Shark Fishing 5/2-5/9 - Long Post

After getting back from Ft Lauderdale where I got to see and help release that big hammer caught from the pier, I was extremely pumped up for my upcoming fishing trip. With a baby on the way, I was able to talk my new wife into letting me take a trip with some friends to go shark fishing for a week as I probably wont have as much time for fishing once the baby gets here.

There were 5 of us all from Pittsburgh coming down for a week with our main focus on shark fishing. My one friend John and I were driving down, and the other 3 were flying down. We packed up the car and headed out on the 16 hour drive.

Once we got down there, weather was rough and it was raining so we got caught up on some sleep form the long drive and then hit the beach with just our surf rods at night.

John got the trip started with the first fish, a bonnet head:

I must have missed 4-5 hookups within a half hour that night. We called it quits pretty early this night and packed up and went in. Next morning I got up bright and early and was walking the beach with some light gear and a spoon and caught my first snook ever, I was extremely excited to catch this fish and it was one hell of a fight but I had forgot my camera. There were 2 guys down on the beach surfing and one agreed to hold it in the water while I sprinted up to the room and got my camera and came back down. He snapped a pic and we let it go and it swam off strong.

We headed to Sebastian Inlet that afternoon but no one was catching much of anything all day except John managed to catch this small nurse shark:

After the sun went down, we could hear fish jumping all over, I threw out my new live target pilchard lure and was crushing lady fish all night. It was literally every cast I was hooking up with one, they were fun to catch and would jump all over the place which made for a fun fight. I ended up losing probably over 30 of them but landed about 15 and we loaded them up in a cooler to use for bait for later on.

Monday came and this was the day the rest of the crew arrived. As soon as they got there we were all fired up to get started and really get into some shark fishing. We got all the stuff together and started walking it down to the beach. After getting all set up we began running baits out. We hadn't even finished running out all the rods when John's rod goes off and he catches a spinner:

With this being the first shark of the trip we were all running around excited and at some point Scott looks down at his foot and there is a crab claw clenched to his foot haha:

Must have brought him some luck because he catches the next shark:

Then the sharks started to get a little bigger, next up was Dustin. He was brand new to shark fishing and this was his first shark ever:

Then a little later Scott hooks up with the first nice shark of the trip:

We finished the night with a couple smaller ones in the 3-4 foot range but we decided to call it and head in to get some sleep.

Day 2 - My one friend Bobby and I decided to put a rod each out during the day while we just kicked back and relaxed on the beach. I had just passed out when my rod starts screaming and I'm hooked up:


This one fought hard and almost got away:

No more action during the day and night time came and we all got setup, Scott started it off again with this shark:

Then Bobby caught one one, I also have to mention that Bobby was a beast on the kayak all week. He volunteered to run baits at night pretty much all week, without him we wouldn't have caught nearly as many fish as we did:

Then we were all just standing there BS'ing when this big old turtle just comes right up to us, looked at us for a little bit and then turned around and went back into the ocean:


Then Scott's rod goes off again and he sets the hook and this one is fighting harder than usual. Go figure my camera dies and so does John's camera but this was the biggest shark for the trip, a stud lemon. Sucks this was the only photo we got of this fish, really doesnt do the size of it much justice but Scott was able to break in his brand new Barrett rod paired with a Makaira that I believe he bought off someone from this forum:

Day 3 - Comes and we hang out all day and around 3-4 we start getting everything all together to head down to the beach. I started it off this night with this shark:

Then Scott catches his 3rd lemon of the trip:

Then Bobby hooks up and its fighting like crazy and it looks like its gonna be a good one, ends up being a foul hooked spinner:


That did it for this night.

Next night comes and we pack up everything to go try a new spot out, wind was a little stronger and the surf was too. Decided to give Bobby a break from running baits and I packed up my throw back wet suit to help get me through the night:

Fishing was slow and Scott was the only one to catch a fish this night:

The last day of the trip for me, and we were down on the beach early. John, whose rods stayed quiet for most of the week after the first day, finally gets a good one:

Night time comes and Scott puts out a big bait and after a nice run ends up reeling in this:

Runs it right back out and this time something picks it up and the hook sets and he reels in this:

John's rod goes off again and this one is fighting good, he ends up with his second lemon for the day:


I decided to pack it up and go get some sleep because I had to get up early and start the long drive home, the rest of the guys stay out and John ends up catching one more to end the trip:

Was a great trip with a lot of good fishing and sharks caught. Had a blast and I look forward to next time.