Shark Hookers 2012 Season (thus far)

[J_WaRd_29]

We obviously have kind of fallen off the face of the earth for a while. Nothing to do with the site, but instead just because we had such a horrible start to the season that the frustration took over until we got things going again. What a weird year for sharking so far . . . well, at least that we've seen here in SWFL. The hammers are typically gone fort the most part by early June around here, yet both of ours were caught in the end of July and now early August. Very limited amount of bulls, lemons, and blacktips this year for us. I have no idea what's going on. Anyways, at the start of this season (our fourth) we still had never caught a nurse shark or a hammer head. Well, I'm half proud to say that that is no longer the case. May I please mention now that I HATE nurse sharks. They are almost zero fight, they flip out on the beach and do death rolls, and they grunt . . . so I grunt back. With that being said, we have already taken out AT LEAST 50-60 new people sharking this year. We pride ourselves on introducing the sport to new people as an example of how to do things the right way. All of our sharks swam away perfectly fine, and the hammers were landed and released in 60 seconds or less. Here are the photos, hope you all enjoy:





























Big thanks to Guts & Glory Tackle near Fort Myers Beach for always supplying us with bait, leaders, and supplies. Also a big thanks to the most important member of the Shark Hookers family:

Daku


And lastly, the two best photos of the season for us:

[etommy28]

we have been catching a ton of blacktips out about a mile off of sanibel, we went monday and it was slow but we had 3 black tips, and 1 big lemon and 1 big bull. last week in 4 hours we had 16 bites, 12 landed, 8 blacktips, a couple sharpnose and a hammerhead, we also go bit off by a big fish, i think a hammerhead. we were catching some off bonita but we have been down there lately , but I will on sunday so we will see what happens.

[Rkatz]

Awesome pics! The last one would be enough to make me soil myself if I was in the water.

Heading that way this week w/ my boat. My kids (little guys) want nothing more than to catch sharks. I don't necessarily want to tangle w/ 7 footers - or even 4 or 5 footers for that matter, but if I can catch them some reasonably sized juvenile blacktip, hammerhead or other sharks for them to see and release, it would be awesome. Do you have any tips as to where I may be able to easily (I am a rank amateur fisherman) catch something like that and the best time, bait, ... to use? If you know of any decent guides that are little kid friendly, I would love to have that information also. I will be coming out of the Caloosahatchee by the Cape Coral Bridge. Thanks in advance for any help.

[bonitabob]

very nice!

[Binder]

Great pics and nice hammerhead! Congrats

[CapnAhab]

Nice! Great job guys! You all seem to have it figured out that's for sure! And I agree about the nurse sharks...they death roll like crazy. Irritating when you're just trying to release them and they're just tangling themselves up.

[Ugahewes]

very nice

[MoganMax]

Wow. Thats cool!

[T-rav]

Hey I Shark fish up in Jacksonville and was wondering what your leader set-up is? Me and my crew keep getting broken off and we are using 100 lb. braid and a light drag. We think they are rubbing through the line... you guys seem to have it all figured out so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[J_WaRd_29]

Awesome pics! The last one would be enough to make me soil myself if I was in the water.

Heading that way this week w/ my boat. My kids (little guys) want nothing more than to catch sharks. I don't necessarily want to tangle w/ 7 footers - or even 4 or 5 footers for that matter, but if I can catch them some reasonably sized juvenile blacktip, hammerhead or other sharks for them to see and release, it would be awesome. Do you have any tips as to where I may be able to easily (I am a rank amateur fisherman) catch something like that and the best time, bait, ... to use? If you know of any decent guides that are little kid friendly, I would love to have that information also. I will be coming out of the Caloosahatchee by the Cape Coral Bridge. Thanks in advance for any help.

I would try little chunks of ladyfish. You can fish just about anywhere here in SWFL and sharks are present. Fort Myers pier, Sanibel pier . . . anywhere really. Use chunks of lady fish a bit smaller than the size of a tennis ball. Any bait shop should sell smaller steel leaders. Again, not to plug the bait shop I use too heavily, but the only one I know that carries all that is Guts & Glory near Fort Myers Beach, including smaller leaders/hooks. If you plan on releasing the sharks, use circle hooks so you don't hook their insides and make sure to have pliers. Please ask away with any other questions and let me know how you do!