assateague sharkin 8/19

[kayakjoe]

So Sunday at four am my alarm sounds and I wake up completely bewildered only to quickly realize its because were sharking! Still excited from gathering gear only four hours before anticipating the first trip of the year where hopefully we get something over three feet ( last few have been short shorts -2' sadly ) up I get to bring the two shark rods and other gear out to my buddies truck and load up the yak. Of course somehow we get on the road late we get to the osv area late and taking air out of the times seems like its taking forever even with three people! Finally on the beach and prepping shark rods at 545 to the quickly rising sun and I'm getting more discouraged by the second. " were missing our window " I say to myself boy was I wrong. Out go two baits ten minutes later one big bluefiah chunck on a 14/0 circle and a whole croaker caught less than 12hrs before trip on a big 11/0 j hook and out I go to a beautiful sunrise drop the bluefish bait short maybe 250-300 on a Penn 309 and standup rod combo the second bait for a farther ( more line on reel ) drop the croaker at maybe 500 yds in 21' of water after the last bar on a tld20/ Penn slammer combo and paddle back to shore. After a few minutes we set up the other five normal surf rods we brought and get them all out and the waiting game begins. 630 one small rod goes off and its a little bait stealing blue or small shark whole spot bitten clean in half. Typical, just missed the hook. Baited back up and heaved her back out ( our spread for the day was shark rods one and two set up to the right of camp downwind so lines wouldn't tangle in the longer lines with current and wind and set up five rods to the left of said shark rods) (the rod we just re-baited was as far left from the shark rods as possible) and somehow get to the topic of the shark rods ( everytime we do this one reel will start screaming) so were talking sharks for a minute and what happened ?! .... You guessed it! My tld starts screaming at me! I'm well over 200 yds away from this rod at this point and after the initial holy shit I can't believe it happened again I get into gear and start sprintingto the rod before i lose all my line to this beast and as soon as I get to it the reel stops. Wtf. So I leave it in the spike and wait a minute. Nothing. Shit! Set drag and walk backwards to the dunes a hundred yards trying to feel any pressure. Walk rod back to beach while collecting line and set the clicker again and instantly she screams again! This time I'm driving it home I tell myself. set her in gear and drag on full and Sprint to the dined to set the j hook I get almost halfway there before I feel the pull of the shark on my line. I stop and adjust and gather some line while walking back to the surf. This process repeats itself another 20 or so times with constant pressure on the fish with full drag but with only 30lb mainline I had to be careful. Finally get her close enough to see it and finally my wished about a shark over three very were true! Spend another ten or so minutes getting her in from the wash and hand my buddy the rod and told him to put on the clicker and back the drag off. He didn't do this.. instantly my mainline breaks at my 450lb crane swivel and I dive to catch the 250lb mono leader and somehow HP ahold of it right as soon as a wave came in and got lucky enough to use that wave to get the shark in and get a tail rope around it. Tail rope on I clipped the leader so only steel trace was left and got her in for a few quick pictures. Removed the hook and got my leader back and proceeded to drag her back in, boy was she heavy! If waves weren't coming in it would've taken two people to drag her back to deep enough water. After all was said and done we had caught and successfully released a dusky shark that was longer than my armspan (6') from from to nose. Took about half an hour on the fight and I couldn't have dome it by myself the boys clearec all the lines and took control with me quick. This is secondly a team fishery for sure. Every man is important! If anybody is ever down in oc and interested in doing any of this fishing gimme a holler! This will most likely be my last report on this subject due to its sensitive nature ( people here don't like to know there's sharks close to the vacationing kiddos) awesome time with a good group of gots nonetheless. A smaller size sand tiger was landed one camp north of us by some fellas doing the same thing as us.

[yakersaltlife]

I say keep the reports coming. If you dont know that there are sharks that close to the beach, you need a reality check!

[Hemingway]

Great fish! I will have to try sharking from the beach with you sometime. Looking forward to our upcoming trip
Gary

[J.A. Veil]

Nice going Joe. That was quite a fight and a good story too.

[Southerly]

holey crap! nice report - sounds like a lot of fun.

[ronaultmtd]

It is a Sand Tiger shark (sometimes called a garbage shark or a sand shark) - they can get pretty big- up to 10 feet and 300 pounds... they are a very common inshore shark- not very aggressive or dangerous in spite of having a mouthful of teeth that looks like it swallowed a bale of barbed wire- only one documented attack ever recorded.

[kayakjoe]

Thanks guys! Maybe I will keep the reports coming, haven't really been on the yak too much lately besides a few 5-7am 50 bridge trips, snarling has been too good and too much fun lately this is the first one over three feet this year however so it should be getting better by the day till the end of Sept, gimme a pm if anybody will be in the area and is interested in going! Ronault, I would normally agree with you but because of its size and the fact that it does not have any even remotely faded stripes on its sides( older ones do however begin to lose their stripes around this length) makes me believe it is a female dusky which collaborated with the brownish color as males are usually greyer. If I am mistaken however then it would be a normal sand shark, not the tiger. But as much as i do knoe about them I am by no means an expert, you may have some inside info I'm not aware about. If so offer it up!

[ronaultmtd]

I was the President of the Virginia Beach Sharkers for several years, Joe- VIMS Shark Tagger, NOAA qualified, I have tagged and released over 500 sharks...even in the picture you took I can ID a Sand Tiger in my sleep- dead give away is the narrow snout and dorsal fin configuration- especially easy with the snaggled teeth....it is the most common inshore large shark- Dusky has large fins like airplane wings, Sandbar has large dorsal well forward of the center of the body- and I could go on and on- Bull shark, Blue, shark, night shark, silky shark, blacktip shark, white tipped Oceanic, big eye Theasher, Tiger shark, Great White, Porbeagle, short fin Mako, 9 genius of hammerheads.... the name of a Sand Tiger is the common sand shark...it is not a Tiger shark...it is called by a number of names but its true name is Sand Tiger...we always referred to it as a garbage shark- especially in tournaments when we were fishing for the largest sharks we could catch for prize money- my heaviest Tiger was 967, Mako was 573, Hammerhead was 430 (State Record), Dusky was 560, Lemon was 220 (caught off Frisco pier on 25# test Ande on an Ambassadeur 10,000-C)- I caught, tagged and released over 500 Tiger sharks in my ten years of shark fishing off Virginia Beach- I quit because they are endangered and there is no way to catch one without harming the fish- Our annual tournament produced many Tiger sharks over 1000 pounds- John Thurston, Don Lips, Gary Seay, Bill Walker, and Anthony Whitehurst were friends and fellow sharkers...if there is anything I know a little something about it is sharks- I fished the salt waters for thirty years in Tidewater- owned a 24 foot Stamas Clearwater named the Bottom Line...and it stayed wet a lot- when I moved up here I took a pickup truck load of VA Citations to the dump- no brag just fact-


Shark, Bigeye Thresher 149 lbs The Cigar 1992 Wayne M. Gross
Shark, Blacktip 76 lbs 10 oz Off Virginia Beach 1988 John W. Thurston, Jr.
Shark, Blue 266 lbs The Cigar 1987 Wayne C. DeFord
Shark, Bull 256 lbs V-Buoy 1982 Craig R. Paige
Shark, Dusky 673 lbs S.E. Lumps 1982 Michael J. Halperin
Shark, Hammerhead (Great) 430 lbs S.E. Lumps 1984 Ronald E. Ault
Shark, Hammerhead (Scalloped) 245 lbs The Cigar 1977 Don Lips
Shark, Hammerhead (Smooth) 272 lbs Off Virginia Beach 1988 Carolyn L. Matthews
Shark, Lemon 312 lbs 12 oz Off Sandbridge 1976 Bill Walker
Shark, Mako 728 lbs Ches. Light Tower 1983 Geoffrey H. Newbill
Shark, Sandbar (Brown) 213 lbs Triangle Wrecks 1986 Bill Moffett
Shark, Sand Tiger 339 lbs Off Cape Charles 1983 Kelly D. Capps
Shark, Silky 110 lbs Norfolk Canyon 1977 Gary W. Seay
Shark, Spinner 129 lbs 8 oz Off Chincoteague 1991 John E. Patton, II
Shark, Thresher 274 lbs 12 oz Off Wachapreague 2002 Jim Bishop
Shark, Tiger 1,099 lbs 12 oz S.E. Lumps 1981 John W. Thurston, Jr.
Shark, White 131 lbs S.E. Lumps 1981 Fred Williams

[MTDluvsFishin]

Not sure if anyone saw but a group doing some research for Delaware State U caught and released (2) "Tiger Sharks" about 2 weeks ago from the surf in Delaware. Not the infamous Sand Tiger but Tiger Shark. Here's a link to one of the pics: http://delaware-surf-fishing.com/wp-...012/08/014.jpg

Now that's a shark I wouldn't mind catching from the sand.

[ronaultmtd]

Yep- definitely a young Tiger shark- immature ones like that have the dark colors, distinctive, pronounced stripes, a short, square snout with the famous Tiger notched teeth like a scythe. Very dangerous shark to humans, even the six footers...aggressive, fearless- and not at all picky about what they eat-

[kayakjoe]

Ronault if you are ever in ocean city we are having dinner and drinks and I want to pick your brain! That all sounds like good times! I couldn't even imagine getting that many in that time frame! Could you pm me the specs on your more common rigs or were you doing all this on a boat? Cause I'm using large 20/0 circles and this was hooked on a 11/0 j I like the circles better for the release factor and the bolt cutters are always handy but there's still a few things is like to get down better. Having a bigger/ more qualified team would make my life a lot easier. I have four " shark" rods and it seems like after all the gear is on the beach and camp is set up no body wants to work anymore haha and you know it is hard work! If yours in the area ever seriously let's get on the water or have a drink or two I've seen a ton of your posts like this and i would love to half of that knowledge! Thanks for the correct id too BTW I had what I though was a reliable source back me up with what I thought was true and after you said itcwas a sandy I did some more research and found out I was wrong!

MTD my number is 443 373 5498 get up with me today if you can me and my buddy Chris will be fishing rt.50 bridge at fourish am tomorrow morning we normally launch from hoopers could be more towards five am though been some little schoolies running and a red or two lately you're welcome to join us!

[ronaultmtd]

Be glad to help you with your setups- my days hooked up on a 80 pound outfit- Penn 9/0 aluminum spool Senator on a custom standup tuna rod- for 12 hours are over- too damn old for that much strenuous work- a 800-900 pound Tiger can tow a boat for miles and miles- it is your time now- us old farts have been there done that, but we can show you the ropes and give you some tips to help you stay safe- big time sharking can be dangerous, especially the landing and tail roping part- got hit in the head by the tail of a 250 pound smooth hammerhead and got a concussion once- did not know where I was or who I was...that was scary...

Fishing from the surf presents its own set of challenges- You need a much longer rod to keep the line above the breakers and a lot of line capacity- I used to use a 12/0 Penn Senator with 1300 yards of 80# Courtland Greenspot dacron...leader was 15 feet of 1/16" braided stainless steel aircraft control cable swedged to a 1000 pound test swivel- bite leader was double stranded 360# test Sevenstrand tobacco colored stainless steel wire with welded eye 16/0 tuna hook- a good bait was a half of a skate or ray...for the really "no-shit" fish we used 10 feet of number 9 galvanized machine chain for bite leader- a big Tiger shark can bite the 1/16" braided wire in two without even making the clicker go off- the single strand 360 is lightly twisted when you double it and I use a haywire twist to secure the hook to it and it to the swivel on the braided leader- for the chain, I use a sailboat clevis to secure the hook to the chain and the chain to the braided leader-

[kayakjoe]

Be glad to help you with your setups- my days hooked up on a 80 pound outfit- Penn 9/0 aluminum spool Senator on a custom standup tuna rod- for 12 hours are over- too damn old for that much strenuous work- a 800-900 pound Tiger can tow a boat for miles and miles- it is your time now- us old farts have been there done that, but we can show you the ropes and give you some tips to help you stay safe- big time sharking can be dangerous, especially the landing and tail roping part- got hit in the head by the tail of a 250 pound smooth hammerhead and got a concussion once- did not know where I was or who I was...that was scary...

Fishing from the surf presents its own set of challenges- You need a much longer rod to keep the line above the breakers and a lot of line capacity- I used to use a 12/0 Penn Senator with 1300 yards of 80# Courtland Greenspot dacron...leader was 15 feet of 1/16" braided stainless steel aircraft control cable swedged to a 1000 pound test swivel- bite leader was double stranded 360# test Sevenstrand tobacco colored stainless steel wire with welded eye 16/0 tuna hook- a good bait was a half of a skate or ray...for the really "no-shit" fish we used 10 feet of number 9 galvanized machine chain for bite leader- a big Tiger shark can bite the 1/16" braided wire in two without even making the clicker go off- the single strand 360 is lightly twisted when you double it and I use a haywire twist to secure the hook to it and it to the swivel on the braided leader- for the chain, I use a sailboat clevis to secure the hook to the chain and the chain to the braided leader-

holy shit. galv machine chain wow. haha you wouldnt happen to have any of those old setups for sale by any chance do you? rods or reels. ive seen some used 9/0 for sale for a good price ive just been hesitant to buy right now with only twoish months left to fish this year for toothies but i might bte the bullet and get one anyway. right now ive got a penn 309 with 50lb mainline on an old stcroix standup trolling rod. i call her grandpa and my other bigger setup is a shimano tld 20 with 30lb ande on a 5'6" penn slamer trolling rod neither have steel reel seats which i really hate but its all i have for now sadly. my leaders are 20/0 circles or 11/0 j's haywire twisted to tobacco colored 218lb single strand wire thats been haywire twisted to double it up then goes a 450 crane swivel haywireds again to this and then all of this wire and hook combo gets a wrap of electric tape evenly to cut down on the sharks ability to sense the wire. then after the450lb swivel goes 15-25' of 250lb rub/shock leader joined with one crimp and a thimble for rub on the hook end and another 450 crane swivel on the mainline end also one crimp and a thimble for rub. should i double crimp? some guys swear by it but idk i guess once you start using wire you can only make so much of you rig invisible so maybe two crimps would be worth it should i have a slip one day.

[CB kayak 02]

How is the old St. Croix working for you Joe? Holding up okay?

[kayakjoe]

How is the old St. Croix working for you Joe? Holding up okay?

hell yeah man, granpa is still kicking! he pulled in a 3'4" nail banger the other night! you need to get over here this fall with tyler and we can get on em! drum runs already starting on ai!