Good Day at Panacea...

[bman]

After saying I was not going out on a weekend again I got a call from two buddies wanting to go Saturday.
My wife is out of town visiting her sister (she just had her 2nd baby and my 2nd niece ) and a buyer client canceled so I was free.

A beautiful sunrise met us...

Wind was blowing but clouds were off shore and to the West.
Picked up a few trout but mostly shorts.. then headed to the spot that held Tarpon and the big red.
We were hopeful of a repeat but like you guys know its fishing. The Tarpon were there but we could not get a bite.
Still had a great time and the Sharks kept us entertained!
Brian(Bagataway) caught his first shark

And brought up a Ray that was almost 4' across... the photo does not do it justice.

Mike had a big run on his rig and we thought it might be a Tarpon but the 80lb leader came back with a cut clean.

We came in with a bag of white trout, speckle trout and two nice blacktips.

Mike and Brian with their sharks


We had another great lunch of trout and shark at Poesy's Dockside. They Blacked one of the shark fillets and it was FANTASTIC!
Also ran into Showboat at the dock... I love that marina and harbor!

[jadams92002]

Nothing wrong with that.

[leesburgga]

nice catch. can you direct me to what are the rules on sharks? my son desparately wants to keep one and try eating it, but I have not been able to get up to speed on shark type, reg's, etc. thanks

[bman]

Basically you can keep a Blacktip and FineTooth, the most common catches around here, regardless of size- but most other sharks have to be 54"

I prefer to eat the smaller Blacktip. I put them in an icy slush immediately- it draws most of the blood to the body cavity.

When cleaning them, be sure to cut away all the dark meat along the skin- its the strong part. I fillet them with a serrated knife and then when I remove the skin I do a very shallow cut - that leaves all the dark meat on the skin. It is very mild and white- great fried or grilled. I find no need to soak or marinade it. The meat takes most seasonings well.

Here are the regs:
http://myfwc.com/rulesandregs/Saltwater ... Sharks.htm
And here is a good identification chart.
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/flsgp/flsgpg02003.pdf

[Good Times]

Bman, I really appreciate your posts. When I was in Tally I loved going out of Rock Landing Road and fishing where you do. Those sunrise pics take me back. Thanks for the report and nice catch.

[WolfeMan]

I must admit...I felt like one of the 9 year olds from Barry's other posts when I landed the first shark of the day...Mr. Barry, can you take my picture? Mr. Barry, can we eat it? Mr. Barry, can I catch another one?!

I had a blast - even without tarpon. My daughter saw these photos and now wants to catch and hold a shark of her own...is 5 too young?