South Carolina sharks!

After an 8 day trip to Myrtle Beach, I was able to get out 4 mornings trying for sharks. The other days it was either too rough, golf or family stuff.

This was the second year in a row that I didn't find the huge schools of bunker that made shark fishing easy. I had to start each morning fishing close to shore with small shrimp trying for croakers and other "bait" fish that I could bring out to deeper water for the sharks. Two of the mornings it was easy getting bait and the other two mornings, not so easy. The croakers were pretty hardy and a few stayed alive for 30 minutes or so just leaving them near the drive.

It's amazing that with the live bait the sharks would be in the 5-6 foot range and when the bait was dead, it would be all 3-5 foot sharks.

The first two days I landed close to 15 sharks and I guess I lost just as many with bite-offs and lost fish. The last two days the water clouded up and getting bait and sharks was very spotty.

I must have lost at least 8 good sized spinner sharks that broke the line after several huge leaps out of the water a hundred feet or so from the kayak. I had 36" of wire but with the spinner sharks I needed heavier line and wire.

Most of the sharks were sand bar sharks with about 6 being close to the 7 foot and the others all in the 3-5 foot range.

The weater was great all week for the beach with a strong east wind that kept the clouds inshore, but it was not too good for shark fishing from the kayak. It was a steady 15-25 mph wind and a big swell and chop that made fishing a little rough. I was 6 for 8 with launching and landing, but nothing lost and nothing broken.

Here are a bunch of pictures and a 2 minute underwater video that I took near the kayak. I have more video, but I have to edit about 6 clips to make one good one.

ENJOY!!!















I also tried for the first time getting some underwater video of the sharks along side of the kayak.  I had the camera mounted on a three foot stick.



Danny V

Great report. nice pics and vid. Looks like a ton of fun!

Good stuff!  The only sharks we have up here are either too small (dogfish) or too large (salmon shark) for my current skills.  One day I am going to get one of those salmon shakrs from my yak. 

Thanks for the report!

how do you de-hook them for release???  Assume they're not good table fare?

how do you de-hook them for release???

carefully

Assume they're not good table fare?

To the contrary, they are excellent table fare. They are very good! But they are not good for you.

Yah, I want to know how you dehook them as well. Dehooker tool? Very long pliers?

Also, how far offshore do you go and how deep is the water?  Are you dropping the bait to the bottom or using a float?  Just curious!

Here is a picture of the two de-hooking tools that I had with me.   Out of about 20 sharks, I was able to remove the hook in about 15 of them.  If I could not see the hook exposed,  I would just cut the wire as close and as safe as possible.  Both tools are about 18 inches long,  one is an ARCdehooker and the other is a Calcutta.



I would catch bait about 200 yards from shore and then head out about 1/2 to 1 mile out in about 30-40 feet of water,  I tried using a weight,  no weight and trolling with the live and dead croakers and all methods worked.  I would say that I had the best results with live bait and a 2 oz.  weight and just drifting. 

As far as eating them and table fare,  I really have no idea.  I was staying at a Hilton on the beach and even if they were great eating,  the life guards would not be too happy about me bringing in a shark with hundreds of people on the beach.   They didn't even want me showing the pictures of the sharks to the many people that came up to me when I landed.  ( I really don't think you are allowed to "target" sharks from the beach or boats within a certain distance from the beach).

Of course this is nothing compared to the salmon sharks, but I will be heading to Alaska with Alan in about 7 weeks and I am really looking forward to do some Halibut fishing and taking in all the beautiful sights!

Danny V

As far as eating them and table fare,  I really have no idea.  I was staying at a Hilton on the beach and even if they were great eating,  the life guards would not be too happy about me bringing in a shark with hundreds of people on the beach.   They didn't even want me showing the pictures of the sharks to the many people that came up to me when I landed.  ( I really don't think you are allowed to "target" sharks from the beach or boats within a certain distance from the beach).

cool, man!  what kind of camera do you use?  takes really nice footage.

Might try to target some sharks over the next two weeks I'm in Sarasota.  I had one on the other day but I was fishing for tarpon with a flouro leader and his teeth sliced right through it like butter.

Rory,  I was using a Kodak Playsport.   You can get them for about $100 and I am very happy with it.   I have only used it a few times so far,  but I will be using it almost every time out from now on.

Danny V

 Cool, yah i have one. Your vids seem clearer and fill up the whole youtube space. What resolution setting do you use, and which editing software?

I am pretty new to this video stuff and I have no idea what resolution,  and I have no editting software,  I just downloaded it to youtube and hoped for the best!   LOL.   I will be looking into some kind of program as far as editting goes.  I have about 15 minutes of the sharks,  but about 10 minutes is trying to get the camera in place.

Danny V

I am pretty new to this video stuff and I have no idea what resolution,  and I have no editting software,  I just downloaded it to youtube and hoped for the best!   LOL.   I will be looking into some kind of program as far as editting goes.  I have about 15 minutes of the sharks,  but about 10 minutes is trying to get the camera in place.

Danny V

Haha yeah, that's the way to do it. All the converting, editing, rendering and othe BS that i've been doing takes hours, and degrades the quality of the video. I also have no clue how to do any of it properly.

I was out fishing for Tarpon yesterday (0 for 2 on strikes...I'm now below the 20% landed range) and I got a couple of sharks on pinfish.  Not huge by any means, 20ish and 25ish lbs, but great sport.  And I am stoked because they are my first Gulf sharks.  Also lost a couple few when they either bit thru the line or just ripped the bait off w/o being hooked. I *believe* they are sharpnose, but I am not 100% sure. 

They both exhibited the same behavior when hooked.  They ripped out drag going away from me, then turned and came straight for me, FAST.  Then hung around the boat, thrashing and whatnot.  Great show.  People on the nude beach seemed to enjoy it too.  I got some video I'll put up later, but here's some pics/stills.

JAWS!




Circle hooks!!




Trying to take a chunk iout of my kayak!

Nice reports. Looks like a blast.