# Shark Rig help



## Fishing_Hawk (Mar 19, 2008)

During the summer me and the wife do alot of fishing for shark at night, but all we seem to catch is the little ones. Currently i got a Mako spinning rod from Bass pro just purchased in Feb. I usually fish a two hook metal leader. With 2-0 hooks and 3oz p. weight. Fishing with squid. I throw just a hair beyond the surf break. Any advice on how to catch the bigger ones?


----------



## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

This oughta give ya some food for thought...

http://www.pierandsurf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40289


----------



## Fishing_Hawk (Mar 19, 2008)

Thanks! Stinks the pictures wont show on this computer though


----------



## clinder (Mar 2, 2005)

pict wont show..........???????????? turn the html on in your user profile.


----------



## Mullet Madness (Mar 2, 2007)

I f you are looking to purchase something basic i would go with a 12-14' rod with a some what decent spinning reel that will hold over 350 yds. of high pound test. I would usually use mullet for my bait when sharking. As far as weight goes, I would use a 5-6 ounce storm weight and run it all on a fish finder setup.


----------



## chumrunner (Nov 6, 2007)

You're in for it now! A couple of years ago I was asking the same questions and now the only thing I can think about is catching sharks (and buying bigger reels)

I'm not nearly as experienced as some of these guys, but I'll try to pass on what I've learned from some very successful sharkers.

To start with your reel may be a little small for larger sharks. The biggest factor in catching big sharks from the beach is line capacity. If you're planning on targeting 5 ft sharks you're going to want around 600 yds of 30 lb line at least. This can be done with smaller reels by using braided line, but you also have to remember that you won't have the drag of a larger reel. I don't know how big a shark you want to catch, but I think a four footer is about all you'll be able to handle. You could get lucky though. If you're serious I would think about a larger setup. Your rod might be ok, but think about investing in a Penn 9500 spinning reel or the new 950 ssm. This will get you in the game. If you check out ebay you can find some great deals and most are in good shape. 

That said you can still have a blast using what you have on med. size sharks. A 4 footer will give you a great fight on that tackle.

As far as rigs I'll show you what I use. It's very similar to RR's but with a few variations. I like the security of a wire bite leader personally and I also used a fixed weight instead of a sliding one.

Here's a pic:










I use a 3/0 swivel crimped to 4' weedeater line crimped to 300 lb snap swivel. This is attached to the bite leader which has a 3/0 swivel double crimped to 3' 275 lb stainless steel coated cable double crimped to 16/0 circle hook. Attach the weight AND the bite leader to the snap connecting the two leaders. I use spider weights with wire legs so to shorten the leader for casting just place the hook on one of the wire legs and it should come off in mid air or on impact. If you were using regular sinkers you could use the cut off hook like RR used. This is what you would use for larger sharks in the 5-7 ft range. You could scale it down and substitute 100 lb mono for the weedeater line and lighter wire, probably an 8/0 gamigatsu circle hook and 100 lb swivels and snaps.

For bait, cut mullet seems to work the best. Also have another rod out as a bait rod with shrimp on a bottom rig, catch some whiting and use for cut bait.

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, ask away.


----------



## Bigfisherman (Apr 22, 2005)

Chumrunner,
Great pic and nice looking rig. One question,

At the end of the lines, the loops look to be twisted and doubled. I've never seen that. Does it improve the strength of the loop?


----------



## chumrunner (Nov 6, 2007)

It's called an offshore loop and its a way to give some extra strength to a connection in case a crimp fails. Depending on how much of a tag end you leave, it can also give you a section of doubled wire which can be good in the area closest to the shark's mouth.

here's a link that shows how to do it.

http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/fishing_knots/knots_offshoreloop.html


----------



## Bigfisherman (Apr 22, 2005)

Thanks Chumrunner, I'll give those a shot. Never seen or heard of them. Of course, there's a lot I've never seen or heard of.


----------

