Shark Fishing in a Flats Boat

SEE THE VIDEO HERE!



Catching giant barracudas is a lot of fun, but it's just the beginning for shark fishing. If you think barracudas fight good, and I did when I first caught that big one from my last post, then you'll love how sharks fight.

Why barracudas as bait for sharks? If you've ever handled one out on a boat, you'll know why: They STINK! Very very smelly, terrible smell. Also, they are plentiful and they bite pretty easily, and there aren't any fishing regulations on them so you can catch a lot for tons of bait. You can even catch some for your next shark outing, and keep them in your freezer. The stink will reappear once they are thawed out. Barracudas aren't especially bloody like a bonito. They have white meat. It's mostly about the terrible smell and the abundance.

After we made our exciting catch that day, our first time out shark fishing, our guide drove us in his flats boat to Airport Flats, in front of Key Largo. The water was about five feet deep and the tide was going out. The guide made filets on either side of each fish, but didn't cut the pieces completely off the body. Then he hooked the cut up fish bodies on a hook and a very very long steel leader and threw it off the back of the boat. We just let them bleed out and stink up the water. Then we waited and waited forever. You have to be a little patient with shark fishing sometimes. We waited for over an hour.

But the wait was soooooooo worth it. First, we caught a nurse shark. We didn't know any better, so we were really excited. It was the biggest thing we'd ever seen at the time, but it was six feet long which makes it a medium sized shark. It felt gigantic on the line because we'd been fishing for pike in the Adirondacks. Compared to northern pike, even a nurse shark is a whale.

Then a monster bull shark showed up but he wouldn't eat any of the barracuda. Plus he kept all the smaller bull sharks that had shown up, away from the bait. Our guide solved this problem by catching a jack on a popper, then sending him out on a bobber. The jack swam out way behind the boat, beyond the barracuda bait, beyond the big bull shark. The big guy swam right up to and around the boat a few times. We stood on the bow and because the water was pretty shallow and clear, we could see him and how big he was.

Finally a bull shark hit the jack. He wasn't as big as the one at the boat, but he pulled like a train. My BF took the pole an hung on while the drag spun out. The shark pulled right out and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. The guide started the boat and left the pole sticking up in the mud while we took off to chase the bull. We chased him and BF pulled when he could, bearing down like crazy. we had to put a towel under the base of the pole so it didn't push into his skin too much.

BF fought and fought the bull for about 45 minutes. Did I mention this was on 20 lb line? Once it came up to the boat, came really close and he was able to reel in lots of line. We were excited but the shark had lots of energy left still. He got another spurt and attacked one of the trim tabs on the boat! Our guide flipped out and gunned the engine to get away from bull but he held on. Man! He finally let go but the guide had had it. He asked BF if maybe he wanted to rest for a minute, he'd take the pole. BF handed over the pole to rest for a bit, but oh dear suddenly the shark broke the line. What a coincidence! I guess having your trim tab chewed up by a bull shark isn't a great way to end the day. Sorry! But it was the greatest thrill EVER.

Cudas OK

I first came to the Florida Keys in Winter of 2002, so I'm relatively new to the whole Keys scene. My boyfriend and I both hate winters in upstate New York, so we started visiting here every chance we got. One winter season we came down three times, once we'd discovered sportfishing. I have to say that flying down to the Keys and going out fishing with a good charter fishing guide is one of the best vacations you could ever have. We went out with a variety of captains, both backcountry and offshore, and the first one we happened to find turned out to be one of the best. We found his business card in a tackle shop and next day bundled up and went out on his flats boat. It was freezing, but we had the time of our life on that gray day. Our guide later became one of our web design clients, and his family hosted us for a lobster dinner once when we came down on vacation. Really a nice time.

My boyfriend likes to get big fish, and of course when you're from the north, who can imagine anything more exciting than catching a shark. Our guide had a flats boat, so really the biggest fish he could promise us was a shark. The first step was to catch some bait: barracuda, which in itself sounded pretty dangerous and exciting. We did this by trolling some whistling lures- I dont' know what you call them- they are bright orange and pink skinny rubber tubes with hooks out one end. Supposedly they whistle in the water and attract the barracuda. We dragged the pretty lures through the water until the poles bent way down and something was on the hook. My BF grabbed the pole and hung on-wow! Then the other pole did the same thing and it was my turn. Man, it was tough and I thought maybe we'd caught a shark by trolling (I didn't know anything about how sharks hunt at at point, so I didn't know this was pretty much impossible). It felt so heavy and it was all I could do to hold onto the pole. How would I ever reel it in? We fought and it took me a while, but after a few minutes we both reeled in gigantic barracuda (or so the guide told us after he saw the fish...I had no idea what they looked like then, those early days of my fishing career).

I was pretty impressed with the barracuda fishing, and I remember thinking that was pretty exciting all by itself. Shark fishing must be amazing if this was just the bait. I was thrilled. Now, five years later and many many fishing trips later, I have learned that most fishermen (oops-anglers, I mean) regard the barracuda as something undesirable, not even really a fish worth catching, almost an embarrassment that it should happen to get hooked. Nobody eats them, although some guides tell me Cubans eat them. There's that ciguatera disease, which you can get from eating the larger cudas. Well, I don't need to eat them but I still love the barracuda. See how happy I was after catching my first big fish? You always remember your first with fondness, and that was my first (see picture). Plus, when you go snorkeling, they hang near you so you can study them up close, and they eye you and creep you out a little, if they're big. That's exciting, too. Sometimes we hate the cudas when they snatch our yellowtail as we reel them in, hoping for a snapper dinner. But we always laugh at their resourcefulness and the nerve they have, stealing our dinner, and really down deep, we respect the cuda. Cuda OK.