# Sharkin' on CALO in late April?



## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Hi all!

I've been lurking on these forums for a while trying to pick up tips and tricks for landing sharks in the surf. I've been taking some gear with me every time the wife and I have gone to the beach and slowly upgraded my arsenal from small surf rods up to multiple high capacity conventionals, kayak, etc... I have never taken a trip specifically just to fish, so me and a buddy are going to drive to CALO for a long weekend in late April to hopefully pick up some sharks from the beach. 

We have a few Penn 6/0's, Jiggmaster 500's and spinner reels for bait, as well as a freezer full of Bonita, Spanish, and ladyfish. We will use an ocean kayak to get the bait out and depth finder to try to find a couple good cuts.

I am hoping a few generous members on here can provide some insight on what they have seen work out there in terms of rigs, baits, location, etc. Is it likely that late April will be a decent time to find some sharks out there? We arent looking to land any monster 11ft tigers, but a few 6ft sandbars would really make our trip a success.

Any advice is appreciated! Any yes I know CALO has bugs, wind and requires 4wd


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## NC KingFisher (Nov 20, 2011)

Not sure where calo is exactly, but most of NC will be loaded with sand tigers, maybe sandbars. Possible duskys and tigers as well, all depends on water temp.


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

NC KingFisher said:


> Not sure where calo is exactly, but most of NC will be loaded with sand tigers, maybe sandbars. Possible duskys and tigers as well, all depends on water temp.


Sorry, by CALO I mean the National Seashore on Cape Lookout, also referred to as the "Core Banks" I believe.


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## 23mako (Aug 24, 2016)

Should be plenty of sharks in the surf in late April around Cape Lookout. 

If I was focusing exclusively on sharks at CALO I would head to south point. Be sure to check for wildlife closures as well. 

Reach out to the guys on drumwagon. They can also give you some good advice.


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

Plenty of sharks around CALO in late April early May. So many we are lucky to get 1 big drum for every 10-15 sharks.


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

dawgfsh said:


> Plenty of sharks around CALO in late April early May. So many we are lucky to get 1 big drum for every 10-15 sharks.


Well, I can try to give a few of those sharks a sore mouth for you so they avoid your rigs  I don't know a ton about drum fishing, but I assume it is similar to sharking with large hooks, chunks of meat, and bottom rigs?

Are there any areas on CALO that guys fishing for drum try to avoid because of the high number of sharks?


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

If yaking baits try the area around the weather tower past the light house or paddle out to shark island an set up. If your casting baits the area a few hundred yards from the south point on the west side is good.

FYI... we catch 5-6' black tips and sand tigers 8-9' on heavers with standard drum rigs and 17 # line


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## Redhorse (Mar 1, 2006)

Looks like I'll be on the island about a month ahead of you. Heading out there during my kids Spring Break last week of March. Not optimal timing, but when the wife says "let's take the kids and go camp on the beach for a week" I just schedule the ferry ride and start packing the fishing gear 

Maybe I'll have some early reports for you Thered


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Redhorse said:


> Looks like I'll be on the island about a month ahead of you. Heading out there during my kids Spring Break last week of March. Not optimal timing, but when the wife says "let's take the kids and go camp on the beach for a week" I just schedule the ferry ride and start packing the fishing gear
> 
> Maybe I'll have some early reports for you Thered


That would be great! Any advice will be greatly appreciated since this will be my first trip there.


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## Redhorse (Mar 1, 2006)

This will be my fourth trip to the island. Yet to catch a shark there...tho I've tried. Might not be the advice you need...LOL! I did catch a nice drum last Summer on the South end. Not a monster, but my biggest to date.


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Redhorse said:


> This will be my fourth trip to the island. Yet to catch a shark there...tho I've tried. Might not be the advice you need...LOL! I did catch a nice drum last Summer on the South end. Not a monster, but my biggest to date.



Red, let me know how your trip went. The water temps appear to have taken a turn for the worse. I will definitely be keeping an eye out on how they progress over this next month


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## Redhorse (Mar 1, 2006)

I leave Friday...weather always goes FUBAR for me, no matter the trip. Bad JUJU for some reason. Only time I have good weather is when I do a spontaneous trip because the weather is good 

I'll let you know upon my return what was up in the surf. Gonna go get salty regardless. Once in a while, I'm the only guy out there catchin' cause the fair weather fishermen all listened to the weather man ;-)


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## Bigfisherman (Apr 22, 2005)

Got to beat the spring snow here Redhorse. Good luck.


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Redhorse said:


> I leave Friday...weather always goes FUBAR for me, no matter the trip. Bad JUJU for some reason. Only time I have good weather is when I do a spontaneous trip because the weather is good
> 
> I'll let you know upon my return what was up in the surf. Gonna go get salty regardless. Once in a while, I'm the only guy out there catchin' cause the fair weather fishermen all listened to the weather man ;-)


Tight Lines!

Currently sitting under 8" of snow here in Va


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## Redhorse (Mar 1, 2006)

We got a good layer of snow here last night. Looks like overnights for Davis will be in the low 40's first three nights according to 10day forecast. Warmer than here at the moment...everything is frozen! We've got flurries here as I type...


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## ncsharkman (Mar 12, 2011)

I've been shark fishing for 35+ years and have used every shark reel and rod setup you can imagine! I used to fish the point and also Jennettes pier back in the day and have landed sharks over 600 pounds when I was younger. I don't use the big stuff any more as I'm now old as dirt and can no longer fight the big boys. If your new to sharking I think you should try using a heaver with a sealine 50 loaded with 50lb power pro and some 80 pound mono shock on a 10-12 ft heaver. Cast out some albacore chunks or some stingray wing pieces around April or May and you might hook one in the surf. If you Yak out a bait you could use a short 40-60 standup rod about 5-6 ft long and use a small tuna head or bonito or albacore but be prepared for something pretty big on occasion! When you land the shark stay away from the end with the teeth as they don't like it when you beach them very much! "sage advice" young "grasshopper"
Sharkman P.S. I still manage to catch small ones once in a while [200-300 lbs] and I'm 71 years old and had a stroke a couple years back. Keep on Sharkin friend!


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## psychodiagnostik (Jun 27, 2009)

I've been learning to fish for sharks last couple of years, including at calo/core banks/davis island in late April last year. I have a pretty simple set up that's landed blacktips & sand tigers in the 5-7 foot range, and various other smaller sharks. I have a basspro "offshore angler" 3 piece heavy action surf spinner with the venerable Diawa DF100A. 30 lb mono, 200# mono trace, 2 feet of wire & 16 or 20/0 hook. I like the youtube videos of blacktipH, I use one of the rigs from his shark rigs videos. Bait is live, head or filet of whatever I can catch... whiting, croaker, bluefish. A head plus a fresh filet seems to work well. I'm putting together a heavier set up for my kayak but I've been working on my techniques before I graduate to the big stuff. A 6 foot shark can be a challenge to handle in a way that keeps the fish & fisherman safe, it's definetly best done as a two person job. I do the NOAA tagging, it's a lot of fun. Another part of my setup is a 5 gallon bucket with one of those carpenters' tool organizers with my tags, pliers, extra knife, & of course rigs on spools and spare tackle. A shark on a surf rod usually has me following it down the beach & my dad or whoever's helping me can just grab the bucket and follow me.

One thing I've not gotten the hang of is circle hooks... I try to follow all the rules I've researched, don't set the hook, etc. But I've missed ~ 12 solid pick ups on circle hooks where I don't hook the fish, vs. regular j hooks where I stick 4 out of 5. I've never deep hooked one either... I just let the fish run about as long as it takes me to get to the rod when it goes off, pick up it, tighten the drag, etc & then set the hook. Whatever hooks you use, hit them with a sharpener, I've found the big hooks need some extra work. Sharks have tough mouths.

Here's some pics from davis island last April. As a bonus we caught the odd blue on our shark rigs, & I caught on 28" drum on this set up at Kure labor day weekend. If it works out I should be there April 19-23. I should be in a grey Jeep wrangler 4 door with black rims & BFGs, check me out if you see me!

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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Awesome info! It looks like we will miss you by a weekend. We are targeting April 27-29 as of right now. We need that water to warm up in a hurry!

If you wouldn't mind, could you report back after your trip on how things went?


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## Redhorse (Mar 1, 2006)

Reds were being caught on the point, and heard of some from the North end right before I arrived. Watched a guy land one, just outside the slot limit, off the beach between ramp 36-37 mid week ...couldn't quite tell what he was fishing there, but must have been something! Saw one shark carcass washed up on the beach. Not sure if it was caught by someone on the island, or chunked into the sea by someone on a boat somewhere and just washed ashore. Back 1/3 of fish was missing. Didn't look like it was bit off, but hard to say. Never caught a thing personally, saw multiple reds pulled in. Had some bad mojo or something. Was also a family trip, so kids and wife didn't exactly want to fish every moment of the trip... but still, the time I put in soaking bait should have produced a SKATE or a DOGGIE!

Oh well, next time I guess. Nicest day weather wise was the day I broke camp to leave...watched a guy pull in a skate while driving to the ferry 

Water was cold, but had some birds diving a couple different times. Wish I was there this week.


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Less than two weeks until we head out! Getting pretty excited! Does anyone have any recent reports as to what’s biting in that neck of the woods?


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## Yallweh (Aug 6, 2017)

Chasin' Tails typically posts a weekly report on Thursday afternoon that includes Cape Lookout. Freeman's has a report from about a week ago.


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

Thered300zx..I'll be there 4/27-5/5 mostly fishing south. Looking good so far with the warm water moving in. Sounds like you'll be there about then too.


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## beagle (Jun 9, 2009)

Here is a link to some really great rigs. Buy some of the castable rigs and copy it. You may modify your rigs to suit you, but these are a great start. I have been making similar rigs now for 15 yrs and actually ordered some in a pinch 
and had them 2 day delivered to me.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SHARK-RIG-PRO-SERIES-Pack-of-3-300-MOMOI-275-7X7SS-16-0Crcl/183181822184


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

300 z
check your pm


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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

Update (surf report)

Had an unbelievable time on the island. Trip of a lifetime and cannot wait to go back, and that is not even counting the fishing!

Fished south, folks around us pulling in waist high blues, some kind enough to give scraps for bait.

Hooked onto several dozen sandbars, beached about 10. when the bite was slow, they wouldn't touch anything but chopped bonita. when the bite was on, I think even an empty hook could have tightened you up.
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## psychodiagnostik (Jun 27, 2009)

Awesome! Once you get hooked on that place, there's no turning back! Glad you caught some!


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)




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## Thered300zx (Jan 22, 2018)

It was good to meet you dawgfsh ! Thanks for taking some time to chat with us and imparting some knowledge. I think it is safe to say we are hooked, and will be back in the late summer/ early fall


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

Nice to meet you too.
We wound up with citation sand bars and sand tigers on our heavers, but only 1 citation drum.


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