Shark on the fly?

[Peyton]

I will be going to Corolla in the outer banks for a week. The last time I was able to catch some big sand tiger sharks from the surf using 12-20" mullet or Bonita as bait. Most were within 30-80' of the sand. I was planning on using a 12wt fly rod and large musky flies to try and catch one of these sharks. The leader would need two or more feet of steel, and a total length of around eight feet to prevent the shark's skin from fraying the fly line. Every now and then at dawn and dusk, I could see the shark's fins, and place a bait in front of them that they instantly took. Some of the troubles would be getting one to eat the fly, and how to prevent a 200-pound beast from spooling me. On conventional gear, they would run a couple hundred feet with 20-30 pounds of drag. I can't get close to that with a fly rod. Did anyone try something like this before or even catch a shark over five feet from the surf?

 

[Clams]

Maybe set your sights on something smaller that won't run as far or as hard when hooked. My son and I used to catch bonnetheads in the surf in South Carolina. They fight hard but they're only around 3 feet and they're pretty easy to catch if you can find them. We used spin gear but you could probably use an 8 or 9 weight to land them.

 

[Peyton]

Maybe set your sights on something smaller that won't run as far or as hard when hooked. My son and I used to catch bonnetheads in the surf in South Carolina. They fight hard but they're only around 3 feet and they're pretty easy to catch if you can find them. We used spin gear but you could probably use an 8 or 9 weight to land them.

I'm only going big because they are the only fish there that get close. The smallest shark was 6'10". I'll throw some smaller flies around in the wintertime when the smaller sharks are close. Those were the only shark we were able to catch in the surf.

 

[wildtrout2]

I will be going to Corolla in the outer banks for a week. The last time I was able to catch some big sand tiger sharks from the surf using 12-20" mullet or Bonita as bait. Most were within 30-80' of the sand. I was planning on using a 12wt fly rod and large musky flies to try and catch one of these sharks. The leader would need two or more feet of steel, and a total length of around eight feet to prevent the shark's skin from fraying the fly line. Every now and then at dawn and dusk, I could see the shark's fins, and place a bait in front of them that they instantly took. Some of the troubles would be getting one to eat the fly, and how to prevent a 200-pound beast from spooling me. On conventional gear, they would run a couple hundred feet with 20-30 pounds of drag. I can't get close to that with a fly rod. Did anyone try something like this before or even catch a shark over five feet from the surf?View attachment 1641231949View attachment 1641231950 View attachment 1641231951

Very cool! Congrats.

 

[Mike]

Advise you to check the newer coastal regs on sharks. My recollection from having skimmed the info about 9 mo ago was that you can’t remove them (beach them) from the water anymore to unhook them and the reg pertains to a good number of species, although they may all be the more pelagic ones. There is also a permit process for certain species as I recall. Check this out for yourself ahead of time.

 

[Peyton]

Advise you to check the newer coastal regs on sharks. My recollection from having skimmed the info about 9 mo ago was that you can’t remove them (beach them) from the water anymore to unhook them and the reg pertains to a good number of species, although they may all be the more pelagic ones. There is also a permit process for certain species as I recall. Check this out for yourself ahead of time.

The regulations are a bit odd. I tag shark for NOAA cooperative shark tagging program. They recommend keeping them in as deep water as possible to unhook them, but to bring them shallow for safety. I used to keep them almost fully submerged at all times until one snapped back and left a large gash in my foot. I try and keep them was wet as possible. Typically the waves will push them right on up to a safer spot. We take a video of unhooking, running for a quick photo, and right back for a release. We later take a photo from the video to use. Total time to unhook and get back safely is 10-15 seconds depending on how many people we have to drag them back. Haven’t had any show signs of stress or tiredness from the battle. The fight time is roughly 5-10 minutes. Watching videos online, they fight them for 20-120 minutes and tend to need to revive their sharks. Thanks for the words, I’ll try and keep them deeper next time.