NC Shark Report

[Power Fisherman]

Here is Matzy's Report,

_____________________________________________________________

This trip was in the making for a solid month and we finally decided on a location and time to meet in North Carolina. Myself, NYsharker(Jake), and our buddy Eric who came to florida with us last year, drove over night to meet NCsharker(Jason) and Justin Stewart at the spot in the early morning. We had done our homework and came prepared to fish any conditions thrown at us.
This is what it looked like as i left home in upstate NY. We had just got done with a big snow storm.

It was quite a change to be back on the beach with temps into the 60s. We drove onto the sand and set up on a predetermined spot. We quickly made the call to move down the beach some to avoid the sea weed that was fouling our lines. After we moved we were instantly into fish on our bait rods. We caught some skates, smooth dog fish, and a couple atlantic sharpnose sharks. We kept the skates for bait and sent out almost all our rods. The rods sat for some time before we got any action but when Justin's 12/0 with a big bait started to roll we got a quick dose of adrenaline. It was right around magic time and after the fish toyed with the bait for some time Justin set the hook and started to muscle in the fish. We werent sure if we had a fish on until he worked the shark in closer when it started pulling and throwing some nasty head shakes.
We get the fish into the wash and im finally able to grab the leader and start pulling in the big sand tiger. I needed plenty of help so Jake and i grab the fish by the tail and slowly inch our way onto the sand. The first thing that struck all of us was huge girth on this sand tiger. Total Length was 8'3" and the girth was a whopping 57 inches.
Measuring the fish



Girth Measurement



Jaws

And the release...


After that we got into some more action with multiple rods going off. Excitement was through the roof. We had three rods rolling at the same time. Jakes 9/0 was PEELING and when he set the hook the fight was definitely on! After some drag pulling and head shakes, his 80lb line snapped and the fight was over. Heartbreak.
Erics 9/0 got picked up numerous times but the fish never seemed committed enough to take the whole bait. While Jason's skate was picked clean around the hook.


After that my 14/0 started rolling and then picked up speed FAST. It sure didnt sound like a sand tiger and as i set up on the fish i felt it pull hard and then it just stopped. I got hung up on a serious piece of structure and ended up losing the fish not because the hook pulled but because the line was tangled up somewhere way our there. I ended up losing line and my rig. Thats just the way it goes sometimes. We ended up calling it a night not too long after as all of us were exhausted and going on little or no sleep.
The next day brought even warmer weather and made for a really nice day on the beach. We rigged up with what bait we had and what we caught and sent out a lot of rods. They sat quiet until my 9/0 started zipping away. The fog rolled in thick and made for some cool pictures and video. I set up good on the fish and worked it in. No long runs but strong angry head shakes made for a fun short fight and we pulled in this 5'7" sand bar. It was a nice little surprise.



Soon after, Eric was once again toyed with and had his stingray picked clean around the hook. As the sun was setting, Jason's 6 wide took off and after a nice little fight he got his first sand bar to date. 4'9" total length.


After that the action died off and to keep ourselves busy we just had spiny dog fish competitions. We would land one after another for as long as we would like. Jake and i rigged up our 7ft light takle ugly stiks and had a ball with these 3 foot doggies ripping drag off the small set ups.

We just had to watch out for those sharp spines!

Later on that night we got hammered with action yet again. Jasons 6 wide and 14/0 were rolling at the same time while Eric and Jake both got small uncommitted pick ups.

Jason eventually set up on the fish on his 14/0 and this thing was definitely a pig. I heard his drag zipping after he set up but soon after, the hook ended up pulling. That was tough because that was undoubtedly a big one.
This concluded our night as the heavy surf and sweep started fouling up our lines. Wind picked up and soon we found ourselves in a cold downpour. the next morning Justin and Jason had to head home and we stayed to fish by ourselves. Without Jason's 4 wheel drive car we were out of luck when it came to beach access. I have a subaru forester but the ground clearance, tires, and AWD dont stand a chance on the deep soft stuff on the beach.
The next day we ended up fishing right off of where we were staying and had to fight through 5-6 footers to get baits out. I believe Jakes 9/0 got hit but because of tight drag we werent able to tell and the fish wasnt able to swim off with it. When we packed it up, his hook was clean. The sun had just set and we decided to go OLD SCHOOL and walk all the way to the area we fished the night before with casted shark rods. We stopped and fished every hole and break in the bars we could find and at the end of a 6 hour walk casting at every hole imaginable, we held our rods in our hands the hole time and believe me it was exhausting. We covered over 4 miles of beach and all we had to show for it were a couple spiny dogfish.
The next day i decided to risk it with the forester and drive down a long beach access road that had some deep sandy areas and plenty of mud holes but we made it to the beach entrance where the sand was entirely too deep and soft to handle. from there we unloaded our gear, packed most of it in the yak and carried it 300 yards down to the water.
A few minutes after Jake had kayaked out his 9 i saw his line start to move. He let the fish run and stuck the hook.

After a nice 15 minute battle he dragged in this conservatively estimated(using a 6'6" rod) 7 and a half foot sand tiger.




It was a real heavy fish and took both of us to drag her back out for a safe release.
I hopped in the kayak while Eric and Jake were rigging baits and took out my 9/0 and before i could even get back to the breakers they were screaming at me to hurry up. as i hit the surf i could hear my clicker peeling. I ran out of the kayak and set up on the fish. After a short little battle, it resulted in another little sand bar.

As soon as i released the fish, Jake dropped out his 9/0 again and within 10 minutes was hooked up while Eric already had a few runs and missed hook sets on his yakked 4/0. Jake worked the shark in and turned out to be another sand bar with some more size than the one i had caught.


A safe release and more rods went back out. My 9/0 gets picked up and i hook a nice fish that peels some line and then after fighting it for a minute or so i get hung on structure and theres nothing i can do. The fish is lost.
After this the action dies off rather quickly and our baits start getting picked clean by doggies. We stick it out for a long time but nothing happens and temps drop down to 46 degrees and Jake and I are still sitting around in our wetsuits freezing! That was the end of the night.
The next day we returned to the same spot and were hoping for a repeat of hot action but that never came. We did have one incredible run on Erics 9/0. sounded just like when the hammer i caught in florida took off. Runs of this speed you only hear once every year or every two years, it was something special. The hook however didnt stick. It could have been dolphins because they were out there but we really dont know.
We started to get weeded out bad and were forced to call it a night very quickly. Im sure if it werent for the weeds, we would have done really well. One of Jakes baits was torn to shreds with big bites out of it. This concluded our trip to North Carolina. As always it was great to meet up with Jason and Justin.
I am sure the other guys will be adding to the story and the report.
By the way, we have video of every fish we caught...
Matt

[jellybear]

Yous Guys are Insane! Just where at in NC where you fishing? I'm guessing the Point right?

[rockhoppingmike]

Nice report...... Nice sharks catches

[minivin5]

I love me some shark fishin Nice releases If you guys ever make it down my way let me know

[TinCup]

great post, thanks for sharing! next time we need video photoage

[beachtoad]

Where in upstate? Liked the video gotta put it to some music.

[bethanybeachfrontier]

hey guys,checking in from bethany beach, DE here. Just lurking around and wanted to give my congrats on the great catches and releases! Makes me wanna call off for a 3 day weekend and get down south for some fun!

[Wild Dave]

Great photos guys, looks like those sharks put up quite a fight.

[bhorsley]

great report--but you might not want to post the photos of the sandtigers

http://www.nautilusproductions.com/s...arks/plan.html

prohibits ALL directed (commercial and recreational) fishing for five species (whale, basking, white, sand tiger, and bigeye sand tiger);

[king_rigr]

Originally Posted by bhorsley

great report--but you might not want to post the photos of the sandtigers

http://www.nautilusproductions.com/s...arks/plan.html

prohibits ALL directed (commercial and recreational) fishing for five species (whale, basking, white, sand tiger, and bigeye sand tiger);

That's great info. I never knew that and i've been sharking for around 3 years now...But what if you're not purposely trying to catch sand tiger's(or any of the other 5 species) and you happen to catch one(or a few)...

Or maybe i'm just not reading that page right..


I'm not trying to start an argument or anything, i'm just wondering what would happen in that situation IF you got caught and they were still serious about that kind of thing....

[Tall Paul]

I think the point he is trying to make is not to post pictures of an illegal catch (even if it is just catch and release, which I know without a doudt it is) There are way to many eco-terrorist tree huggers that will use that picture to point out how all fishing from the beach should be banned. We don't need to give them any more ammo for their fight. It is kind of like the photos of a six pack charter with a picture of 18 striped bass on the dock. It leads people to assume the worst.

[bhorsley]

well said Paul

[king_rigr]

Originally Posted by Tall Paul

I think the point he is trying to make is not to post pictures of an illegal catch (even if it is just catch and release, which I know without a doudt it is) There are way to many eco-terrorist tree huggers that will use that picture to point out how all fishing from the beach should be banned. We don't need to give them any more ammo for their fight. It is kind of like the photos of a six pack charter with a picture of 18 striped bass on the dock. It leads people to assume the worst.

Okay i gotcha. Never thought of it in the way that it could be used as more "ammo" for them trying to close beaches.

Thanks

[cobia_slayer]

Originally Posted by king_rigr

That's great info. I never knew that and i've been sharking for around 3 years now...But what if you're not purposely trying to catch sand tiger's(or any of the other 5 species) and you happen to catch one(or a few)...

Or maybe i'm just not reading that page right..


I'm not trying to start an argument or anything, i'm just wondering what would happen in that situation IF you got caught and they were still serious about that kind of thing....

C'mon I'm sure you know the answer to that... A sharks a shark, its hard to target what kind your fishin for from the beach unless its a certain time of year. Idk if you were there, but last year at the pier somone caught a sandtiger and beached it as soon as a game warden drove up (well I'm not sure if that's what he was but he did work for the DMF) all he did was take measurements and made sure that the shark got back in the water.

As you prolly already know sandtigers are one of the most common sharks to be caught off the beaches here, its not like you can keep it from happening, just make sure you release it. Look at the size charts and it'll tell you what sharks you can and can't keep. I'm not sure but I think the size is either 52" or 58" for any shark and only one a day including all species.

(don't insult me cause I answered a ? ment for someone else )

[LeadDragger]

Great Post. Thanks