BigBendFishing.Net

One of the advantages to teaching is that every year you get a spring break. Me and some of my teacher friends have been staying on Cape San Blas for a few days this week and decided to do some shark fishing. Took a couple if bottom fishing rigs, put a steel leader and hook on them, and baited them up with the leftover trout and flounder heads from the days fishing, and then took them out about 300 yards off the beach in a canoe.

Then we sat down on the beach with some beers and enjoyed ourselves

After about an hour we had missed one shark, been broken off by another, and finally got a solid hookset and were able to land this guy.
Heres one with the whole crew.
Released him back to sea to swim another day. Hopefully we'll get another one by the end of the week.

You released a bull of that size? Man oh man, you must have bark bruises on your chest!

MudDucker wrote:You released a bull of that size? Man oh man, you must have bark bruises on your chest!

X2

PS. teaching is good at Christmas, Spring and Summer breaks, Only 25 more days until Summer

Looks like fun
And I for one think you did the right thing by releasing it

Nice catch and tons of fun. People would suprised how many big sharks cruise CSB. Through research as well as trial and error the rule I go by is leader 1.5x the length of the shark you intend to catch. Most break offs are from the tail, not the teeth, and fighting from sea level only enhances the issue.

Thanks for sharing.

I am going down in a few weeks for a weekend trip at SGI. This looks like fun. I may need to try it.

KYFRED wrote:I am going down in a few weeks for a weekend trip at SGI. This looks like fun. I may need to try it.

Should'nt you be chasing Thunder Chickens up here???


WTG...UGADAWG!!! I bet that was a blast!

In a canoe, at night catching bull sharks ? Hope we DON'T read about ya'll in the paper !!

Nice catch and here's another attaboy for releasing it. Sharks are slow to grow and reproduce. They've also been hammered for another Asian food craze (remember mullet roe?). Hollywood and media hype has portrayed them as monsters, but they really do have an important role in the marine ecosystem.

Gulf Coast wrote:In a canoe, at night catching bull sharks ? Hope we DON'T read about ya'll in the paper !!

Put on your big boy pants GC; a shark attack is a pretty remote risk

Also, I don't think he was fishing from the canoe, just dropping off the bait. I've done this finger mullett and pins on CSB and brought a couple cobia beachside as well. Never been able to land a cobia from the beach b/c they go crazy once you drag them over the bar.

SB you have to admit that there is less of a" pretty remote risk" if I don't participate. Self preservation, I try not to bother them and hope for the returned favor

Nice! When I was student @ FSU ('88) me and and my roomy used to go down to Alligator point and do the same thing. We would sleep in our beach loungers, build a fire, consume a few beverages and shark fish all night. Used a borrowed gheenoe with a trolling motor to ferry the baits out a 100 yards or so. Caught some big sharks over the years! Best night was when roommate (now a Lt. with FWC) parked his chair too close to fire and woke up with clothes on fire and the chair melted beyond recognition. Probably pay back from the shark gods.

Gulf Coast wrote:SB you have to admit that there is less of a" pretty remote risk" if I don't participate. Self preservation, I try not to bother them and hope for the returned favor

true enough ...and wise

Wow! How'd you manage to land it? How long was the fight? How did you manage to release it? Did you walk it out? Did it swim straight away? Maybe dragging it into the sand would be OK...but the release would FREAK me out!