In a normal winter February is a good month for shark fishing on the flats and deeper water. This has not been a normal winter around here. Rolling cold fronts, and I mean cold. Howling winds from the north and bitter cold temperatures pushing the gulf temp. into the 50's. Fortunately, the low 50's did not last long as that can kill snook. It kept the sharks away for sure so far. I look for them to start showing up after this cold front. This should be about it for that junk. At least the real cold blasts. If you never have fished for sharks on the flats with a fly rod, you are missing out on some great fishing. A shark, any shark, fights like crazy. I shark rarely stops moving. It must move to breath. I am not a marine biologist but I would think that a fish that is always is on the move would have to get pretty strong over time and have tremendous endurance. Every shark that I have fought has put up a great battle. Some purists might disagree about using a fish for chum, or any chum for that matter, to attrack a shark or two. If you use a blue runner strung and hung over the bow, they will come. You can use any fish as blood is blood but there is something about a blue runner and sharks. When they appear, pull the runner and flip some chunks into the water. The excitment leval heats up quickly. Flip any red fly into the action and hold on. One thing to watch for is an excited shark jumping into your boat. You really don't have anywhere to go considering the water is full of turned on sharks looking for something to eat. The sharks take and turn every time so be ready for it. The fight is always great and memorable. Use a de-hooker and try not to handle the fish. Your leader should be stout because of the teeth factor. I don't use wire so I use 40lb for small sharks and heavier for larger ones. As you have to go up in leader, you should go up in rod weight and real size. A big shark can make some long runs. Sharks are not afraid of a boat so be mindful that you are only inches off of the water in a flats boat. This technique works very well in deeper water. I had a 12' short finned blue shark come up from 10' to 12' depth on the take and missle 10' out of the water. I didn't know a shark of that size could jump that high. His tale was 10' off the water so that put his snoot about 22' off of the water. Maybe more. I'm just glad he didn't land on the boat. Think about that. What the #@&% would you do then? You can't jump out of the boat to get away and this ticked off 700lb shark is on the boat with you. What am I thinking? If would have crushed me anyway. The point is, things can and do happen fast and this is something that can eat you or at the least, take home a suvenir. From Homosassa south to Hudson, the St. Martins Reef lays about 6 miles offshore. There is a nice cut or convolution that runs thru it and gets 12 to 15 feet deep. This is from the flow of the Homosassa and Chssahowitzka Rivers. You can set up a drift and watch them come to you. Expect it when you least expect it. There are some huge sharks in that area. The short finned blue shark is supposed to be uncommon by all local accounts, however I see them frequently. In fact that day of the big jump was followed by the same action about 30 minutes later by a somewhat smaller short fin of about 7'. Bring a friend for sure. No since be eatin or squashed like a bug alone. Hey check out my website and lets do some fishing together.
Captain Pat TropicBay com
