beginner's sharking - shark fishing 101

Written by Mike Plaia

So you finally got that new boat that has some offshore capability and now you are interested in getting into the world of offshore big game fishing. There is no better way to get into big game fishing than starting off with shark fishing. No matter what type of boat you have, there are some basic safety rules you should follow. First and foremost, always check the weather forecast. No matter how big a boat you have there are some weather conditions that should keep you tied to the dock. For most boats I would not recommend going out to the sharking grounds if the winds are forecasted to blow over 20 to 30 miles per hour and/or seas are predicted to be greater than 4 to 6 feet. When it comes to fishable seas, the general rule is that if the sea height is predicted to be the same as the sea interval, you will be in for sloppy conditions. However, if the sea height is significantly lower than the wave period, then the conditions can be fishable even when large seas are predicted. For example 4 to 6 feet seas at 4 second intervals will make for fairly unpleasant conditions, but 10-foot seas at 1 minute intervals will be a gentle swell that will make for good fishing conditions. Remember that you do need some wind to push you along on your drift, how much wind is too much wind is something that will vary depending on the size of the boat and the shape of the hull. That is something you will get used to once you gain some time out on the water. Shark fishing in the northeast usually starts sometime in May, with the arrival of the blue sharks. Early in the month you might run into a porbeagle shark, especially if you are fishing off the MA, NH or ME coasts. Porbeagles are cold water sharks that are rarely caught south of Cape Cod during the "normal" shark season. North of Cape Cod you might run into a porbeagle at any time during the shark season. Sometime in late May or early June, again depending on how far north or south you are located, the first of the mako sharks will start to show. The mako will be followed in a very short time by the thresher sharks. As June fades into July some of the more exotic sharks will start to show up. Great hammerheads, tigers, sandbar (brown) and dusky sharks can be caught during the heat of the summer. Every year a few white sharks are spotted or hooked in our local waters. Bull sharks are occasionally caught off the southern New Jersey coast but rarely make it any further north than that. One local coastal shark that you may run across is the sand tiger shark. These sharks are typically caught close to shore, sometime by surfcasters. Their skin has the mottled appearance similar to a tiger shark, but their teeth more closely resemble those of a mako. These sharks are a protected species and must be returned to water as soon as possible. When September rolls around the sharks will start to migrate out of our local area in the reverse order that they arrived. The first to leave will be the more exotic sharks. You'll rarely find a great hammerhead or a tiger shark in the month of October. As the water cools, the mako and thresher sharks will migrate to warmer water, though you can often catch them right up until early November. Next to leave will be the blue sharks, but the big fall run blue sharks can be a real challenge to catch on properly sized tackle. Sometime in the November to December time frame the blue sharks will vacate the area. I don't think anyone really knows when the porbeagles will return to our local waters or how long they will stay. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that they may be with us all winter long. So now that we have covered the when of shark fishing, let's talk about the where. Sharks, like most other fish, have a preferred temperature range of water in which they are most comfortable. Also like most other fish, the larger specimens of each species can tolerate colder water than the smaller models. Based on my observations I would guess that the minimum water temperatures for the main species that we catch here in the northeast is about 45 degrees for blue sharks, 57 degrees for large makos and threshers, 60 degrees for smaller makos and threshers, 63 degrees for brown and dusky sharks and 65 degrees for the exotics. Keep in mind when you are looking at sea surface temperature charts that the temperature of the water at the surface is much different than the temperature of the water just a few feet down below the thermocline. Also keep in mind that the mackerel sharks, i.e. the porbeagle and mako sharks, can regulate their body temperature and keep it well above the temperature of the surrounding water. Porbeagle sharks have been caught in 34-degree water, which is only a few degrees above the freezing point of sea water! Also, like most other fish, sharks tend to congregate where there is a readily available source of food. Finding likely shark fishing spots will, like most other types of fishing, require you to find the bait that the sharks might be eating. This usually involves finding structure, which often holds the fish at the bottom of the food chain. The structure can be a rocky area, a wreck or a sharp drop off in the contour of the bottom. Differences in water temperatures will often cause plankton to rise in the water column and attract the smaller bait fish, which will attract the larger bait fish, which in turn will attract the sharks. So finding a water temperature differential over a piece of structure is a good place to start looking for sharks. Your rods and reels can be virtually any set-up that will stand up to fifteen or twenty pounds of drag. Many fishermen start out with their favorite striped bass or cod rods. The fancy roller guides and lever drag, gold colored reels are nice to have, but they are not a necessity for getting into the game. My advice to anyone thinking about getting into shark fishing would be to try it a couple of times before you go laying out over $1,000 for a "real" big game outfit. A gimble belt that will give you some place to put the butt of the rod while fighting the fish would be a good idea as would a shoulder harness if your reel has lugs to which the harness can be hooked. You will need some basic tools though if you intend to keep any shark. First you will need a gaff, preferably a flying gaff with a detachable head. Sharks tend to roll when they feel the gaff stick them, and it can be close to impossible to hold a straight gaff that is struck into a shark that is trying to spin like a top. Another option, and one that I much prefer, is a cockpit harpoon. You can buy or rig a harpoon dart on a short (about three foot) length of wire cable. That, combined with a 6 foot stick that can accommodate the dart should put you into position to handle most any shark that comes along. You'll also need a tail rope. That can be as simple as an old dock line or, even better, another piece of wire rope covered with a rubber or neoprene hose to protect your boat and with a large fireman's clip on the end of the wire. The wire can then be folded back and the clip used to make a sliding noose. The wire rope is preferable as it will sink, making the process of getting it onto the shark's tail much simpler. Leaders typically will run about ten to twelve feet long and can be made from simple single strand wire or a combination of single strand wire and either braided wire cable or heavy duty monofilament. The single strand wire will always go between the hook and the swivel. Don't even be tempted to use braided cable right to the hook. I have seen mako sharks chew through braided cable by breaking one strand of wire at a time. If you put braided wire cable in a mako's mouth it is only a matter of time before the shark chews its way through it. On the Makomania we use two part leaders. We use about a 6-foot piece of 200 to 250-pound test single strand wire and put the hook on one end and very large barrel swivel on the other. Both the hook and swivel are attached with haywire twists. Then we add a 10-foot long piece of 200 to 250-pound test braided wire cable with another barrel swivel crimped on one end and crimped to the other swivel, with appropriately sized sleeves. Recently we have been experimenting with substituting a 10-foot length of 500 or 600-pound test mono. I had noticed in the past that occasionally when a mako took a bait it would almost immediately jump out of the water, which can interfere with getting a good hook set. After talking to several other noted shark fishermen, such as Bill Brown and Fred Archer and several marine biologists who specialize in sharks, we began to suspect that this almost immediate jump might be the result of an electrostatic charge that had built up along the length of the braided wire cable. Our hope is to avoid this early leaping behavior by switching to the heavy mono. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this type of leader.   There is basically only one hook to use when sharking, the Mustad 7699. It has been the go-to hook for shark fishermen for the last 50 years or so. I'm sure that other hooks will work, especially when the blue sharks are in thick. We've caught blue sharks on old, rusted bluefish hooks, but when we're looking for Mr. Mako or a big thresher, we go with the 7699s. Similarly shaped Owner, Gamagatsu, Penn, etc. should also work, as long as they have an offset. Sizes depend on the fish you are targeting, but there really is no reason to go any smaller than 10/0 or 12/0 sizes. You might want to use the smaller hooks in smaller baits, like mackerel, especially if you think thresher sharks, with their relatively small mouths, might be around. Some folks have begun experimenting with circle hooks, which make hook recovery easier. We may try some next year, but you can bet that when we know that there is a mako around, the hook will be a 7699. We like to use several different baits when shark fishing. We will almost always have a mako sandwich out in the spread. It's simply two bluefish filets with a large squid in between the two filets. It is important to trim the filets, if necessary, so that the tentacles of the squid stick out past the ends of the filets. We also commonly use a whole mackerel and a whole menhaden. They are rigged with the hook in the aft end of the bait and with the gills and mouth sewn shut with floss, to minimize the baits' spinning if we suspect that threshers may be in the area. We will also use a downsized mako sandwich using mackerel filets and a smaller squid. According to the researchers at Wood's Hole, bluefish make up about 60% of a mako's diet here in the northeast; that should tell you something. Everybody has their own favorite chum recipe. Lots of guys will grind their own chum using a variety of fish and fish oils. Many fishermen prefer to defrost their chum and mix it with sea water and fish oil and then ladle the mixture over the side. Personally I think that sticking a frozen block of chum in either a perforated bag or a mile crate and hanging it over the side works just as well as any other method. You can regulate the amount of chum that goes into the water by varying the depth of the bag or crate. Don't overdo it! You are only trying to attract the fish to the boat. You are not trying to feed them with the chum. Big sharks will often lie back in the slick and just keep picking off the small, easy pieces. Menhaden oil or menhaden "milk" is a useful addition to the chum slick. The easiest way to use it is to put it into a bag used for an intravenous drip and hang it over the side, so that it dispenses about one drop per minute into the slick. Be careful with this stuff, it is extremely slippery! If you spill it on your deck you will be sliding all over the place for most of the day! While you are fishing designate someone to keep an eye on the chum. Lots of times a shark will swim right past the baits and try to eat the chum bag or crate. If they get to it the results can leave you without any chum. Another useful addition to the chum slick is glitter. It is illegal to throw any type of plastic into the water, so you'll have to find some type of glitter that is organic. One possibility is herring scales, which can be purchased from the herring processors in Maine. You might be able to find something else at your local craft shop or party supply place. Set your baits out off the boat using some sort of float, like you were fishing for sun fish in a pond. You can use latex balloons (they degrade, no mylar please), or foam floats. The farther away from the boat the deeper it should be, unless you are fishing a live bait. Live baits should be placed the furthest from the boat to avoid tangling the other lines. We usually put the furthest bait down about 90 feet, the second bait down around 60 feet and the closest bait at around 40 feet. Always check your depth machine to find out where the thermocline is and place two of your baits close to it, one above and one below. We also often fish a fourth bait right next to the boat down about 20 feet, for the occasional fish that misses all the others and heads for the chum. Once you get a hook-up, try to get a feel for the size and fight of the fish. If it's a blue shark or a small fish, just let the angler fight it to the boat. If it's a big fish or one that really has "game," start the engine(s) and put the angler in one corner of the transom and maneuver the boat so that the angler is always facing the fish. You can hit the MOB button on your GPS to return to the spot and start chumming again, or if your gear is sturdy enough you can just leave it in the water. You won't be going far; you'll mostly just be turning the boat to keep the angler lined up with the fish. Once you get the fish to the boat you'll first have to decide if you are going to release it or put it in the boat. If you're going to release it, the ARC dehooker is a really nifty gizmo that is easy to use and will get you that $3 hook back. If you don't have one, there is a method of unhooking the fish where one person holds the leader down low while another uses a short-handled, straight gaff to pull the hook out. If you're the adventurous type you can try this out on some smaller sharks. The other alternative is to simply cut the wire as close to the hook as you can (pay attention to those fingers!) and let the fish swim away with the hook. If you are going to keep the fish, you'll have to get several people involved. You'll need someone to wire the fish by grabbing the leader, someone to wield the flying gaff or the harpoon, and someone to place the tail rope. Obviously one person can do more than one thing. The wire man reaches out and grabs the leader to bring the fish into position for the gaff or harpoon. Obviously he should be wearing heavy gloves. Once he grabs the leader he must be careful to place the slack (the amount of leader between his hands and the rod) back over the side of the boat, so no one gets tangled or cut by it. He maneuvers the fish by pulling it close enough to the boat for the gaff man to get his shot. The gaff or harpoon should be placed close to the middle of the fish. Some prefer to gaff the fish in the tail to prevent it from jumping and also to aid in getting the tail rope on. Others prefer to place the gaff or dart more forward in order to control the head. If you have the weighted tail rope I described earlier, I prefer to place the gaff or dart forward. Usually, when the dart hits home the fish will go still for about 30 seconds. If the guy with the tail rope is ready, he can pass the noose of the rope over the head of the fish and cinch it up on the tail before the fish comes alive again. If you don't have the wire tail rope a short, straight gaff can help in getting the tail rope onto the fish. Once you get the tail rope onto the fish and the tail pulled up out of the water, that fish is yours! Sharks can live for a long time out of the water. We try to hang a shark by the tail for a several hours before putting it into the boat, but even then they are often still alive. One trick to try and keep those teeth away from bare legs is to put a five- gallon bucket over the shark's head for the ride home. Tie it there if you have to, it will prevent injury to the boat as well as to the anglers. As I write this, the NMFS/NOAA Fisheries is in the process of adopting new regulations for shark fishermen. Make sure you check and know which fish are legal to keep and what the minimum sizes are before you head out for the day. Good luck and enjoy your fishing!

 

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