FRESH BAIT-One of the Secrets to Successful Shark Fishing

A fresh bait is the best bait
For shark fishing the fact is nothing works like a freshly caught live or cut bait.Your chances at hooking sharks doubles with fresh bloody bait.A fresh bait will get the bite first, 9 out of 10 times versus a frozen bait you brought from home.The scent trail that a fresh cut bait puts out is more effective for enticing a hungry shark then anything else except a live bait .For ease of fishing though most of the time I prefer to yak out a chunk of fresh caught bait oozing red blood versus freelining a live bait that could possibly swim in circles and cause a huge tangle in the line of the big guns.

Always bring a bait rod to the beach you are fishing.

A good practice that we use is to always yak out two small baits like mullet cut in half,a small mackeral or a chunk or fillet from a jack or a runner first before we set out our big rods.If the tide and the fish cooperate this method usually works in three ways
#1 it secures fresh caught local bait that the sharks are probably targetting
#2 it's an upgrade from the frozen bait you brought, and
#3 it provides backup extra bait you can use later in the evening when you switch washed out carcasses.
What we do depending on the current and surf condition is to take out two small baits just to the side of where our big shark rods are going to be set up.Right when you get to the beach and before nightfall you should have a few freshly caught baits in your cooler and ready to be deployed into the deep water.Once you have caught a few fresh baits you can leave your frozen bait as your backup bait.To employ this method you should arrive on the beach at least an hour and a half to 2 hours before sundown this way you have sufficient time to set up your camp,catch bait and hopefully yak out your shark baits before the night creeps in.This is especially important when you have a rough surf that is not a bit appealing to take on in the darkness.
Always try and set up on a beach away from bathers as to not put them in any kind of danger.

Suprise!!Suprise!!Suprise

Fishing is a great sport full of mystery and excitement ;you never know what will take your bait .We have caught some wonderful fish by doing this .A Big fat 18 lb mutton snapper,an almost 6 foot barracuda,150 lb tarpon,Jewfish,300 lb mud ray the list goes on and on.Use at least 30 lb test and a stout rod that can handle a big fish .An 8 to 10 foot surf rod with conventional reel like a Penn jigmaster loaded with 40 lb test is the ideal rig that you can both cast or deploy with the kayak.The advantage of a long surf rod is that you can use it the entire time you're on the beach rough surf or not and stock up when fish like bluefish are biting.A large spinner with at least 250 yards of line will also do get the job done on most fish hooked on the beach .Preferably a 4/0 or 6/0 would be what you would use because a large tarpon,ray or blacktip shark will spool you if don't have the power to stop them on the first run.Aside from that you need to land your fish as quickly as possible ,cut it up and yak it out before nightfall. Those two baits rods that you deployed in that deep trough or surfline can provide you with fantastic bait that spells oppurtunities at some big critters.A fresh big bait is like instant gold and can turn what would of been a night of mediocre resuts into an epic night on the beach.A great bait that is often caught on the beach are medium to large sized jack crevalle's that you can freeline ,cut in two halfs or use whole to last a good long while.You can catch a wide assortment of possible shark baits including ladyfish,bluefish,mackeral,kingfish,blue runner,barracuda,croakers,whiting the list goes on but my favorite one is, a fresh ray or small shark that are the prime BIG SHARK BAITS on any beach, anywhere in the world.If you are lucky enough to get one of those two "get ready for a monster" is all I can say.Good Luck!!!