Full breach

[milto]

After fighting the wind in the morning with Dad and George, we managed to pull in one keeper red and a couple of keeper trout. We ended u dropping off Dad and decided to stay out there. The wind had laid down, and there was mullet galore in the channel at the lighthouse so we decided to try to hit the reef. We had some fun out there and saw a ton of spade fish. Had several hookups with sharks. Not sure what kind they were because they took off and were only able to see them as they jumped outof the water. The other cool thing we saw was about a 12 ft hammerhead shark that came to see what was going on.

The question I have is about the shark I saw about 100 yards from the boat. It was a shark of some type, but it fully breached the water attacking something and was AT LEAST 200 lbs. It had a darker top with the white belly. Do all sharks breach like that. It was amazing to see!!

[Dubble Trubble]

I have seen dolphins do it many times. Never seen a shark, but watched a video of one doing it.

One thing I will always remember is a huge Ray jumping up and flying across the water. I was on the beach fishing, and just happened to be looking in the right direction. I would estimate he was 1/4 mile off shore. It was amazing to see! Probably will never see that again.....


Dubble

[robbankston]

I was offshore fishing Panama City 20 years ago and saw one of those huge rays breach and "fly". One of the most amazing sights I have witnessed.

[reelbad]

I was offshore fishing Panama City 20 years ago and saw one of those huge rays breach and "fly". One of the most amazing sights I have witnessed.

I have seen rays do that a couple of times at St. Joe bay.

[big bend gyrene]

I see spotted eagle rays doing it regularly. Don't know about all sharks but spinner sharks ABSOLUTELY will do it. Haven't seen it nearly as often as with eagle rays, but HAVE witnessed it myself at least a couple of times.

Visit this link and you can see some cool footage of a spinner jumping... http://www.break.com/index/surfing-with ... ks-643058/

[reelhandy]

Was there any size to the Spadefish? On the east coast they catch them on cannonball jellyfish.

http://www.southcarolinasportsman.com/d ... hp?id=1094

[Rhettley]

I didn't realize it but the range of the spinner shark does come into the northern Gulf. That's probably what you saw. I've seen blacktips jump after being hooked.

Other fish you could see breach in this area on bait are king mackerel, tarpon, dolphin (Flipper), eagle rays, and occasionally a sailfish. My father and myself saw a very large sailfish jump out of the water and shake in the buoy line at Mexico Beach a few years ago. We were both looking right at it and had no doubt about that big fin on it's back. Dolphin or porpoise are probably the most often confused with sharks.

[milto]

as far as the spade fish go, I would guess they were anywhere from 8" - 16"...

The sharks we caught were anywhere from 5ft-7ft and definitely could have been those spinner sharks. Most of them initially fought like a big cobia. They ran straight away from the boat and with the quickness. The first one i hooked, took off like no ones business. The jumped in the air. The one I did see clearly come out of the water did seem to somewhat spin. Not to the extent of one of the videos I saw of one, but still looked similar.

The big one I saw in the distance was definitely a shark, but didn't seem to spin. It really reminded me of some of the shows I saw watching great whites. It bent in the air and splashed back down. Really wish I had the video going then...

[Harmsway]

Has nobody considered that it could have been a white shark? They are known to breach, and have been spotted in (seemingly) uncommonly large numbers in the GOM recently.

Fishin' is the mission.