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.

Flat Bridge Slam! Small Hammerhead Shark!

Hit the flat bridge at night again. Used some frozen ladyfish as cutbait and caught a nice variety. First fish of the night was a small Hammerhead shark that was no bigger than 15" long. Gave him a quick release back in the water so one day this little guy will hopefully grow to be a 12' tarpon eating machine.
Next fish was a small hardhead catfish. Then 15 minutes later I got another good hit and came to be a bluefish. All fish were caught within 45 minutes.

Personal Best 6 LB Gafftopsail Catfish - Flat Bridge

Hit the flat bridge with Zack Wednesday night. A little bit of a late start since we arrived at 11:30pm. Tide was slack when we arrived and just starting to move out. Tonight I also got to bring my new pier drop net that was purchased at Gander Mountain. It's a 36" diameter steel ring basket with a 100' of rope. I was definitly hoping to use it for the first time.
The bite was slow tonight for jigging. So nothing to talk about on the jig report. So we cut the ladyfish up and waited. My first cast I got a good run but the fish dropped the bait before I could even grab the rod. Then I get a nice hit and the fish is on. My first instinct tells me it's a shark with the sudden long runs during the fight. Then the moment of truth, I get a look and it's a big sail catfish. My personal best in fact, 6 lb 2 oz! Picture below shows him laying in my 36" drop net.
Before we left, I noticed we still had a whole ladyfish leftover for bait. So I told Zack we're both going to use a 5-6" filet off this thing and see if we can catch a monster on our last cast. I had two nice hits but the hook didn't set, so no fish. I'm starting to question the 8/0 j-hook with all the missed hookups tonight, and next time I'm switching back to circle hooks to see if that makes a difference in my hookup ratio.

Gafftopsail Catfish
Location: Flat Bridge (Port Orange)
Bait: cut ladyfish
Tackle: single strand wire leader - 8/0 Owners SSW Cutting Point Bait Hook

31" Atlantic Sharpnose Shark @ Flat Bridge Monday Night

Had the day off work on Monday as always, so after taking my son Cody to school I headed out to Sleepy Hollow. Tried my favorite spot with no hits. Then decided to leave the holler early and try the flat bridge instead. I think I was just lucky last week with the sleepy hollow flounder because recent reports have been skunky from others in the area. Flat bridge has been HOT though...

First cast on the flat bridge I hook into a small jack but it came off before I could get it over the rails. Using the same white gulp swimming mullet, I kept casting and jigging looking for the school of jacks. Several minutes passed and I finially get another small jack. After trying a couple other spots on the bridge that was it for the day trip.

Suddenly on the way home I get the urge to stop by Gander Mountain and stockup on some shark rigging. You see the last couple weeks I've seen 3 sharks hooked but unable to land. To prevent cutoffs I grabbed some 80lb steel wire leader. I also found an awesome drop net that was only $30 so I picked that up as well. With the new drop net and the wire, I'm not losing anymore sharks!

Night time comes and I get to the flat bridge around 10pm. I made wire leaders earlier in the day so I was ready. First spot I had a good hit on cut jack but somehow the hook popped off during fight. Now I'm not certain but I thought I saw the tail of a shark as it approached the shallow shoreline. But as the fish turned the hook just came out. Ahh! Not cool!
I jigged a white gulp swimming mullet for awhile and caught a few ladyfish. I even caught a 11.75" flounder that was thrown back.

I waited a long time for another hit but nothing. I decided to cut the ladyfish I brought and try dropping it a little past where the ladyfish were steadily feeding. This plan turned out to be very smart. I got a couple nice licks then finially...another fish on and it's pulling very good. I knew it wasn't a stupid catfish. I see my victim and thank god, it's a shark! Now since I'm fishing alone tonight, I didn't bring my new drop net. That would be extremely difficult with one person. But I did have my wire leader. My first attempt to hoist the shark up on the bridge didn't go so well. It didnt make it over the rail and luckily the shark was still on the hook. Second attempt was much better and successfully landed the shark. It came out to be a 31" Atlantic Sharpnose shark. I was going to eat the meat on top of keeping the jaws, but I didn't know you had to clean the fish immediatly after catch. I read that sharks get a really bad smell and taste in the meat if you don't bleed, gut, and filet the shark as quickly as possible. So the meat will probably be used as bait someday, and I'm currently in process of cleaning my first set of shark jaws. I'll post a photo when it's complete.

31" Atlantic Sharpnose Shark
Location: Flat Bridge (Port Orange)
Bait: cut ladyfish
Tackle: single strand wire leader - 8/0 Owners SSW Cutting Point Bait Hook

Sleepy Hollow Flattie - Monday 4/29

My day off was today so I headed out to Sleepy Hollow after I dropped off my son at school. Parked and walked out to the bank around 10am. First spot was the rightside point, no hits. Second spot I moved to the leftside point, saw some mullet so I decided to hang around. Tried the white Gulp Mantis Shrimp with no luck. Switched to the white Gulp Swimming Mullet and caught a nice 15" flounder. Next cast I see something about 16-18" long attack my bait, could've been a small blue? I don't know because it spit the hook and left. Moved to the culvert area and caught a big crab. That was it for the morning. One flounder in the bucket is still a good day fishing to me!

Flat Bridge 4/23 Night Fishing - Zacks Big Shark!

Me and Zack hit the bridge with the usual bait...frozen ladyfish and plastic jigs. The ladyfish were thick, I could see them busting the bait on the water surface all near the bridge. Looked like they were after the river shrimp that were running. Once in awhile you could see a live shrimp skipping along the surface trying to get away from predators below.

At around 12:20 AM, Zack gets a solid hit on his chunk of ladyfish. His drag is singing and both of us have that "oh shit" feeling that something big is on the hook. Took about 10 minutes to get it close, the last 5 minutes I'm recording a video of Zack reeling away. I'm kinda coaching him along too, basically telling him to let the fish run if it wants to run. Zack dominated the reel and took his time only reeling when the fish stopped running. So it's been about 10 minutes and we first see a glob of seaweed hanging from his line, which confused me at first cause I see his weight hanging on the line too. I'm like, where's the fish? First glance of the fish eventually and I saw a nice dorsal fin, then I get a glance of it's nose and I see the tell tale shovel face...it's a large Bonnethead shark! This one we didn't try to lift, cause I remembered what happened last time I tried that (see previous post). Anyway, we directed it towards the shore where there's alot of rocks but I thought maybe we could steer it in then grab it. Well, my plan didn't work out so well. Zack was still on the bridge holding his rod with the shark on, and I'm down under the brige with the fishgrips. Zack tries to steer it around the rocky shore, and somehow the hook pops off. Bye bye sharky lol. Well I'm happy the shark as released quickly but I definitly wanted a few measurements and an upclose picture. No choice but to estimate the length at this point, which I had several good looks at it. So I'll estimate it at least 3' long from nose to tip of tail.


Awhile later Zack gets another hit on the cutbait but it's only a small hardhead catfish. I finially get a good lick on my cutbait rod, and the fight was pretty good too. But mine ended up being a medium sized sailfin catfish.

We continued to jig and were productive with the Gulp brand. Zack caught a small panfish sized crevalle jack, a nice 15" fork bluefish, and a couple ladyfish. I found the Gulp Mantis Shrimp in New Penny to be deadly on the ladyfish. I was getting hits on every cast, I probably caught a half dozen and jumped way more. A slow retrieve with an occasional twitch seemed to draw the bites in. Keeping them on the hook is the trick. They often unbutton from the hook very quickly. I took home about 7-8 ladyfish for freezing bait. I also took home the small jack and the bluefish for bait. What I do is cut off the tails and just freeze the fish whole in a gallon-sized freezer bag. I cut the tails off so they'd fit in the ziplock bags easier. It works really well!

Thursday Night 4/18 - P.O. Flat Bridge

Took my neighbor and his friend out fishing last night to the flat bridge. These guys have never been fishing with me, so I had to show them a few techniques I use to catch em on the bridge. As soon as we arrived and walked out to our spot, you could feel the strong winds gusting in our faces. The wind was just too strong to throw a jig so I put those rods to the side. The only option at this point was using cutbait, which I brought some frozen ladyfish. Diced up some chunks and stuck them on some 5/0 circle hooks on three seperate rods. We were getting steady bites, some were actually moving the rod pretty good. Nothing was getting hooked though. My neighbors friend notices a tap and starts reeling in, we notice that he's tangled with our lines somehow. As he's reeling he says there's a fish on the other end, the whole time he's still tangled with other lines. We get one line free so now it's just two rods tangled. He gets the fish up to the surface and it was a nice shark! Probably about 2.5ft long. So now comes the moment of truth, getting the shark up on the bridge. Well, we got it about 2 feet above water and it decides to shake. We tried to lower it back in the water to relieve some of the tension, but it was too late. The teeth had sliced the line at the hook and the shark was gone. It was still a nice shark, I just wish I had a picture of it to share. Oh well thats fishing. We fished for awhile longer but that was the only fish of the night.

27 LB / 40" Black Drum - Edgewater Easter Night!

An evening trip to New Smyrna/Edgewater on the night of Easter with my buddy Zack. We started at the North Causeway in NSB looking for live bait, and didn't see anything. Plus the pier was crowded with fishermen. So we left there and decided to try Edgewater before we went home. At Edgewater, we first attempted to jig artificials. I used a tandem rig that had two 3" gulp swimming mullets and my first cast I immediately caught a small bluefish. After releasing him back in the water, I tried the tandem rig again but no more fish. I switched to a DOA nite glow shrimp and no hits. By then my frozen filet of crevalle jack meat was thawed. So I chunked it, hooked it, and tossed it out in the water. After a short soak, I got a good hit and felt a powerful fish on the end of the line. As the fish is making runs and pulling line off my reel, I'm looking at Zack like "is this for real?". LOL
A good 5-10 minute fight and I get it up closer to the dock. It was a bigass black drum, my personal best for sure. There's no way I'm lifting it over the rails so I gently manuever it to the boat ramp where we can just slide it up. By then, the fish was extremely tired. Here are my trophy photos :)

My First Snook! NSB South Causeway

Another night trip to the intercoastal waterway, this time we stopped at the South Causeway in NSB. For the most part we were jigging artificials. I tried the shallow area near the parking lot, and felt a bite but it let go. Kept trying the Gulp new penny shrimp and finially hooked the fish. It turned out to be a small snook, which in fact, is my very first snook ever caught! It was only about 12" long so a quick release was important. Here are photos of the baby snook with a mouthful of gulp shrimp LOL