Hello all, I'm a fisherman from Michigan, and I look to get my hand in some land-based shark fishing. Catching a massive shark (I consider that to be 5'+). Myself and a few friends are looking to head to Florida around the end of March. I was wondering which side of Florida would be better for sharkin'. I know the mullet run starts around that time (correct me if I'm wrong) on the Atlantic side, and that makes for some fantastic blacktip fishing, which is what we're mainly going to target. While in Florida, definitely want to get into some Goliath Grouper, not sure if you can land fish for them, or if it's just smarter to pay for a charter boat. So far, destinations we're looking into so far are Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Port St. Lucie, etc. If the fishing would be better on the Gulf side, we'd definitely look to Tampa or Sarasota. Any info would be great, thank you in advance.
Also, I consider a 5'+ fish big because that's an absolute behemoth compared to what we have in the freshwater in these parts.
Spring is definitely the time to be down here if you want to catch some sharks as the blacktops and spinners should be wrapping up their migration and you can catch them all up and down the coast. We do have a mullet run in spring, although not as big as the fall run. As far as goliath grouper I know they fish for them up around the St. Lucie and stuart area. There aren't really around ft. lauderdale and palm beach, at least not that I know of. Im not sure when the time is to catch them from land but they do catch them in the Indian river lagoon from land along with sharks. In summer the groupers school up over wrecks nearshore and the fishing for them is downright stupid but you would need a boat for that. I don't really know much about fishing the west coast but I'm sure it is quite good as well.
While in Florida, definitely want to get into some Goliath Grouper, not sure if you can land fish for them, or if it's just smarter to pay for a charter boat. So far, destinations we're looking into so far are Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Port St. Lucie, etc. If the fishing would be better on the Gulf side, we'd definitely look to Tampa or Sarasota. Any info would be great, thank you in advance.
I don't know about the east coast because I've never fished there but on the west coast pretty much any bridge over salt or brackish water with some decent water depth underneath has the nuisance jewfish. I wouldn't waste my money on a charter, they can be caught from bridges, piers, docks, and even brackish water canals. I can't keep the damned things away when I fish the bridges and they have nearly destroyed my all my tarpon gear because these things even eat small baits. They eat everything from big stingray baits and pup sharks to hand sized chunks of ladyfish and mackerel. The west coast is polluted with them..time for open season on them. If you can afford to, maybe fish both coasts while you're all the way down here.
I guess the more 'politically correct' term for them is 'goliath grouper.' But the day I care about 'political correctness' is the day hell freezes over 
Thanks guys, luckily there's quite a bit of time to make some decisions. Obviously, living up here we have no need for massive shark rods and reels. I see Penn 16/0's can be somewhat decently priced on Ebay, but I'd like to stick to $400-500 for a rod and reel combo. Any suggestions on rods and reels (separate), or combos that would fit that price range?
While in Florida, definitely want to get into some Goliath Grouper, not sure if you can land fish for them, or if it's just smarter to pay for a charter boat. So far, destinations we're looking into so far are Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Port St. Lucie, etc. If the fishing would be better on the Gulf side, we'd definitely look to Tampa or Sarasota. Any info would be great, thank you in advance.
I don't know about the east coast because I've never fished there but on the west coast pretty much any bridge over salt or brackish water with some decent water depth underneath has the nuisance jewfish. I wouldn't waste my money on a charter, they can be caught from bridges, piers, docks, and even brackish water canals. I can't keep the damned things away when I fish the bridges and they have nearly destroyed my all my tarpon gear because these things even eat small baits. They eat everything from big stingray baits and pup sharks to hand sized chunks of ladyfish and mackerel. The west coast is polluted with them..time for open season on them. If you can afford to, maybe fish both coasts while you're all the way down here.
I guess the more 'politically correct' term for them is 'goliath grouper.' But the day I care about 'political correctness' is the day hell freezes over
Don't worry my man, I won't tell on your non-political corectness 
. Thanks for the info.
While in Florida, definitely want to get into some Goliath Grouper, not sure if you can land fish for them, or if it's just smarter to pay for a charter boat. So far, destinations we're looking into so far are Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Port St. Lucie, etc. If the fishing would be better on the Gulf side, we'd definitely look to Tampa or Sarasota. Any info would be great, thank you in advance.
I don't know about the east coast because I've never fished there but on the west coast pretty much any bridge over salt or brackish water with some decent water depth underneath has the nuisance jewfish. I wouldn't waste my money on a charter, they can be caught from bridges, piers, docks, and even brackish water canals. I can't keep the damned things away when I fish the bridges and they have nearly destroyed my all my tarpon gear because these things even eat small baits. They eat everything from big stingray baits and pup sharks to hand sized chunks of ladyfish and mackerel. The west coast is polluted with them..time for open season on them. If you can afford to, maybe fish both coasts while you're all the way down here.
I guess the more 'politically correct' term for them is 'goliath grouper.' But the day I care about 'political correctness' is the day hell freezes over
Don't worry my man, I won't tell on your non-political corectness
You're very welcome for the info, best of luck on your trip. And please feel free to tell on my non-PC ways, I enjoy the illogical and often psychotic rants from the servile commies and libtards far more than I enjoy catching big fish