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.

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.

Sunrise CNS lot #4 - Small Sharks and Pompano

Decided to try surf fishing at sunrise this morning. I've never fished the beach this early in the morning before so I was curious to see how the fish bite at first light. Arrived at Lot 4 around 6:30am and found nobody at lot 4. Good sign! The surf was 1-2 ft with a moderate current to the north. Winds were not an issue today at all. I'm thinking so far everything is adding up to a good day fishing. Even though nobody was in the parking lot, I still rushed to get out on the beach, almost running with my beach cart. I claimed my spot right in front of the boardwalk and proceeded to anchor my two sand spikes. My two rods are the 10' Okuma ABF-65 and my newest addition a 12' beefstick with an Okuma Trio-BF-65 reel. I had an arsenal of bait this morning with frozen sandfleas I bought earlier this year and fresh dead shrimp from End of the Line baitshop.

The first hit didn't take long and it came on the 12' with shrimp. I reeled in a double actually, a croaker and a small pompano. Both got a release back in the water. Next hit came on the 12' again this time with sandfleas. It was a small bonnethead shark, another safe release. Switched back to shrimp because I wasn't getting anything else on sandfleas. The shrimp worked much better. I ended up catching 4 small Atlantic Sharpnose sharks, 2 small catfish, 1 sail catfish, a just legal pompano, and another small croaker.

Everything got a release except for the slot pompano which went home on ice. The fishing was steady early then died off as 9:00am rolled around. Very happy with the results and variety of fish. Overall I caught 12 fish of 6 different species! It was also cool to catch 5 little baby sharks, thats a first for me.