Shark Fishing Tips (2 of 2)

Well lets say we have found a floating kelp paddy over an underwater bank, this is the perfect place to start our shark fishing day. As this is also a prime spot for other offshore predators, yellowtail, tuna, bonita, dorado, I will usually start by trolling a couple of CD 18 Rapalas in mackerel colors by the paddy from several different directions, when I pass the paddy, I will throw several live sardines next to it.

Sometimes the fish are out as much as 100 yards away from the paddy. When you find a paddy in a prime spot spend some extra time checking it out, after I have trolled past and around it several times, I get up close and personal with it. I bring in my trolling lures and pull right next to the paddy and drop a heavy yoyo iron down at least a 100 ft and wind it up as fast as I can ( a good 6 to 1 gear ratio reel loaded with 40 lb test is perfect )

Once I am convinced there are no other gamefish present, or at least not biting at the moment, I go about 100 yds up wind from the paddy, put my chum bucket in the water and start my shark drift. I try to drift right by the paddy, but if I don't, I go back up wind and make adjustments to my starting point so I drift by about ten yards away. Now as I go by again I can start throwing surface iron when I am within range, and keep throwing various lures until I am out of range of the paddy.

Now that I am past the paddy I put away the casting gear and bring out the shark rods, usually one 25# outfit, one 60# outfit and one 120 # outfit. On the 25# rod I will use 20 feet of 200 # test leader with 10 feet of 175# single strand wire with a 8/0 circle hook. On the 60# rod I use the same 20 feet of 200 # test with 10 feet of 400 pound aircraft cable and a 12/0 circle hook.

On the heavy rod I use a 50 wide Penn International reel, 2 speed, with 600 yards of 120 # spectra braided line with a 100 yard topshot of 120# mono. The leader is 30 feet of 250# mono, and 20 ft of 800# aircraft cable, with a 12/0 to 16/0 laser J hook depending on the size of my bait.

The reason I carry and use three or four different class rods at the same time is you never know what size or type of shark will come to the boat. Usually blue sharks are the first to show up, if I have a shark charter and my customers want to catch a lot of sharks for fun, I will start out with a fifteen pound outfit for blues under 75 pounds and a 20 pound outfit for blues from 75 to 150 pounds.

These lighter outfits give the blues a fighting chance to "strut their stuff," a heavier outfit would just winch them in. It also gives me a chance to see what the skill level of my passengers are and help them improve their skills on sharks that we would release anyway. Putting a novice on a big mako for their first shark, will put undue stress on them, and that usually means a lost fish, a fish that could have been landed, if we had ironed out the wrinkles on some blues.

If I have clients who are bored by blues, and don't want to waste expensive hooks on them, we can just keep our baits in the boat 'till the makos show up. Usually the blues will split quickly as soon as a mako is close. When the blues leave suddenly, get ready for the "Right Kind" to show. We have all the rods rigged and handy and start chunking some mackerel pieces to get the shark "Ready to EAT." If a shark under 75 lbs shows in the chum, we use the 25 # class rod, 75 to 150 we use the 60# class rod, and over 150# we use the big gun, the 120# rod. As we are fishing for fun as well as meat, no use using too heavy of a rod for the small fish, as they don't fight well on tackle meant for their much bigger brothers.

Sometimes we will go down to 6 to 10 # test for a fish under 50# just because they give such a good showing on the light gear. On the light gear I use only circle hooks as there is no need for a hard hook set that might break the light line, just put the reel in gear and start winding, the circle hook sticks right in the corner of the sharks mouth making it easy to release the shark with no damage if you so desire.

It is also good practice as a 50# fish on 10 lb test is almost the same as a 600 lb fish on 120 lb test. A five to one line test to fish weight ratio. For the smaller makos we use medium to large mackerels, for the big boys and girls we use tuna slabs to whole 20 to 30 pound tuna for the 400 lb and up fish.