# Surf Fishing, Shark Fishing, and Stingray fishing Basics



## nikolasbarrios

Im looking for ANY information related to stingray, surf, and shark fishing.

Im primarily fishing for sharks but I currentely have cheap gear. 
$30 Tiger pole and reel setup from walmart with 60lb mono, 3 foot steel leaders, circle and J hooks, pyrimid and slider weights.

HELP!
Im currentely having trouble keeping my line straight it seems that the surf is causing me to get a lot of slack. 

How do I catch stingrays?

When should I begin fishing for stingrays and sharks?

Thanks Everyone.


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## Orangebeach28

don't worry about the cheap gear man - you can still get bites...

What kind of reel is it? You can keep a fish on with weak drag as long as you got enough backing. That 60 lb mono is damn heavy unless you got it on a big Senator. I go after blacktips with 30lb braid mounted on Ebay bought Peen 750's. That's all I need, I just have to let em' run. With braid, I got the 300 yds to play with. I'm worried that you don't have the backing to hold a shark's first run if you're using 60lb test??

3 foot steel leaders are a little short. Even a small shark can tail whip that mono. It helps that it's 60lb test, but if you hook into a 6 foot bull, he's gone. 

You're good on the slide pyramid weights. However, be sure you have enough weight to reel down tight on that bait. This will help prevent slack. However, don't use so much that a shark could feel it when it picks up the bait. If you have to use more than 10 oz, the surf might be a little too big anyway. 

As far as the slack in your line - 2 tips

1, get a tall rod holder and long pole (I use a 10 foot med heavy)
This will help get your line out and over the surf break that constantly drags on your line, your bait, and eventually causes slack

2, get that bait further out
Buy a cheap inflatable and get that bait way out (at least 100 yds). Remember, mono stretches like crazy. The further your line is out, the more it can stretch in the current without moving your bait. If you've got the money, buy a kayak, obviously that's a little more security when you're paddling bloody fish out at dusk! I use the inflatable cuz' I'm cheap... If you switch to braid, you won't get any stretch, so make sure you rod tip has little flex to compensate (med heavy vs heavy). 

Hope that helps

Catching sting rays is hit or miss. I tend to catch em' on sandfleas in the surf. I hate them, but they're great for sharks (they don't fall apart).


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## nikolasbarrios

Hey thanks man thats a lot of good information.

Im using 60lb cajun line from walmart its the smallest in diameter with the least stretch and the most yardage.
An open faced reel attached to an 8ft medium-heavy 
Should I make my own leaders or can I buy 6 foot ones?
Can someone please show me a pic of how to setup my pole for surf fishing (hooks, weights, leader, swivels...)? 

Dont call me crazy yet lol. 
I have an extra spool to fit my pole that is spooled up with 30lb mono. This is just incase I hook on to something bigger than I plan for (**it happens). I leave a small tail with a loop in the end so that I can put my secondary line through the eyes and connect to my original line with a clip. After clipping the two lines together I remove my original spool, connect my secondary spool, and continue to fight. This allows me to have 700yrds. Thats all I should need for navarre or destin. Feel free to call me stupid if you must but fact is my tackle combined probably cost less than most peoples hooks and im fine with that till I get some money saved up. lol


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## Orangebeach28

I make my own leaders. Since I'm not casting my bait at all, I make my leaders 8 ft. I crimp 80 lb coated wire to 200 pound swivels. Go to any bait shop and they can show how to get the right sleeves and wire. I use anywhere from a 9 ot to an 11 ot circle hook. I put a slider rig above my leader with a 5 oz weight. I like a lady or a blue fish cut in half for bait. 

I like your idea for clipping the secondary line, but I've never heard of someone actually pulling something like that off. I think that shark will be in Cuba before you get that secondary spool attached....But if you got the guts to try it, let me know if it works!


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## nikolasbarrios

lol im gunna have to make it work if I wanna land that monster. Thanks for the info.


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## captainblack

i dont want to put doubt into you, but trying to switch spools and do the line clipping thing while fighting a shark, just seems a little hard to impossible. I mean its a neat idea, but in practice i see it being VERY VERY difficult, the fish on the other end of that line might stop running and give you enough time to do this, but then again it might stop for a second, then decide to put the jets back on and take off

if i can give you a tip on a cheap reel that has worked really well for me, shakespeare has some cheaper conventional reels, i got an arsenal trolling reel, it cost me like 33 dollars and then another 25 filling it with 300 yards of 50# braid then some 40# mono on top to finish filling it and add a little mono in case of getting broken on the bottom id lose mono not braid

cost 55 to 60 bucks for the reel to be ready to go but has handled quite a few 4 to 6 foot blacktips like a charm for quite a while, my other setup for anything bigger though is a penn 6/0 on a 6ft boat rod thats got alot of backbone 

if youre gonna tackle a monster the right equipment pays off for sure, im on a tight budget so i know its a pain but you dont need 400 dollars worth to get by cheap works but there is a point where its a little better to try to get a little better setup (if you have your reel smoked and ruined, or just get spooled every hookup, eventually youll be losing line often enough or replacing the reel if its got plastic parts in the drag and getting fed up)

as far as stingrays, you can work with what you got now for sure, i always use cutbait on the bottom or sometimes sand fleas work, they fight really hard and a 2ft wide ray will fight like a beast from hell and will be very fun (theyre not bad eatin either)

if you have problems with line drifting in the wave action, if you cant get a longer rod, try to get a piece of pvc pipe of diameter that fit the rod butt in it, cut the bottom at an angle to where its got a point, cut it about 4 to 5 feet long that way you can really push or bury it down a foot to a foot and a half deep and still have a good 3 1/2 to 4 feet sticking up to put the rod in, it will lift your rod tip and line to 12 feet giving you a little more room to keep your line above the waves

also make sure youre sinker pulling the line and therefor bait as well beyond the wave action far enough to keep youre line a little more out of the currents and action and also get your bait where the feeding is happening. if its for rays, on a calm day this time of year, around sunset you can cast real close to shore for them, youll even see them come right up to your feet at the shoreline which you probably have seen before if youve been to the beaches in the fall in florida

stingray leaders i like to use 3 or 4 feet of 60# wire, shark leaders for blacktips ill use 100-200# coated wire 3ft-3ft of weed eater line, or just a 6ft wire leader, ill use cirlce hooks from 7/0 to 10/0 or 8/0 to 10/0 J hooks(i prefer circles)

if you upgrade to some heavier gear to handle a big bull or a hammer or something, you would want to go with 200# or more steel leader, i use either 8ft steel wire or 4ft wire/4 to 6ft of weed eater line (the weedeater line wont get tail slapped and broke like mono, and only the first few feet of the leader will be in danger of bite offs)

if your question of when to catch them means what time of year, any time, if you mean what time of day, really any time, but they tend to feed more early morning or late evening and i usually go overnight

hope some of this info helps


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## Sailor50

Not into shark fishing yet but found this web site awhile ago and would probably be helpful if you dont have it already. Click on the Shark Handbook at the top of the page

Index page - TEXAS SHARK FISHING


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## mdrobe2

you sound like you need some advice and what you are trying to accomplish shoiuld not be that tough. if i were you i would try around galvez landing. ditch your mono, or if you have to use it tie a leader with a sinker above it. use wire for sharks, but rays fall for mono. there are more sharks and rays than you can count in the intracoastal.


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## jdhkingfisher

captian black writin a novel up there. thats why he is considered a pro


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## nikolasbarrios

Ok first of all thanks for the great info everyone. 
Secondly i've upgraded my tackle a little bit I now own 16ft of wire and a handful of clanps. Also I bought some ryno tuff weed eater line and some heavy duty swivels and hooks. Also I bought a 15ft pole to get my line way over the surf.
How should I rig it up?


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## captainblack

you can search for vids, theres quite a few, tried looking but couldnt find a real simple on and internets slow.

take a few inches more than 3 feet of the wire, put two sleeves onto, put a hook on, bend the wire back over and slide into the sleeves, crimp down both sleeve in the center a few times, one at a time. i always use two just in case one fails, youll have a second there too keep it holding on. 

once the hook is secured onto the leader, take the other end, slide two sleeves on, repeat leaving an open eye at the end

run anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of the weed eater line after that depending on how long of a leader you want, for how big a fish youre after

same process pretty much, run on two sleeves put the end of the weed eater line through the eye in the top of the wire you left, fold over through the sleeves and crimp in the center a few times

at the end of the weed eater line put two sleeves on, then put on a heavy swivel, fold over and through the sleeves, crimp those two and you got a leader

you could also try putting the swivel between the wire and weed eater line instead or putting on there as well as at the end of the weed eater line its up to you

but that will give you a basic single hook shark leader. another thing i do that really isnt all that important most of the time is wrap 3/4 of the hook with electrical tape, learned that bit from some guys i used to fish with when i was a teenager, less metal for the shark to feel so hes less likely to drop it when chewing the bait

ive typed a damn book, i hope this helps, now i need to let my dogs go make their business and go to sleep


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## nikolasbarrios

Thats great info and all but im more puzzled with where in the world my spider weight is supposed to go. Thanks for the info man.


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## captainblack

i put a dropper loop above where i tie on the leader


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## jonny

thanks for all the info for newbies


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## nikolasbarrios

Ok so I went out shark fishin for the first time with all my new gear. I was set up with 6ft of steel leader on a 6ft piece of trace and heavy duty swivels and 30lb mono (I was testing out a theory I know it'd be hard to catch a shark on 30lb). Any ways I was fishin underneath the destin bridge with a head on deli shrimp and I think a #5/0 hook tryin to catch a big fish to use for bait. Well I got my pole in a holder and all of the sudden my pole and pvc holder fall to the ground. I calmly pick it up to feel for a fish and prepare to set the hook. After realizing there was no fish I begin to remove my slack. Come to find out there's nothing to tighten. There's nothing on the end of my line, no bait, not trace, no steel leader, no hook, no swivels. What happened? I know it wasn't my knot and I know it wasn't my mono.


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## captainblack

my guess is bad knot or catfish took the line over a rock, did the end of the line look frayed up? and for future reference, dont put on the steel leader to catch bait, you dont need a shark rig to catch ladies and blues etc


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## nikolasbarrios

I know i didn't need that big of a setup but my friend didn't bring the bait like he was supposed to and I only had the one pole with me and didn't feel like changin my rig. Now I wish I had changed to cheaper equipment lol. My line wasn't twisted like the knot came out and there were no teeth marks. It looked like it was cut with a sharp knife. An employee at bass pro shop told me that fish will try to eat swivels and I had a swivel on my mono attached to my weedeater tracer. Do you think its possible that a blue or another sharp toothed fish tried to eat my swivel? Whats the easiest way to catch lady fish and where?
Thanks,
Nikolas


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## Orangebeach28

Very possible that a blue sliced that swivel off - I've never had it happen, but maybe using black swivels is a good idea??


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## nikolasbarrios

I was using black swivels.


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## marriemb

For a decent or bigger size shark, you need a right gear man. Since you are looking for cheaper ones. then spinning rods will suit you the best.


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## xtopdawg386x

captainblack said:


> my guess is bad knot or catfish took the line over a rock, did the end of the line look frayed up? and for future reference, dont put on the steel leader to catch bait, you dont need a shark rig to catch ladies and blues etc


Captainblack has given you a lot of very good advice ! 

I have been shark fishing this area for years like you i started off with gear i all ready had for freshwater fishing bait caster and a couple open face's holding around 250 yrds of 20 lb mono . Well shortly after this i found i had the wrong equipment ! You can go online to Google and look up a penn pursuit 8000 I bought 3 of them about a month ago around 65 bucks a piece rod and reel rods a 10 ft penn surf rod holds 500 yrds of 50 lb braid with backing . So far these rods have landed black tips a 6 ft hammer head and 3 bull sharks ranging from 4.5 - 8 ft . I had a lot of reels b4 i found these but the price was right so i got them to add to my other shark rods . If you wanting to go from the beach and have a yak you can look into getting a penn 6/0 and filling it with braid will handle pretty much what ever you want while staying around 200 $ for reel and rod . Cancel one or to trips save your money and buy the right equipment you will have a lot more fun once you get right equipment . It took me a few years to get every thing i have like it will probably take you .


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## devinsdad

All very good tips but one thing someone pointed out that makes a huge difference: Wrap your hook down to the barb in electrical tape.


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## J.Sharit

If you really want to learn the sport from the bottom up go to
www.southfloridasharkclub.com Great bunch of dedicated shark
fishermen and the forum contains tons of good usable info on
the subject. I've been sharkfishing this area for 30 plus years
and the only way to really catch a large costal shark is with the right gear. I would'nt use a leader with 4 stess points and a mono shocker that stretches like crazy and takes alot of punch oputa settin a hook. a single coated wire leader about 12 to 15 ft long has been the standard for years. If your just using spinning reels
and surf casting then I guess anything will do because the size of the sharks won't be a strain on most gear. Most of those phantom hits
that end up losing your gear are caused by blue fish or other toothy critters that see your line light up from noctoluca plankton. Shark fishing is experincing a rebirth in popularity. We all need to do our part to keep it from slipping back into disfavor of the public eye before it's banned completely from our beaches. that means cleaning up after ourselves
not leaving dead carcus on the beach and doing all we can to promote catch and release of the species. Killing a shark just for the jaws or for
spite is no better than killing it for fins to make soup......... and with thier low reproduction rate
it might not be a sport for our kids.


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## xtopdawg386x

devinsdad said:


> All very good tips but one thing someone pointed out that makes a huge difference: Wrap your hook down to the barb in electrical tape.


Yes that is a very good tip that most people don't know about how ever something should be learned on your own thats why i did not mention it . But i guess its not much of a secret or trick any more . LoL


+1 for j sharit 

I have noticed around destin pass some one or a few people have been leaving trash and leader material ect. on the gulf side of the jetties . The stuff left behind had to be from a shark fisherman from what i could see . I ended up picking it up along with my trash . I usually pull all my stuff out to the jetties with my yak and toss all the trash in the bottom of this but if your not yaking your bait out every one should be able to take a bucket or small wallmart bag with them to clean there trash up . If you did not put the trash there but you see trash there pick it up and throw it away it does not take much effort . There people watching you even if you don't see them , mostly people in condo's that report people leaving trash on the beach and its coming on to there property don't give them any more ammo to close more section of beach to the public or make it were we cant fish from the beach's . Plus your only hurting your own lively hood when your doing this since alot of income for people around here is from tourist if our beach's our looking like a garbage dump people will go other places to vacation which will hurt this area in the long run .


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## bleachcola

Instead of electrical tape, I switched to Plasti Dip. I pick it up at Lowe's right next to the spray paint. Dip and dry and done. Much smoother and quicker and prettier than electrical tape. But be sure to bring electrical tape to do some patchwork after you land a shark.


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## bleachcola

And don't invest too much in a long rod. Once you get a proper reel and a way to deploy baits (kayak et cetera) then you need to switch to a shorter rod in the six foot range. Longer rods give the fish leverage.


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## bleachcola

For rays, I go to the residential docks on the Gulf Breeze side of the Bay. You can throw out cut bait or minnows on a line or just gig 'em like I do. Makes the best free bait. They're not very big but they are ridiculously plentiful and get the job done. It's a guaranteed catch every trip rather than chancing it in the surf on the proper beach.


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