# Shark fishing while Cruising or otherwise. (experiences)



## sidney777 (Jul 14, 2001)

Or, just Sailboat Fishing. My limited experience in Gulf. Trolling from sailboat and using Lake Michigan Downrigger and lurers.
In daytime I caught large one large Grouper and many Rock Bass, I think. 

I used fish heads overnight and sleeping, while anchored in Gulf (yes really). Northern Gulf, Big Bend area,from Appalachacola to Steinhatchee.
Both lines were completely taken out. One broken and other intact. Caught nothing. I admit I did not know what I should do (training,experience).

BUT, two others told me (I hope true) that while anchored with other Sailboats, others Hooked Sharks and asked for help.. Help was turned down because my story-tellers did NOT want to(Correction!) -go over to Fishermen in Inflatable Dinghy to help. -xxx have an Angry Shark caught by people on an Inflatable dinghy (or otherwise)! 
If Not Enough Shark stories, please tell of any fish stories from Sailboat. For me, it was a highlight of sailing in Saltwater (as opposed to Lake Michigan).


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## Plumper (Nov 21, 2007)

I have never caught a shark (or even fished for one) but I have caught lots of other interesting fish off the back of my boat. 
Sailing back from Hawaii to the PNW we caught several Mahi Mahi. We were using big plugs on parachute cord with a bungy loop to the boat. When the fish hit it the bungy would snap tight and set the hook. We then just hauled the fish in. We caught them at speeds up to 10 knots (the fastest the boat would go). We also caught a couple small tuna that trip once we got farther north. Same rig and boat speed.
Last summer we caught loads of salmon. We used a rod and a diver to get the flasher and hoochie down deep. The boat was going very slowly, about 1.5 knots) and we had great luck. We have caught Coho going faster but not as many. We use a bucktail and tow it in the wake of the boat so it just jumps out of the water every once in a while. If there are Coho around it is a killer setup. We don't have refrigeration so we throw the big ones back and only keep what we can eat in a single day.
Great way to have fresh meat.
One word of caution. Here i the north you have to be careful where you clean the fish. If you get fish guts and blood on your boat or dinghy you are inviting bear trouble. Although it has not happened to us, we have heard of folks who left their dinghy on the beach and came back to find it shredded because it smelled of salmon. 
Bummer!


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I would be very hesitant to try and catch a large angry fish and bring it aboard an inflatable dinghy—especially a shark. One of the owners of a sister boat to mine bought his for the express purpose of using it as a fishing platform.... his wife was rather upset when he upgraded the port side settee to a fishing tackle bench.  I plan to do some fishing this season, but haven't done any off of my boat yet.


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## billangiep (Dec 10, 2003)

I've had pretty good luck trolling with a Yozori (sp) lure in the gulf. When anchored a bit of chum should bring the black tips in, an easy catch using squid, mullet or any other oily stinky stuff. (g)


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## sidney777 (Jul 14, 2001)

*Is that some sort of Mackerel ?*

Really nice, clear,big picture. How did you cook it and how did it taste ?


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## billangiep (Dec 10, 2003)

Spanish Mackerel, good stuff....fillet it (making sure to cut the red line out of the center of the fillet) toss some garlic, lemon, butter, black pepper then wrap in foil and throw it on the grill for a few minutes. (CD would be proud.)(g)
I often fish out of the dingy in and around the flats using white or gold tail grubs with 1/4 ounce head. Another excellent bait are the new "Gulps" baits in a bag. Not nearly as messy as the real stuff and work quite well for catching Reds, Sea Trout and the occasional Flounder. This time of year if you can find a few rocks in less than 10 ft. of water your surely to bring up a few Grouper, though under size they taste just as good as the bigger ones.
Bill,


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## sailak (Apr 15, 2007)

No no no. Slice it about 1/4" thick, put it on a ball of rice with a bit of ponzu sauce. Yeah baby.


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## Plumper (Nov 21, 2007)

Here is my wife catching a salmon north of Vancouver Island.


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## Plumper (Nov 21, 2007)

Here is one of me catching a coho near Hartley Bay, northern BC.


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## sidney777 (Jul 14, 2001)

You and family look to have done alot of fishing. You even use technical fishing terms like ' bucktail" . What is that ?
It appears you are close to Fresh and Salt Water fishing??. I an not familiar with your area(but will see on web).


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## Jonesee (Nov 17, 2007)

One of the easiest ways to catch one is to butterfly filet a smaller previous catch, run a hook through it and drop it in deep water and wait. Once a shark hooks up, you will wear yourself out bringing him in, but don't try to bring him aboard. Few charter captains will even try to bring a medium or large one aboard. Have fun bringing him in, and then cut the line. Serioulsy the fun is in catching. If you were to bring it aboard the thrashing can tear up alot of equipment and hurt someone.

I realized I didn't answer the original question so an edit is in order. To catch them, use very large hooks, when you see a shark hook you will know it. Use a stainless steel leader to prevent break-offs. Drop the bait just off the bottom, set the pole but don't leave it. You will know when they begin to mouth the bait, wait till they begin to feed out line and give some to them. You want the bait deep in their mouth or swallowed. Then set the hook hard. Actually a pretty easy fish to catch where you are fishing. And no way will I go out in my dingy to help you retrieve one!!!


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

Not shark fishing or from a sailboat but fun just the same.

Girls Saltwater Fishing


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## chris_gee (May 31, 2006)

I caught two about 6' long one morning when stopped by chance in about 20' of water just using ordinary bottom fishing gear and about 20 lb line. It just takes a bit longer to play them. Although they are edible and often used for fish and chips under another name, I was only in a 13' so as i had no use for them cut them loose after bringing them to the boat. Stingrays are similar, can take 30-60 minutes to bring in, and while the flaps are good eating, there is no way I want that tail lashing around the cockpit. Besides I give away 90% of what I catch anyway, and release anything legal but small so getting a feed is not a problem.


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## Plumper (Nov 21, 2007)

sidney777 said:


> You and family look to have done alot of fishing. You even use technical fishing terms like ' bucktail" . What is that ?
> It appears you are close to Fresh and Salt Water fishing??. I an not familiar with your area(but will see on web).


A bucktail is a saltwater fly made out of deer tail hair. Works for coho really well.

We fish when sailing because we don't have refrigeration. Fresh fish is the only meat we get. We throw the big ones back. We only keep what we can eat in a single day.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Many other flies are made with deer tail hair, but a bucktail is specifically a streamer fly made out of deer tail hair, they're made for both fresh and salt water though.


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## billyruffn (Sep 21, 2004)

sydney777,

On BR we operate on the theory that if you drag a lure enough miles you'll eventually catch something. We catch something about every 1000 lure miles or so, usually mahi, tuna or wahoo. The biggest we've ever caught is shown below. Tackle consists of a hundred yards of the biggest monofilament line you can find, 6 ft of heavy steel leader (lures are expensive so you don't want to lose them), and about six feet of shock cord rigged to the line to take the force of the strike. When they hit, drag them til they're dead and then haul them aboard. No need to slow down or stop the boat.

Crude, you say? True, which is probably why we catch one fish per 1000 lure miles, but if we figure we're a sail boat, not a fishing boat.


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## billyruffn (Sep 21, 2004)

*How to calm a freshly caught fish....*

Here's a tip I learned in the Caribbean.... while hauling in the fish, have a crew member go below and fetch the rum. When the fish is landed and flopping arout the deck take a large swig from the rum bottle, swallow half of it and spit the other half in the fish's right gill flap. Take another large swig, again swallowing half and spitting the ramainder in the left gill flap. You'll immediately notice that both you and the fish have calmed down to the point where the fish can be dispatched and the hook removed without risk to the crew. See below


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## belliegirl2 (Sep 9, 2004)

*Have caught shark from sailboat*

While fishing for tuna or other more edible fish near Catalina island off the coast of California. Have hooked many sharks while fishing but normally cut the line and let the beast go. The thought of bringing a mad, scared chomping machine into a fairly confined space is a little scary.

Kind of equate it to bringing a pissed off pitbull into a small room and shutting the door.

Once we did bring a smaller one on board (blue shark). We shot it, cut it up and had it on the BBQ within 10 minutes, tasted fantastic.


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## sidney777 (Jul 14, 2001)

*Authors. Table of contents. Collage of answers. Credits.*

*"How to calm a freshly caught fish....* "Looks like the Shark got ahold of the Bottle !
*"Have caught shark from sailboat" "*Kind of equate it to bringing a pissed off pitbull into a small room and shutting the door".!!! 
"On BR we operate on the theory that if you drag a lure enough miles you'll eventually catch something".
"Many other flies are made with deer tail hair"
"I caught two about 6' long one morning when stopped by chance in about 20' of water just using ordinary bottom fishing gear and about 20 lb line".
"I have never caught a shark (or even fished for one) but I have caught lots of other interesting fish off the back of my boat." "Sailing back from Hawaii "

" I've had pretty good luck trolling with a Yozori (sp) lure in the gulf".
"Slice it about 1/4" thick, put it on a ball of rice with a bit of ponzu sauce. Yeah baby!"
"Here is my wife catching a salmon north of Vancouver Island".
"I often fish out of the dingy in and around the flats using white or gold tail grubs with 1/4 ounce head"
"
"I would be very hesitant to try and catch a large angry fish and bring it aboard an inflatable dinghy-especially a shark"
"When anchored a bit of chum should bring the black tips in, an easy catch using squid, mullet or any other oily stinky stuff" Whew !
"Once a shark hooks up, you will wear yourself out bringing him in, but don't try to bring him aboard". 
"toss some garlic, lemon, butter, black pepper then wrap in foil and throw it on the grill "
Finally:"To catch them, use very large hooks, when you see a shark hook you will know it. Use a stainless steel leader to prevent break-offs. Drop the bait just off the bottom, set the pole but don't leave it. You will know "


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

Thats not a fish, its a crime scene.


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## norsearayder (Dec 19, 2006)

ive hooked a lot of sharks 500 estimate up to 500 lbs ,the first thing i did when i bought my yacht was to transfer permit to that vessel...large ocean sharks r dangerous and so r the smaller ones as they can be much quicker at the boat.....there a lot of fun when u have the proper eqip...this summer i will introduce my so to large sharks when they come up here in augest...i will post pics ...dont panic when u hook up and remember that a large fish takes time to wear down before it can be handled safely this is not a sport to read a couple of blogs and then have at it...anything worth doing is worth doing well...ther r plenty of seminars on off shore fishing ..rayder...ps ther is nothing like bringing to the boat a fish that weighs twice as much as you...me210lbs


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

Not exactly thread related, but I thought I would share some of my fishing photo's. From my brother in laws Donzi Offshore out of St. Augustine.

My King Fish; actually a King Makerel










The Cuda did not stay on the boat very long.










And so that we do keep on topic,
our Shark. (please no comments about the sixteen year old in a bikini)


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

What a cute little shark...  Did ja eat it???


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

sailingdog said:


> What a cute little shark...  Did ja eat it???


No, the cute little shark went back in the tank, we did not eat him.

The Baracuda was only on deck long enough to take a couple of photos.
We were all warned to stay away from the very sharp teeth.

The King fish was brought home and given to my Brother-in-laws Church.
They use it in thier soup kitchen and it helps to feed the less fortunate.


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## TrueBlue (Oct 11, 2004)

Nice pics tj.

Those Cudas can get nasty, been up close and personal with many during dive charters - but fortunately no attacks yet. Here are some shots from our last trip to the Keys . . .


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Don't wear shiny jewelry when diving with barracudas around.


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

I just bought some of my fishing tackle....over $750 and its not enough.


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## KeelHaulin (Mar 7, 2006)

SimonV said:


> I just bought some of my fishing tackle....over $750 and its not enough.


By the time you buy the gear and poles you could have bought enough fish to make the voyage without the gear (J/K)


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## trecksail (Dec 2, 2004)

*Spanish Mackeral*

Caught these sailing the gulf from Tampa to Ft. Meyers. I hadn't brought any gear with me, but a previous owner had left 4 or 5 lures at the bottom of a compartment. I tied em to some kinda line and threw em over. I got these two pretty quick but then I started pulling only remnants of hooked fish. Then 4 or 5 times in a row hard hits with only empty line coming back aboard. Never thought about jumping in to find out what was eating my catches and lures! It was fun and I look forward to much more of it in the future.


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## soul searcher (Jun 28, 2006)

I'm goin to cheat a little bit some of these are from work.
























J caught this one on a hand line 








As far as sharks go I really try to avoid them. Unless there are Makos around. They are one heck of pull but very dangerous around the boat.
remember a shark has no skeleton they can bite their own tail.
And in general I don't want to eat anything that urinates through its skin.
Makos are one of the exceptions they have a separate urinary track.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Sharks need affection, too.


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## TrueBlue (Oct 11, 2004)

Have you hugged your shark today?

That's funny Val.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Took about 90 seconds. I'm no Alex, mind you...


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

But do you help him floss???  Good dental health is important you know.


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