose to but I have not had a problem. I would like to come down and join you but I'm going hog hunting tonight. Good luck.


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