# Sharks near Myrtle Beach?



## Pendulauncher (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi guys.

I may be heading to the MB area in a few days.....mostly surf fishing....maybe a little boat time.

Anybody know if the big sharks are still around Myrtle? I'd like to catch one in the surf (no, not in Horry County).

Thanks for your help!


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## baylovers (Sep 27, 2006)

*Migration*

I can't say about the sharks but I have seen alot of dolphin activity in the past few weeks. This article was in the local paper today:

Migrating sharks pass along S.C. coast
The Associated Press

CHARLESTON - The cooler temperatures of fall tend to get swimmers out of the water off the S.C. coast.

That's probably just as well since that's when the sharks start migrating south through the state's waters.

On top of the winter migration of older sharks to warmer waters, this is the time of year that younger sharks move out of the estuaries where they tend to stay during the summer, mostly not to get eaten by bigger sharks, scientists say.

S.C. waters host 39 different shark species, from an occasional great white, to Atlantic sharpnose sharks, sandbar sharks, blacknose sharks, bonnethead sharks, finetooth sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks, said Bryan Frazier, a state Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist.

Plenty of sharks swim past Charleston's jetties, where the rock walls lining the shipping channel funnel predator and prey alike in and out of the harbor past Fort Sumter.

"The jetties, you're always going to catch one or two shark if you're bottom-fishing. But they're just babies. I've never caught a big one out there," said William Garmony of Barton & Burwell Fishing and Hunting in Mount Pleasant.

Fishing pressures in the 1990s caused a decline in the number of sharks, but the population appears to be rebuilding, DNR fisheries biologist Glenn Ulrich said.

Biologists studying marine life pull up sharks fairly often that are bigger than five feet, Frazier said.

When scientists go out to tag the sharks for population studies, Ulrich clamps the smaller sharks upside down between his legs as he works the circle hooks loose from the gaping jaws with serrated teeth.

But sharks anywhere near five feet long don't come aboard. They're tagged with a gaff and measured by sight estimate.


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## GotchaMack (Jun 16, 2004)

They are always there, its just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, which can be a whole heck of a lot harder than it even sounds.


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## Singletjeff (Mar 27, 2005)

Try Pawley's Island. I've had insane luck there with 5' and up sharks from the surf. No real need to yak baits out either, I was hooking up within 50' of the beach.


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

Sharks were taking the back half off the king baits two weeks ago. They're there, but not sure how well you'll do from the surf.

Evan,
aka KFM23


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## surfsidesativa (Jul 14, 2006)

I haven't seen any in the surf lately. There are places you can go around here and still hook into something if you go at the right time of day in the right tide. Evan, are you sure those were sharks? Sounds like bluefish to me.


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

surfsidesativa said:


> Evan, are you sure those were sharks? Sounds like bluefish to me.


You're right, taking half the bait is common bluefish MO. That's what I thought was happening too, but the bites were semi-circular like a shark mouth, not the angular pointed blue pattern. So either there were monster blues around or small sharks. I dunno.

Evan,
aka KFM23


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## Pendulauncher (Jul 24, 2006)

Cool stuff, you guys......THANKS!


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