Cold Water Shark Fishing SW Florida

First trip out for this year was on January 1st my buddy Chris Cfronzcek came down. We got 4 sharks so it was a good night.

First fish was Chris with a 5'11" blacktip

Chris' 5'11" blacktip

Next shark was Chris' 5'3" bull

Next one I got and it was a 6'11" sandbar

Last shark of the night was a 5'5" blacktip I got

Within a few days of that trip the crabbers came out in full force with a minefield of traps making it unfishable. On my daily routine check of the beach on my lunch break where I look for a gap in the traps I finally found one on the 17th. I hit the sand at 4:30 and conditions were gonna be in the 40's at night with windchill around 40 to upper 30's. A front was moving in later that night so wind was howling out of the NW which made surf 3-6ft depending on the tide.

My lineup from left to right: 14/0 senator, 12/0 senator, orange Avet 80w, penn spinfisher V 10500

Before I even had all rods deployed the 14/0 got hit and I landed a 6'7" sandbar. The guy in the picture with me is a guy on vacation from the UK that wanted to prove to his family that you can catch sharks from the beach in FL. I met him a couple years back coincidentally and he saw me catch some sharks back then.

My 6'7" sandbar

Sunset pic

Next shark came right after sunset and was a 7'0" sandbar

My 7'0" sandbar

My little sister then showed up on the island from the university she attends and lives at and I told her to come to the beach so she could catch a shark. Right as she walked up the 14/0 got hit again and she landed a 7'1" sandbar. It was funny to see her little girl hands weren't big enough to hold onto the rod and levelwind with her thumb at the same time so I had to do the levelwinding.

My sisters 7'1" sandbar

I knew my sister wasn't going to stay much longer after she caught her shark so I used her help to start carrying stuff up to the truck. I still had 2 baits deployed but I didn't have any more bait left so I didn't feel the need to stay much later since we had 3 sharks already. Right as we started packing up the 80w got hit and I brought in a skinny 6'3" sandbar.

My 6'3" sandbar

A few minutes later the 12/0 which was the only rod left got hit. As I was reeling it in it was jumping a bunch and shaking its head so I thought it was gonna be a spinner. Well was I wrong! It ended up being a dadgum 6'3" tarpon with a 3'3" girth. I've been fishing for tarpon since I was 5 in boats in Charlotte Harbor, Boca Grande, and Tampa bay and I have never caught one before. But to catch one on the beach during winter time in rough surf on a bluefish with big cable rig doesn't make sense to me but whatever I dont give a lick why it was there I'm just happy I caught it. My sister had the camera and only got one good picture before it swam off. I was keeping it in the water and itt shook out of my hands and swam off so its my fault for not having a better hold on the fish. Estimated weight on the fish is 140lbs. This is one tough tarpon though look at all the discoloration and battle scars that thing has. Its still swimmin out there so I wish it best of luck.

My 6'3" 140lb tarpon

This morning I went back to the place I fished last night just to double check I didn't leave any gear on the beach and man them crabbers were busy early this morning. There was a dadgum minefield where yesterday there wasn't one so who knows how long until I get another small gap but when they leave one I will be sure to hit the sand once again.