Shark Fishing Adventure | Destin Gills for Thrills

Blacktip Shark

Blacktip Shark (Carcharhinus Limbatus) Description

Blacktip Sharks, another species of requiem shark-like their blue cousin, are known for the little black markings on the tip of their fins. Unlike the Blue Shark, however, they’re stouter and have longer gill slits. They also don’t have a ridge near their dorsal fins. Like most sharks, they have a long snout and a single dorsal fin. However, the Blacktip Shark’s dorsal fin also has a slight slope with a pointed-edge behind the dorsal fin.

The Blacktip Shark despite being stout is actually quite robust and streamlined to handle swimming in deeper waters. It has smaller eyes which makes it more reliant on the scent. Its body is similar to that of the Spinner Shark but genetically, it’s more similar to the Blacknose Shark which may be where it inherited the black markings.
 

Blacktip Shark Diet and Size

Blacktip Sharks have a variety of food in their diet. Most of their diet involves fish. Some of these fish include sardines, herring, anchovy, mackerel, groupers, and flatfish. However, in some parts of the world particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, they seem to have a preference for Atlantic Croaker.
Blacktip Sharks grow up to an average of 1.5 m (4.9 ft). However, they have a maximum reported length of 2.8 m (9.2 ft) weighing 271 lbs.
 

Interesting Facts about the Blacktip Shark

• Blacktip Sharks are known for jumping on boats!
  • They have an excitable personality and they’re quite sociable too which makes them more prone to feeding frenzies when they smell their favorite food.
• Despite being excitable, Blacktip Sharks can be quite timid and prefer watching from afar.
  • Because of their timid nature, Blacktip Sharks can lose out to the Galapagos Sharks.
• Blacktip Sharks are known for their agonistic response especially when they confront another shark.
• Blacktip Sharks are known for jumping high up into the air. They can reach up to 21 ft per second!
• Like the Blue Shark, the Blacktip Shark’s timid nature makes it an easy target for finning.
   

Blacktip Shark – Fishing Techniques: How to Fish for a Blacktip Shark

When fishing for a Blacktip Shark, you’re going to need a heavy braided-line. You’ll need equipment that can handle at least 20-50 pounds and some circle hooks to make sure the connections don’t snap. Using a braided line makes fishing for a Blacktip Shark more forgiving especially if they become quite excitable.

Once you have your equipment, start setting up different lines to reel them in. Blacktip Sharks are known to patrol areas where they can find their preferred fish, making them loiter around artificial reefs. After that, bring out the chum. Using mackerel, herring, and their other preferred fish, pound it to paste and begin seasoning the water. That usually means pouring down the chum into the water where they can detect it. Other anglers also suggest using live sardines since they’re oily.

Fish that are oily and strong-smelling are a preferred bait for catching a Blacktip Shark.
 

Blacktip Shark Habitat and Distribution

Blacktip Sharks can be found in the tropical waters of Massachusetts and Brazil.  However, they are also found near the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Blacktip Sharks were also spotted at the boundary of the Indian Ocean.

In the waters, however, Blacktip Sharks are often swimming in 98ft worth of water and usually stay in over continental and insular shelves. However, sometimes they can be found in 210 ft. They also prefer muddy bays and island lagoons.

Bull Shark

Bull Shark (Carcharhinus Leucas) 

The Bull Shark is a known aggressive species of sharks, native to shallow coastal waters in warm areas. They are medium-size sharks, with thick, stout bodies and long pectoral fins. They are gray on top and white below, and the fins have dark tips, particularly on young. They have very short snouts and the adults are light to dark gray on the dorsal side and white on the ventral side. Juveniles are a brownish-gray color and have black tips on their fins. Their teeth are broad and make a jagged triangle up top and along the jawline. The shark has placoid scales (overlapping, sharp, pointed triangular scales) that effectively protect them.

Size 

The common Bull Shark is 8-12 feet long. The pups are 2-3 feet long at birth. Their weight varies according to their length, from 200 to 300 pounds. The male is lighter and taller, while the females are shorter and more substantial. A healthy Bull Shark lifespan is about 12 years old, but records indicate that 16 years is possible. 

Interesting Facts 

Bull Sharks need salt in their body to survive. When excess salt accumulates in its body, a rectal gland excretes the excess. Their rectal gland is less active than that of the other shark species, which makes them able to survive in freshwater. When their body needs more salt, the liver produces ureas, which allow the fish to adapt to any changes in salinity. 

They are viviparous fish, which means they give birth to their young as mammals. The female Bull Shark carries her pups; they can have up to 13 of them, for 10 to 11 months, and then give birth. Once they are born, their mother swims away, leaving the pups to survive alone.

Habitat and Distribution

Bull Sharks are the top predator found in coastal waters around the world. They live in the Mississippi River, and they are a summer visitor to the Chesapeake Bay, which occurs from late June through September. They are known to live in freshwater lakes and rivers. They are found cruising the warm and shallow waters of all the world's oceans and are capable of moving into brackish water, where saltwater and freshwater mix. 

Bull Sharks are found in coastal waters of the oceans worldwide, and in rivers, lakes, along with deep streams. They span from Massachusetts to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. They can also be found on the west coast the southern tip of the US to Peru.

Bull Shark Fishing 

Float angling or natural bait is more productive when hunting this species; the options include whole fish like bream herrings, mullet, or cut fish like mackerel, bonito, red mullet, and barracuda. The cut fish can be dipped in tuna oil to improve the scent. Bull Sharks will respond well to a chum. Once they are on the surface, they will easily beat topwater lures like plugs or even flies. The best secret for bait for Bull Sharks is freshwater eel. Eel is excellent bait due to its high oil content, and its firm skin makes it very resistant to pickers.

Lemon Shark

Smooth Hammerhead

Smooth Hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena) Fish Description

Also known as round-headed hammerhead, common hammerhead, and common smooth hammerhead, the Smooth Hammerhead is a member of the Sphyrnidae or hammerhead shark family. The name of this species was inspired by its remarkable hammer-shaped head absent an indentation in the center of the front margin (hence “smooth”). Its fins are highly prized as an ingredient in shark fin soup.

What makes the Smooth Hammerhead distinct from other members of the Sphyrnidae family is how its head is curved, and wide but short. Its nostrils are near the ends of its curved head. The Smooth Hammerhead, which is an active predator, has 25 to 30 tooth rows in the lower jaw, and 26 to 32 tooth rows in the upper jaw. Each of its teeth has serrated edges and is triangular in shape.

Diet and Size

Smooth Hammerheads feed on fellow sharks and rays. They are active predators, preying on invertebrates and bony fishes. They also like feasting on octopus, squid, hake, dolphins, and sea snakes, among others.

The Smooth Hammerhead is the second-largest member of the hammerhead sharks, ranking next to the great hammerhead shark. On average, it can measure up to 138 inches or 11.5feet long.

Interesting Facts About the Smooth Hammerhead 

• The laterally extended and flattened head of the Smooth Hammerhead (and its cousin hammerheads') is called a “cephalofoil”.
• Smooth Hammerheads form schools consisting of hundreds to thousands during their migration.
• Like other members of its family, the Smooth Hammerhead is viviparous, giving birth to around 20-40 baby sharks.
• Smooth Hammerheads have been reported to have attacked humans before; they are potentially dangerous.
• The Smooth Hammerhead uses its electroreceptors (ability to detect electric fields made by other fishes) to locate its prey more accurately.
• Every year, around 1.3 to 1.7 million fins are harvested for the shark fin trade from the Smooth Hammerhead.

Smooth Hammerhead — Fishing Techniques

Compared to other sharks, the Smooth Hammerhead is quite common; thus, it is prone to intentional fishing especially by commercial fishers. Sometimes, the Smooth Hammerhead is also captured as bycatch especially when anglers use purse-seines, bottom trawls, handlines, gillnets,  and longlines.

Habitat and Distribution

Smooth Hammerheads — unlike other hammerheads — prefer temperate zones with temperatures ranging from 45.5 °F to 81.5 °F. They are abundant, especially in higher latitudes. They can be found in the Atlantic, and in Northern Europe. Specifically, the Smooth Hammerheads are aplenty in the waters of Nova Scotia to the Virgin Islands, Brazil to Argentina, and from the British Isles to the Mediterranean Sea. This shark species is also sighted in the Indian Ocean, particularly in India, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. It also occurs in southern Japan, Russia, New Zealand, and Australia.

This hammerhead shark likes inshore waters like estuaries and bays, but it is also found around oceanic islands and in the open ocean. Unlike the great and the scalloped hammerheads, Smooth Hammerheads thrive in waters closer to the surface (less than 66 feet). However, they can also be found in waters as deep as 660 feet. 

During the summer months, the Smooth Hammerheads move to the cooler poles, then return to the equator during winter.

Tiger Shark

Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo Cuvier) Description

The Tiger Shark is named for the dark bands or stripes that it has on the side of its body, resembling that of a tiger. Belonging to the same family as Bull Sharks, Lemon Sharks, and Blue Sharks known as Carcharhinidae, they are the family's largest species. The Tiger Shark's skin can range from blue to light green with a light yellow or white belly. They use their colors in a camouflage technique known as countershading. Blending in with the light background as prey looks up and being dark on top to blend in with the deep water's dark blue hues. 

Size 

Tiger sharks are commonly found reaching 11 to 14 feet in length and weights of 800-1400 pounds. Like most fish, the Tiger Shark is dimorphic, meaning the females grow much larger than the males reaching exceptional sizes around 16-17 feet in length and weighing up to 2000 pounds. 

Interesting Facts 

Tiger Sharks are a solitary and nomadic species.

They have small pits on their snout which hold electroreceptors. These receptors can detect electrical fields and impulses in the water like those made from prey animals, helping them seek food. 

They follow currents of warm water and stay close to the equator during the winter months. 

The tiger stripes that give the shark its name fade as they grow older.

Tiger Sharks are generally slow swimmers, using their camouflage to get close to prey, but they are capable of very fast bursts of speed when attacking prey and are one of the strongest swimming sharks in their family. 

Fishing Techniques - How to Catch a Tiger Shark

One of the most popular fishing methods for this game fish is by using live bait and chumming or by trolling.  Live bait is the predominant method to catch Tiger Sharks. Some of the best bait, live or cut, is mackerel, bluefish, or tuna filets. Rods should have a 100-pound test monofilament and hooks ranging from 6/0 to 10/0. Heavy tackle in all regards from reels, rods, line, and leaders is required. 

Habitat and Distribution

Tiger Sharks can be found in coastal waters and are found mainly in tropical to subtropical climates. They can be found around deeper waters and reefs but will move up into shallow waters to seek food. While rarely seen in shallow water, they have been spotted in water as shallow as ten feet, although the average depth of tiger sharks is usually around 1000 feet. 

The range for the Tiger Shark is from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Florida's coasts around to the Gulf of Mexico.  On the west coast, they are populated from central California to Mexico.