how do ya'll deal with swimmers when your trying to shark fish. i know fishing at night is best to avoid problems with them but what if you can only fish durring the day? what are ya'll experiences and how do ya'll deal with beach swimmer?
Tell them u are shark fishing ! lol I myself do the piers if i'm sharkin during daylight hours, soon we will have more sharkin time will get darker sooner! i've seen plenty of kayaks droping off bait during the day...never seen many probs my biggest shark was caught at 6pm!!! ft desoto.
Start setting up your gear, tie on your rigs with you 12/0 - 16/0 hooks and then start hooking up your 30lb bloody rays and fish carcasses. They will slowly start moving down the beach hahaha 
worked for me a few times
you need to fill them in on the story.
having lines get cut ... not sure I would have stayed cool on that one.
your right Chris. i had been set up on this beach with my 10/0, 12,0 and 16/0 since 5pm the day BEFORE. so around 12 pm the day of people start showing up on the beach there was a strong current so my line was too my right. then when the people start showing up they dont look up and down the beach to see who is there and what they r doing. so they go to swim and relise "hey there is fishing line here" so they preceded to tell me i should not be fishing were ppl r swimming and that i was endangering kids and that they were going to call the cops. i think at one time i had like 6 ppl tell me to move because i was in their way. so i told them i was not going to move because i was there first and that they got in my way. then they walk away and my lines started to go slack dont know which one of those suckers did it but my 16/0 and 12/0 got cut.
me and my buddies JD and Luis had to deal with 5 swimmers at 4:00 am....some how I was up at that time because I know of a few monster caught around that time in that spot. All the sudden I see people in the water and my buddy's line came slack, I walked to them to see if it was them....and BINGO....they were pulling his bait out of the water.......funny one of the guys told me that what we were doing wasn't real fishing, he told me to get a boat and go catch king fish, I laughed first and then told him that king fish was what I was using as bait that night lmao
me and my buddies JD and Luis had to deal with 5 swimmers at 4:00 am....some how I was up at that time because I know of a few monster caught around that time in that spot. All the sudden I see people in the water and my buddy's line came slack, I walked to them to see if it was them....and BINGO....they were pulling his bait out of the water.......funny one of the guys told me that what we were doing wasn't real fishing, he told me to get a boat and go catch king fish, I laughed first and then told him that king fish was what I was using as bait that night lmao
after reading some of the comments directed towards shark fishermen on another board, its apparent people don't realize how versatile and dedicated you have to be to be a land based shark fishermen. one guy mentioned that "sitting around for hours just soaking bait isnt his thing and he'd rather have to use some kind of skill to catch his fish by throwing lures and actively targeting the fish"... i posted a pic of my cooler full of king, spanish and blues and told him it was my bait bucket.
as for the swimmers. your well within your rights to be there, especially at the spot you were fishing Ben. invite them to call the cops next time.
In California the rules are kinda messed up, if your fishing and someone starts swimming the fisherman has to move
you need to fill them in on the story.
having lines get cut ... not sure I would have stayed cool on that one.
If you get your lines cut..call FWC and press charges..it is illegal in this state to interfere with the lawful hunting of game.
In California the rules are kinda messed up, if your fishing and someone starts swimming the fisherman has to move
thats not true. in california it is unlawful to interfere with anyone legally fishing or hunting i think they word it something like "unlawful to interfere with anyone partaking in any legal recreational activity" and swimming does not fall under recreational activities in the DFW book.
there are penal codes that state you have to obey the orders of lifeguards and beach police, but they cannot over ride state law. its geared more towards swimmers and surfers.