These blacktip sharks are everywhere down here in south florida typically making there appearance in massive schools from January til March on the east coast.While these sharks can be lots of fun to catch on lighter gear they are considered a nuisance by some of the shark fishermen targetting much bigger species of sharks.The abundance of the blacktips and spinners during the winter months is an annual event that many welcome while others consider it a problem to be dealt with .Whatever your opinion may be the blacktip shark is an aggresive feeder that will sometimes destroy the largest baits intended for a much larger shark.We have seen 30 pound cudas munched down to bare hooks by a revenous blacktip or pack of blacktips.
Blacktips are often unpredictable in the way they pick up a bait.MOST OF THE TIME not all the time - they will make a mad dash with bait in there mouth and the angler will here the clicker take off at high speed and many anglers think it's a big shark when in all reality it's "just another tipper". That is the typical blacktip bite .On other ocassions they will pick up a big bait and not be able to swim off with it because of the weight .
A blacktip can be a high flying shark to thrill all watching or they can be fairly dogged opponent for there typical 5 to 6 foot size.On spinning tackle they will ghive you a run for your money but on the bigger gear they are out matched and quickly subdued.
When the blacktip is hooked many times they will act erractic and often charge the beach the angler thinks he's lost the shark only to feel a surge after reeling like a madman to gain line.Many times during the blacktip migration they will swim mouth open into a line and cause a cut-off of expensive fishing line which is not a very welocome scenario but one we deal with all winter long.
Always try and keep your clicker slightly tight because the tippers will hit at such fast speeds that a big bird's nest will decorate your reel if not.A reel in free spool clicker during the blacktip migration is an invitation for a giant backlas.Always keep your reel in gear and the star drag backed off to avoid the all too prevalent BIRD'S NEST.
If you are lucky enough to catch a big shark in the mix predatory pack hunting blacktips consider yourself lucky.Sometimes there will be no action for hours and then all of a sudden every rod is being attacked by hungry frenzied blacktip.You'll end up catching 3,4,5 or 6 tippers back to back in a matter of one hour.In this case I like to hold off until they have moved off to another pasture to yak out another Monster bait but sometimes you get a straggler that will terrorize your last big bait at 3 in the morning when you know you really don't feel like yakking out another bait.Don't get mad just learn to deal with the tippers and there annual appearance.
ON A TOUCHY SUBJECT .SOME HARDCORE LAND-BASED SHARK FISHERMEN WILL SOMETIMES DECIDE TO HARVEST A BLACKTIP FOR TABLE FAIR AND THEY ARE TASTY IF PREPARED CORRECTLY AND SOMETIMES THE SHARK THAT HAS BEEN KILLED FOR THE TABLE WILL BE USED FOR AN EXTREME BAIT AND TO THAT I SAY IF IT'S LEGAL AND YOU FEEL IT WILL BETTER YOUR CHANCES AT A BIG SHARK AND IF YOU WILL BE TAKING YOUR SHARK/SHARK BAIT HOME AFTERWARDS THEN BY ALL MEANS PRACTICE YOUR RIGHT IN A RESPONSIBLE WAY.
WE ARE MUCH HAPPIER ONCE THE BLACKTIPS HAVE MOVED OUT OF OUR AREAS because then we can more realistically target the bigger fish with more success.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger