Two Big Hits & Spooled Sharking @ Bethune Beach

Haven't been sharking on the beach in awhile so Zack and I decided to give it another go before it gets too cold. On the way we noticed lightning in the sky but it was further east and offshore. Upon arrival the winds were very calm so the bugs were out. Surf was 1 - 1.5 ft and it was high tide. I brought along some fresh bait that was actually caught by myself this week, crevalle jack and a ladyfish. My two 12' Beefstick rods were already rigged with a single strand wire leader thats about 100lb test. One reel is spooled with 40lb power pro braid and my large Fin Nor Offshore reel is spooled with about 300 yds of 100 lb test braid.

Setup pretty quick and cut some ladyfish to start the night off. We didn't go out too far to cast our lines, probably at the most knee deep. I used 5oz pyramids as weights and they seemed to hold really well. Now it was the waiting game. Two rods soaking and two friends just hanging out on the beach. After about 20 minutes my rod gets the hit. I get the rod in my hands and tighten the drag, the line is still coming off. I tighten down some more and feel something shake and go faster again. Line goes off and I'm still hanging on. It's something big. I hold the spool and I think it's turned around, I feel a shake and then dead slack. It's off! I reel in the slack and I'm missing my weight, so I know the wire didn't break. Turns out it broke at the 100lb braid line. I initially thought it was a tail slap that broke me off (sharks are known to easily snap lines with their tails). But when I looked at my reel I noticed alot of line missing, probably a good 60 yards. Not exactly sure what happened on that one and it took me a few minutes to gather myself after that one. Losing a fish to a broken line is sickening.

After taking a moment to think about what just happened, I decided to switch baits to a chunk of crevalle jack. I let that soak for about 30 minutes but nothing. After that I told Zack we should both reel in, rebait with chunk of ladyfish and give it one last cast before we head back home. So we did this and as soon as I sat in my chair, my Fin Nor reel goes berserk again. I didn't have a chance to put my pants back on over my swimming suit. I grab the rod and it's peeling line out at will. I tighten down the drag and basically hang on as my spool is getting smaller and smaller. It's hauling ass and I'm losing the battle quickly. A couple times I tried to hold the spool briefly to stop the fish in it's tracks, but as soon as it felt me trying to pull it back, it gave a shake and moved even faster the other way. Now my spool is getting down to the danger zone with less than 100 yards remaining. Still...the fish never stopped. Not even for a second to let me gain any ground on it. At this time I knew I was getting spooled and there's no way I'm getting a chance to see this monster. Still going!! I saw the yellow braid disappear off my reel like it was nothing...and now I'm down to the mono backing which is only 30 lb test. It continued to roll off the mono as well, then SNAP! the mono finially gave out. Fight was over and I was done for the night. My reel was bare, only a few yards left of mono backing. I've never felt the power of a fish that big. I don't think my reel and gear is even capable of bringing in a beast of that caliber. It's just one of those things I couldn't do anything but hang on. Plus I didn't even have a fighting belt, so the butt of the rod was buried in my hip leaving me with a nice bruise. After a night like this, it sure makes me rethink my strategy for sharking. Unfortunately for Zack, he was left wondering why he didn't get a hit the whole night using the same bait I'm using. Thats fishing my friend.

Saturday Night Sharkin' - Bethune Beach

Another night trip to Bethune Beach with Zack. We arrived before midnight and setup two rods, both baited with cut crevalle jack. The action was very slow most of the evening, in fact, only a few small bites but nothing was hooking. I didn't catch anything but my friend Zack caught another 3' Atlantic Sharpnose shark at the end of the night. The fight was disappointing though, it really didn't fight at all. It pretty much came in without any aggresive runs. The shark swallowed the hook and was already bleeding out when it came on the beach. So I began the process of cutting and gutting the shark for the cooler. We had to packup to ice down the shark so we ended up leaving a little earlier than planned. Here's Zacks shark on the beach...

Wednesday Night Shark! 37" Atlantic Sharpnose

Took my two friends Kyle and Zack to the Bethune Beach last night and had a blast again! Armed with ladyfish, each of us had a chance at a toothy shark tonight. The first hit came on Kyle's rod but it didn't stick to the hook. It quickly came off after a brief battle. Next turn was Zack. He had just casted and was about to put his pants back on...wait wait...let me explain this. We typically wear long pants and shoes on the beach at night because of the no-see-ums and mesquitos. They can be really annoying and uncomfortable during the summer. So everytime we cast our lines out, we take off our pants leaving our boardshorts on so we can get wet. Once the rod is set in the sand spike, we dry our legs off to put the long pants back on. You have to keep exposed skin to a minimum during the summer nights in Florida. =)

So back to the story, as I was saying it was Zacks turn. He had just casted his line out and dried off. As he was putting his pants on, his rod gets a bend. This is the crucial moment where you have to rush to the rod. Needless to say, Zack was a little delayed in getting to the rod with his pants around his ankles haha. The bite didn't stick unfortunately and the fish was gone.
And finially, it was my turn. My rod gets a good lick and I immediately feel the battle. During retrieve it tangles lines with another rod, but I still successfully got it in. It was a 37" Atlantic Sharpnose shark! And to top it off, Zack and Kyle untangled the lines without cutting anything off. It took them a good 10-15 minutes, but they got it figured out.

Personal Best Bonnethead Shark!!

My son and I were invited to spend the day with my neighbor, Dave, and his kids at the beach. It was Daves' birthday and he wanted to take the kids to the beach and fish. The plan was for the dads to leave early morning and then the wife would bring the kids later in the morning. So Dave and I left about 7:30am and arrived at his sisters condo near Bethune Beach. A great place with a nice double decker patio. The top deck has a nice view of the beach!
My buddy Zack met us at the condo later on and after hanging out for awhile we decided it was time to get the lines wet. Unloaded everything and setup on the water. For bait I brought frozen shrimp, frozen ladyfish and bluefish. Most of us used the shrimp and had little success. I think Dave and Zack eventually tried cutbait but no hits. The fishing was really slow to say the least.
The kids arrived later in the morning and were ready to splash around. We let them play close to shore in the water as we continued to fish. I finially got a good run on a piece of shrimp. It was a good fighter and I had to manuever it up and under some lines still in the water. I'm not one to brag but I dominated this fight! LOL

Got it up on the beach and saw it was a big bonnethead shark, my personal best by far. I'd say about 3' long, unfortunately I didn't measure it. I was more worried about getting it back in the water quickly so it would survive a release. I took the hook out, posed for a few photos, showed it to the kids and they watched as I put it back in the water.

SHARK WEEK! Surf Fishing Report

Well it's been a busy month for me. I was out of town from July 12-22 on a family vacation to Indiana. When I came back I had to get back on the water. And that I did. This week I went night shark fishing twice at Bethune Beach. The surf is the calmest I've seen in a long time on the Atlantic side. Swells are 1 ft or less, and the current is not strong. I'm able to hold with a 3 oz pyramid. The first night, it was just me and Zack, and I hooked into a big one. It took me awhile to get it close, and it got stuck on a far sandbar during the fight. Finially got it close enough to see and could definitly tell it was the biggest shark I've caught from the beach. Probably about 4-5 feet long all together, we didn't know how to land this shark without getting hurt or breaking the line. I think we were more concerned about breaking the line and losing the shark. I played with it along the shoreline as we tried to persuade one another to get in the water and grab it's tail LOL. Hey you can't blame us for being nervous about grabbing a shark by it's tail. Plus it wasn't exactly beached either, the water was shallow but deep enough for it to swim if it really wanted to. I finially worked it up close, and Zack grabbed the tail and tried to pull it back fast. The shark tried to whip it's head side to side so Zack let go, and just at that moment a wave came up on the beach. Just enough to pull the shark back in the water LOL. During this event the hook came off and we watched the shark swim away towards deeper water. It was gone. No pictures and no measurements, but a hell of a catch for me. The score is 0-1 on sharks this week so far.

A few nights later I took my friends Zack and Kyle with me to the same spot at night. We had a late start this time, probably got setup with lines in the water near midnight. Zack got the first hit but only lasted about 2 seconds. The baitrunner drag was pulling fast on the initial hit, then snap the 40lb mainline broke. Seemed odd at the time but now that I think about it, I believe it was a big shark that just happened to tail slap the line as it was briefly running off with the hook.
Score 0-2
The next hit was for my friend Kyle on the 10' pole. He fought the fish and it seemed good size from what I saw. I'm not sure what happened but the line broke on this one too. The whole rig gone again.
Score 0-3
A little bit later it's my turn, I get the hit on my 12' pole. I'm reeling in a good fighter and get it up to the shore without much difficultly. I see it's a shark and about 3' long. It's still in the water and I thought Kyle was going to grab it. But the shark freaks out and spits the hook, then shark goes bye bye. haha Oh well, I still had alot of fun and it was a very active night. But the score is now 0-4.

It was after these two nights that I realized I need to upgrade my shark gear, mostly just the mainline on my reels. I'm currently fishing with 40 lb braided line with 100 lb wire leaders. The wire leaders aren't breaking, it's just the 40 lb braided line. So within the next few weeks I'm planning on respooling my bigger reels to 100 lb powerpro braid. I'm also looking at adding a new reel, the one I'm interested in is the Fin Nor Offshore series 8500. With this reel, I could spool it with 500 yds of 100 lb braid. Wow! Plus it has max 60 lb drag pressure, which is almost 3x what my other reels are capable of.

Night Shark Fishing - 3 FT Shark and NESTING SEA TURTLE

Hit the beach for some night surf fishing last night, same spot near Bethune Beach park. My friend Zack joined me on the trip. At arrival it was a low tide with no wind. The no-see-ums were really bad though. Unfortunately I had only worn a short sleeve shirt and my boardshorts, so I had alot of exposed skin for the no-see-ums to bite. And that they did. Only a few bites on my arms but most of the bites came near my feet for some reason. 40% DEET wouldn't even keep those buggers off me. As long as I kept moving or walking, the bugs wouldn't bother me. As soon as I sat down or stood still, you'd notice the bugs swarming around you. It was annoying for sure. But on to the fishing report !

So we started off with cut ladyfish again and soaked two rods. We used my standard single strand wire leaders with an 8/0 Owners circle hook. Zack was in charge of my white 10' tundra surf rod and I claimed my black 12' beefstick. After a good soak, my 12' rod goes off. I grab it and battle the fish to the shore. It wasn't a great fight but it wasn't bad either. The battle only lasted a few minutes before I got the shark on the beach, it was a 37.5" Atlantic Sharpnose Shark! My first 3 footer that I've caught from the beach. It was a pretty exhilerating moment for me.

Then not long after we catch this shark, we notice something out in the distance along the shoreline. Since it was dark, all we could see was a big shadow and it looked like something had washed up on the beach. We walked closer to investigate and confirmed it was a nesting sea turtle that was coming up on the beach to lay her eggs. So Awesome! I've never witnessed this before, but I also knew we couldn't bother her. So after a quick picture from a distance, we turned around and headed back to camp. From our fishing spot, I could still see the sea turtle continue to slowly move up on the beach.

Bethune Beach Night Sharking - 37" Atlantic Sharpnose

Lately I've been studying night shark fishing more thorough, especially on the surf zone. I learned though without a kayak, we won't be able to deploy our baits very far. It basically comes down to how far we can cast, which isn't easy with bigger heavier baits. I purchased a new 12' surf rod to help with distance a little bit.
For lighting, I have some old headlamps that I used to wear on the St Johns River while catfishing at night. I also have some glow rod tips for bite detection. The glowsticks are definitly something I'll bring on every night surf fishing trip. They make it easy to see the rod tip action while the bait is soaking in the water.

Overall I'm still learning the ropes on night shark fishing. I've been to the beach at night twice before and didn't have any luck. Last night I took my neighbor, Steve, out to the same spot for a third attempt. I actually fished this spot twice before with my friend Zack but we didn't have any luck. Probably due to lack of propper bait deployment, I was using really long 4' mono leaders that were more difficult to cast. I've since changed back to using about a 14-16" sections of single strand wire. It paid off because we got two hits tonight using wire rigs. The first hit was on a ladyfish head. I felt the fish running and it actually pulled a little drag but then all of a sudden it was gone. After retrieving the line I noticed my hook was bare. My best guess is the bait wasn't all the way in the mouth and I just pulled the hook out.
The second hit was on Steve's side, he was using my 10' Okuma Tundra rod. The bait was the tail section of a ladyfish. The fish was on and Steve reeled it in pretty good. Once he got them to the shoreline and I could see it was a shark. It was actually a 37" Atlantic Sharpnose shark, the biggest shark I've seen landed so far from me and my fishing buddies. Steve wanted to keep the shark to give the meat to his boss. As a nice gesture, he let me keep the jaws from the shark. Here's the finished shark jaws, they are about 4.5" long! I didn't get a picture of the shark because my iphone completely died while we were fishing on the beach.