# shark baits?



## canadaboy (Nov 20, 2006)

I hooked a nice shark of the juno pier and loved it. Would like to catch morew, what is the best baitss to use for shark around here? where should i go!!!


----------



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Fish heads work over here. Bigger the better. Just don't forget that in Florida it's illegal to have any fish with a size limit that's been cut up in your possesion on a pier. So you can cut up Whiting or Mullet or Ladyfish for bait, but not Bluefish....


----------



## VICIII (Apr 8, 2005)

lady fish work best to me other than Blues but I found out you can not use them or it is just like poaching...


----------



## canadaboy (Nov 20, 2006)

really no blues? good to know. Can i use blue runners? csn i catch bait on the pier?


----------



## fisherkid (Jun 30, 2005)

*The anwer to both you're*



canadaboy said:


> really no blues? good to know. Can i use blue runners? csn i catch bait on the pier?


Questions is yes.

Fisherkid


----------



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

There's no law against using bluefish for bait. There is a law against cutting them up before they are "landed". If you have a fish in your possesion on a pier, jetty, or in a boat, it's not been "landed", so you can't cut it up. 

"All bluefish shall be landed in a whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, of such fish that have been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled, or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or "gutting" of such fish, or mere removal of gills before landing is not prohibited."

Here's an article I wrote that explains it in detail:

http://amelia-island-fishing.com/fishing/articles/cleanfish.cfm

The laws (Chapter 68 of the Florida Adminstrative Code) are very poorly written. Each fish that has a size limit has the same basic paragraph (above), but some specifically mention "piers" and "jetty" and some don't.

To complicate matters even more, some FWC officers will tell you that you can't clean fish on a beach if you are actively fishing. Which is mentioned no where in Chapter 68, so in my opinion it's crap. 

To be on the safe side, the easiest thing to remember is this; if the fish has a size limit, don't cut it up for bait on a pier and don't clean it on a pier.


----------



## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

I here SPAM works well (the canned kind) you still got those pics surf fish?


----------



## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

barty b said:


> I here SPAM works well (the canned kind) you still got those pics surf fish?


Oh, you mean my shark rig? I was gonna mention that, but I don't know where Juno is. My shark rig works good at Ft. Clinch pier, but might not work at Juno, could be different kind of sharks there than what we got over here. 

But not just ANY SPAM works good here, it's gotta be the HOT & SPICY SPAM which is impregnated with Tobassco sauce. I just put the whole can on at once, I think the red chum line it makes in the water is what does the trick. Just bait it up, toss it over, and tie the line to pier railing and Mr. Shark will take care of the rest.

Almost had a REALLY big one when we were fishing one night last month, but that shark got so mad when he bit into that SPAM and felt that 20/0 hook that he ripped out a chunk of the pier railing where the line was tied and kept right on going...











I heard a rumor that Hormel is going to start selling this stuff in Bait & Tackle stores, in a different can. They call it SharkBites....


----------



## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

you can use bluefish as bait they just have to be whole and legal size....besides a live bluefish works a lot better as shark bait than a chunk of one

we use live bluefish, bonito, and cudas for shark bait when we goto the juno pier and we dont have any probs catching them ...although they dont allow shark fishing on that pier


----------



## canadaboy (Nov 20, 2006)

Ok now for the rig! How do I hook it up. Hook size/ weight/ etc.... What about blue runners will they work???


----------



## yogai (Oct 21, 2005)

hehehe, I wouldn't recommend tying a shark rig to a pier railing.

Spanish mackerel work well for sharks. They die quickly and get all rigor mortis-ish, so you kinda have to change a lot, but they are stinky.


----------



## derekxec (Apr 26, 2006)

we use live so theres no weight...we either use mainline to swivel to 63lb wire to hook(5/0 owner) to 63lb wire to hook(5/0 owner) the second hook is a stinger hook usually about 8-12 inches long depending on how big the bait (we usually use like 10lb bonito)

or do the same rig with 80lb mono leader


----------



## cpn_aaron (Apr 11, 2006)

Depends on shark size and bait size for the fishing. I have two rig sizes. A smaller casting rig with 4 ft of 200lb mono to 2 ft of 275 lb cable with a 9/o circle baited with ~12" of mullet or ladyfish, and a deep water line that has 10 ft of 350lb mono line to 4 ft of 425lb cable with a 20/o circle with 5 lbs of mullet fillets or any other oily fish I can cut up legal. Mostly the mono and cable is large to avoid abrasion during the fight. You can use 80lb mono but getting a shark larger than 4.5ft to beach or jetty is very hard. Their skin just shreds line. Also, if your sharks are anything like the Space Coast variety, they learn quickly when hooked and run up your leader trying to chew themselves off. You need the long leader to hold up against their attempts to chew the leader during the fight. 
I used to use 60 lb wire, but I kept getting sharks biting through it once near landing. The extra taunt nature of having the leader so close and attempting to land the shark gave them the tension they needed to easily slice through the wire. 
However, the above suggestion for 80lb mono with 63lb wire works great if you're after small sanbars and sharpnoses with light tackle. One of my favorite things to do in early spring evenings when the jack run is use 20lb test with small wire (~50 lb) and 40 lb mono leaders on the bull and blacktip (usually 3-4ft TL) pups that swim the creeks feeding into the Indian River. Boy can they fight you hard on light takle.


----------

