Thread: Shark Fishing

I know most of you guys and gals dont like to mess with sharks. I have never caught one and would like to try it out. Any ideas of where I could go and have a good chance of catching one? Whats the best way to fish for them? I will be in town the end of next week. Thanks!

if the pier is back open, just go out to the end and throw out a live LY. but you can't bring sharks up on the deck.
If you want to keep one you have to find public beach access that is outside of GS, OB and the State Park as it is not allowed in those areas.
If you plan on getting one in the surf and keeping it, go with a friend that knows what they are doing and be careful, the sharks don't care much for being drug up on the beach.

Thanks for your help. I would like to be able to land one though. I guess Ill stay away from the pier. Hopefully I can find a good location to try my luck!

I knew it was illegal to bring one on the pier or on State Park property but is it illegal on other Gulf Shore and/or Orange Beach surf?

just do it at night, you weren't intentionally trying to catch sharks anyway were you(sarcasm)

[quote author=hawgfan link=topic=1935.msg18268#msg18268 date=1346345167]
just do it at night, you weren't intentionally trying to catch sharks anyway were you(sarcasm)

[/quote]

Right...bull reds and bluefish.

Kywildcat, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach both have passed city ordinances that prohibits people landing sharks. You might be able to land one in Perdido Key...not sure so you might want to check it out.

It always seems to me that it's the people that are further inland that have the strongest desire to catch a shark. I can understand that desire for several different reasons, but help me understand why would you like to land a shark. Do you want to catch one to eat or just so you can get a picture with it before releasing it?

If you want to keep it to eat then let me tell you that catching one is the easy part. The real work starts when you go to getting it off the beach, cleaning it and preparing up to several hundred pounds of meat for transport. Unless you have a good plan in place and some good help in place harvesting sharks can be an exercise in futility.

If you are interested in CPR (catch, photograph and release) I would strongly suggest going about it from the pier provided it is open when you get here. CPR shark fishing is not something I would suggest a novice try to do from the beach. It is a lot of work and requires a good deal of equipment to catch a shark worthy of taking a picture of from a beach. People who do it regularly work in teams. These teams have a good deal of experience and understand their individual roles as well as the dangers involved. They know how to perform their individual tasks not only for the safety of the entire crew, but onlookers, who are bound to arrive, as well. If you were to try to catch a shark from the pier, the likelihood of hooking up with a good shark would be higher with less work involved. The photo or video you could get of the shark may not be as close, but it would probably be better from the perspective of the pier and the only additional gear or member of your team would be a camera person and the camera itself.

[size=12pt][font=comic sans ms]Here is a link to our most recent sharking expedition. Might give you a little idea of what is involved.
http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com...060212-600-pm/

[img width=720 height=960]http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g446/finchaser1/Forum%20Only/Sharkin6-2-2012104.jpg[/img]

From the beach, tossing into the gut or just over the the bar, you're more likely to hook into small-medium sharks.
Casting over the bar and/or yakking baits into deeper water you've more of a chance for medium-large sharks.
You can target small to medium sized sharks, which would be a bit easier to safely handle for two people who have a decent clue as to what they're doing. Do you have a buddy and do you both have a clue?... Not being a jerk, being serious.
If you've never seen it done a few times, or better, actually participated in landing sharks on the beach... You better be damned careful, cause you can get bit, injured by the sharks fins/abrasive skin, tangled/cut in the leader and etc.

Ideally you need a few sharking tools in your toolbox.
A friend or two with common sense and clue as to what they're doing.
Rod&reel combo & right terminal tackle.
Fighting belt and harness, a small fighting belt is very helpful on small to medium sharks, a belt/harness combo for medium-large.
Tail rope, much safer than grabbing by hand, better control and easier to beach.
A couple types of dehookers that are long enough to keep your digits/hands away from the sharks toothy grin.
A bolt cutter, if it can't be dehooked, cut the leader very short or cut the barb to remove the hook.
If your meat fishing a gaff can be helpful.
Sharking at night, good headlamps to see what you're doing and light for better pics.

CPR needs to be done in a very timely manner to ensure a healthy shark, this takes at least two people working together as a team.
As soon as it is in the shore surf, leader, tail rope, beach, dehook, tag, pics, back to water and revitalize/release.

Killing needs to be done quickly and humanely, e.g. sever the spinal column.
And to prevent the urea from spoiling the meat, the shark needs to be immediately and thoroughly bled, butchered ASAP and the meat needs to be put on ice.

Want a good personal fishing guide?
Call Pier#r aka David Thornton, and see if he'll guide you on sharking the beach?
He is highly recommended for all shore,jetty and pier fishing and I heard he knows fishing as well as most people know breathing.
http://www.gulfshoresfishing.com/Pie...hing-Guide.htm