beach shark gear
onICE
Posts: 988 Officer
What do you guys recommend for a good starting point with beach sharking? I have 20 inshore setups and nothing heavier than a calcutta 700. Also, what rig/hooks would you start with? Thanks.
onICE
Posts: 988 Officer
Replies
Brace yourself, you just asked whats "whats good bbq?"
I dont beach fish for sharks (I like my boats) but i would say a 8-9' rod with the biggest conventional reel you can afford. I would use nothing less than 60lb braided line.
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Inherited a bunch of HD, forged eye, Mustad 12/0 & 14/0 shark hooks from an old friend who did tournaments in Tampa Bay in the Good Old Days. Wally had switched from SS stranded leader to chain b/c the big sharks he wanted cut him off. Fished a lot with large whole Mullet.
Many still prefer the old fashioned solid fiber glass rods he used to fish with, like the stout classic translucent green TruTemper Ash handled boat rods. Yes, they're heavy, but are still nearly indestructible - they used to advertise how rugged by driving over the rod with a pickup truck.
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http://boatlessfishing.com/forum/index.php
quite a bit of info on those two boards.
As far as rigs go i use a mustad 39960D circle hook anywhere from 12/0 to 20/0 depending on bait size. It is important you sharpen these hooks before use, they come fairly dull. I highly recommend circle hooks because you are far less likely to gut hook a shark which could kill it. Also all you have to do to set the hook is set the drag and start reeling.
I then attach 6-10ft of #15 single strand wire to the hook (I prefer wire to cable). and then attach a 15ft length of 300lb mono. (I usually forgo the mono leader for simplicity but if you want a chance at the big ones you must do this)
I started land based shark fishing a year ago and love it! Its a ton of fun when you catch something but still a ton of fun to just hang on the beach with friends. A word of encouragement though is it probably took us almost 10 trips before we finally caught something. So don't get frustrated if you can't catch something or aren't getting bites, there will be nights like that.