# Surf Shark Fishing



## Olsonkevin15 (Jul 6, 2015)

The sea grass finally moved out on Monday and we were lucky enough to catch this big guy! Tuesday the grass was back. I am ready for clear water again.


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## sharkwrangler (Sep 29, 2013)

Nice catch! You do know they're protected and not supposed to be pulled out of the water?


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## Olsonkevin15 (Jul 6, 2015)

Regulation states--release the fish while it is in the water "when possible". It was me and my 98lb wife so that wasnt possible bud. Dont come on here and try to interperit regulations to me.


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## froggy (Feb 7, 2014)

awesome catch pal !!!


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## Olsonkevin15 (Jul 6, 2015)

Thanks Froggy! Sharkwrangler what about this catch?


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## sharkwrangler (Sep 29, 2013)

Olsonkevin15 said:


> Regulation states--release the fish while it is in the water "when possible". It was me and my 98lb wife so that wasnt possible bud. Dont come on here and try to interperit regulations to me.


Not sure I follow you hoss. How was it not possible to dehook at the waters edge or cut the cable in broad daylight versus dragging it up 10 ft on the beach? Seems like more work to me.

If you look closely at the picture you posted me while you were stalking my catches, you can clearly see it's in wet sand where water had just receded from washing up on the shark. Very limited visibility and still able to get it released without dragging it halfway up the beach.


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

OlsonKevin- You did fine with the release. I have caught some big sharks while sharking in the surf and would NEVER try to dehook when still in the water. Hammers are very strong and can handle being out of the water for a bit.

Great job and go get 'em again!


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## darsinika (Apr 18, 2010)

last year they had to bring a front loader to pick up a half dead 12 foot hammerhead to take and bury that some asshole brought onto sand and then the tide ran out.


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

darsinika said:


> last year they had to bring a front loader to pick up a half dead 12 foot hammerhead to take and bury that some asshole brought onto sand and then the tide ran out.


Hi darsinika,
I'm the asshole you reference and yes I caught that 11'5" Great Hammer.
Let me relate to you and anyone else who cares, the facts on that situation.










It was hooked about 9:30pm on Mon Sept 22nd, it was a 45 minute fight and it was never taken out of the water.
It stayed in the water with surf pushing it up on an incoming tide.
High tide was at 01:36am, the next low tide was at 07:19am.
Yes, it ended up on the sand, but not by our direct doing.

It thrashed like hell in the shore surf, beating his head and body into the bottom, I think it internally injured itself doing so. 
He also wrapped the leader around his neck/gills and one side of his hammer, cuts from leader on body, gills and head.
Great Hammers are know for fighting till exhausted or dead, and for thrashing wildly, i.e. sledge hammering.

We spent four to five minutes gathering data/pic and then we tried to get it swimming.
It couldn't swim off successfully, and we spent about an hour with it trying to revive it.
It would try to swim off and stop, get washed back in by the incoming tide, repeat, repeat, and repeat.
After awhile we admitted failure and followed the letter of the law, we left the fish in the water as per FWC laws.
You ever try manhandling a 500-600# shark for a long period of time?
It isn't easy and it isn't safe for the people or shark.

Anyone who sharks for awhile knows that they will lose fish, it happens, sooner or later it is unavoidable.
Question my ethics all you want, you weren't there, you're making an ass'umption.
I'm a Catch/Tag/Release sharker, healthy live release with a tag is the goal. 

This is the only shark I've ever had fail to swim off on it's own power.

Here is the report on this forum, you might be able to tell I was unhappy about the ending.
http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f31/hammer-report-427050/


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

dry sand is "landed", shark wrangler and chile both had fish on wet sand. 

careful what you post. 

nice hammer.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

darsinika said:


> last year they had to bring a front loader to pick up a half dead 12 foot hammerhead to take and bury that some asshole brought onto sand and then the tide ran out.


 
I "heard" it was closer to 14ft... not that I saw anything.


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

Olsonkevin15 said:


> It was me and my 98lb wife so that wasnt possible bud.


I have to laugh at this.
C'mon man, what do you think there is on here, nothing but morons?
There are no less than three grown men dealing directly involved with the shark in that picture.
You geeking the camera, one on the tail and one messing with the leader.

I'm not calling you on anything else but this ^.
Just you and your 98# wife... LOL 

On the other hand, a few people are trying to save you some money.
If you pull it up on the beach (land it) and do anything other than perform actions to release it, you're setting yourself up for a potential problem.

Nice fish.


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## ChileRelleno (Jul 7, 2012)

lowprofile said:


> I "heard" it was closer to 14ft... not that I saw anything.


Darsinika is referring to my fish, he did the same in the original report.
Tape from head to tip of tail was 137", if we'd taped contour it might have measured 13'+.
I wish it'd been a 14' fish :notworthy:


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

ChileRelleno said:


> Darsinika is referring to my fish, he did the same in the original report.
> Tape from head to tip of tail was 137", if we'd taped contour it might have measured 13'+.
> I wish it'd been a 14' fish :notworthy:


 at first I thought we were referring the one that washed up at the pier. there's been a few hammers that had to be buried between panama and Pensacola the past couple years. one was found on the beach with its jaws cut out. a couple died and were reported and one giant one mysteriously washed up at the pier....


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## Randall2point0 (Feb 11, 2011)

lowprofile said:


> dry sand is "landed", shark wrangler and chile both had fish on wet sand.
> 
> careful what you post.
> 
> nice hammer.


Would it be healthy for the shark if it was tail roped and head roped then pulled up onto the pier?


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Randall2point0 said:


> Would it be healthy for the shark if it was tail roped and head roped then pulled up onto the pier?


Probably not, but who am I to judge?


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## Randall2point0 (Feb 11, 2011)

lowprofile said:


> Randall2point0 said:
> 
> 
> > Would it be healthy for the shark if it was tail roped and head roped then pulled up onto the pier?
> ...


Yeah, I just don't see how someone can consider themselves a shark conservationists when they throw two ropes around a shark a pull it 20 feet into a pier. Poor little guys...

Anyways how have you been, what part of the world are you in now days?


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Randall2point0 said:


> Yeah, I just don't see how someone can consider themselves a shark conservationists when they throw two ropes around a shark a pull it 20 feet into a pier. Poor little guys...
> 
> Anyways how have you been, what part of the world are you in now days?


fortunately, I've never done that. I've net a few off the pier before but no lassos here. 

I'm in the southern Islands of Japan. just as I catch a break and find the fish I've been looking for, duty calls.  

to the OP. don't consider any of the comments as personal attacks. the rules are written in black and white and that's what the wardens go off of. there are several that lurk the boards and social media. they know what's going on. when a fish hits DRY land, it is considered landed. a couple people have ran into this problem with protected species and being accused of breaking the law by FWC themselves. Its fun to share pics of our catches, just make sure you sensor them and make sure there are no discrepancies in anything you say or pics you post. also, learning to blurr out the background is a good idea as well. people will flock to your spot once they see you are catching fish. even if you move around a lot like I do, if they can figure out where you were in a pic, they'll be there and their friends follow.


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## raptor45 (May 7, 2015)

Personally, I think it's ridiculous to catch and kill a hammerhead. Bull sharks are dangerous to everyone so...hell yeah...but hammers....no thanks. They are beautiful and they just don't bother beach tunas all that much. And, besides all of that they are a real treat to see when they're chasing rays and other crap in the shallows. There is nothing quite so exciting as that tall dorsal fin ripping through shallow water, wagging around in circles and then moving off.

Do what you want, but it doesn't take much of a man to wrestle any shark to the beach with a hook in its jaw, a cow rope around it's tail and three heavies pulling on the tag end.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

raptor45 said:


> Personally, I think it's ridiculous to catch and kill a hammerhead. Bull sharks are dangerous to everyone so...hell yeah...but hammers....no thanks. They are beautiful and they just don't bother beach tunas all that much..


Besides the protected status of hammers I don't really see a difference. There are way more Bulls swimming the shallows of the panhandle during the summer than hammers and there have only been a hand full of attacks in the past decade. The last one I remember was some kid got bit on the foot and said it was a hammerhead. 

If your going to fish for food then keep what you want within legal means. Killing something just at because you have a negative opinion about them is just stupid.


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## ranger250x (May 30, 2015)

raptor45 said:


> Personally, I think it's ridiculous to catch and kill a hammerhead. Bull sharks are dangerous to everyone so...hell yeah...but hammers....no thanks. They are beautiful and they just don't bother beach tunas all that much. And, besides all of that they are a real treat to see when they're chasing rays and other crap in the shallows. There is nothing quite so exciting as that tall dorsal fin ripping through shallow water, wagging around in circles and then moving off.
> 
> Do what you want, but it doesn't take much of a man to wrestle any shark to the beach with a hook in its jaw, a cow rope around it's tail and three heavies pulling on the tag end.


You do realize you're on a fishing forum?


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## raptor45 (May 7, 2015)

Sure I do ranger and I have to ask if you realize that you are part of a group of folks who are privileged to hunt and fish and who are, ultimately, responsible for protecting wildlife?

I hunt and fish every chance I get but I'm a conservationist first and it doesn't matter one whit if this is a fishing site or a PETA site, my comment stands.

I hold a strong opinion that no one should needlessly kill an animal simply because he can through some presumptive right or otherwise.


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## ranger250x (May 30, 2015)

Pretty sure the OP did not kill the hammerhead. Others were warning him of having a protected species further up on the beach than the written law may or may not allow.

I do agree with you on every front that we(fishermen) should be conservationists.

I do not agree with you about "not taking much of a man" to LBSF. What would you suggest be used instead of fishing hooks? Many times people fishing for sharks from the sand want to see the creatures returned to the water as unharmed as possible. The APEX predator program relies heavily on shark fishermen for collecting data. Have you ever paddled a bait out and brought in a decent sized shark? Pretty dang fun if you ask me.


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## strongman (May 19, 2011)

Olsonkevin15 said:


> Regulation states--release the fish while it is in the water "when possible". It was me and my 98lb wife so that wasnt possible bud. Dont come on here and try to interperit regulations to me.


You conveniently left out the part right above what you clipped out of myfwc.Com that says these species cannot be harvested, landed, etc. No regulation interpretation necessary. It's all there in black and white. What you clipped is just a "survival guide" for the sharks we catch.


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