How to fish for shark

Hey guys,

Just wanting to know some hints, tips and basics of shark fishing off the beach. Mono/Braid Line? Rigs? Burley? What Pound Line? Fish From the surface or the Bottom? Stuff like that.

I am mostly a tailor/mulloway fisherman but i want to get into the shark fishing scene.

Any help would be much apreciated! Thankyou!

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First tip would be to wait

Wed, 2012-08-22 14:07

First tip would be to wait till summer when they come closer to the shore.

psion's picture

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Date Joined: 15/05/12

Shark fishing

Wed, 2012-08-22 15:26

Mate, be carefult once that bug bites your're hooked,

this invovles a few desisions first

are U:

fishing off the beach or rocks?

casting your bait or sliding it?

do you want to balloon it out?

what about swimming a bait?

what size sharks do you want to target?

Rigs vary

I have a 7" rod rated 37KGs with a daiwa 910 reel, load with 1000m of 65lb braid and 250m of 80lb top shot. that is my ballon rig and can handle baits upto 4 kg's. (went to this rig when I got spooled using a 55cm tailor as bait)

1 also have a posiedon rod 6-7 oz that I use to cast smallish baits (about 20cm mullet, crickball size heads, 1/2 tailor). this has a saltist BG50 reel with 50 lb braid and 35 lb (0.5) top shot, (Mono)

then I have a 12" shimano that I use off the rocks and as a swim bait rod, (live baits about 1 kg). I have an old polansky  reel with about 600 m of 50lb braid and 200 of 50 lb topshot (mono)

I have jsut ordered a Purglas extreme 13'6" for sliding (it casts an 8ox sinker a mile).

then your terminal tackle will depend on your fishing chice, but a 6-9m windon leader is a must. it can be mono or steel. I use a 6m 120lb mono leader with a 1.5m steel trace attached.

And then there is the trace itself.

As I said this can become a fairly long discussion. and if interest warrent it may be a sub forum in it own right. 

Maybe some of the more experienced fundi's here can shed some light.

JohnF's picture

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Date Joined: 07/07/10

Go to North Barge. Tie on

Wed, 2012-08-22 15:39

Go to North Barge.

 

Tie on expensive jig.

 

Hook up to a small sambo after 5 seconds.

 

Wait 10 seconds.

 

Hook up shark.

 

Hold on tight till earlier of bite off, being spooled or letting go of rod and reel when too tired.

 

Dead easy.

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MattMiller's picture

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Geez,

Wed, 2012-08-22 16:02

must have some serious casting skills (and a BIG reel) if you can reach the North Barge from shore

UncutTriggerInWA's picture

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Date Joined: 05/09/08

I have caught them as a by-catch but lucky

Wed, 2012-08-22 15:55

you need to get a setup which will support you. That involves a number of things such as wire traces, lots of line, a buddy with a good gaff, a great combo and a good back! The sliders in here seem to do really well. Check back on some of the posts using the search funchion. At the right time of year you will come across them and probably go home wishing you had done some more homework LOL.

 

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Work smart and fish often.
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Ry-Z Gone Fishin''s picture

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Date Joined: 21/08/12

Hey Psion,I will be fishing

Wed, 2012-08-22 15:59

Hey Psion,

I will be fishing off yanchep or two rocks beach, I currently have a 12ft rod with 50pd mono and a 1m steel trace. I am wanting to switch to braid but my mate said its useless when fishing off the beach as it gets wind knots.

I don't want anything massive, just start off small, get to know the basics.

Just fishing for some hints and tips for the whole concept really, thankyou for all your help.

 

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UncutTriggerInWA's picture

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By the look of your avatar

Wed, 2012-08-22 16:04

You need to learn to drive first LOL.

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Vince.
Work smart and fish often.
Member and die-hard supporter of the mighty West Coast Eagles.

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Date Joined: 30/05/08

shark fishing

Wed, 2012-08-22 17:03

 As Psion has said the sharks u targeting not just size,but also species will determine the gear u will need to use from rods,reels,leader,steel,baits ect,  if u just chasing the little rat grey sharks that come through in the summer months then the gear u got now should be fine , u must have a smooth drag system and enough line on the reel and hopefully a rod that has a bit of back bone. A decent length leader 6 - 10m of 1mm and a bite trace or a full jacket from hook to swivel is good - try different baits , maks,mullet,tailor,herring ect live,dead,fillets,whole, use combo's with fillets and squid .

 

If u can be more specific then i can help u with what i know , 

 

Ry-Z Gone Fishin''s picture

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Date Joined: 21/08/12

haha yeh Uncut Trigger,that

Wed, 2012-08-22 21:14

haha yeh Uncut Trigger,

that was our WORST fishing trip in that photo, bogged to the axels and flat battery, we were there from 1am-2pm the next day, the triton had to come and save the day.

and RagBag yeah im not too sure what questions to ask, like how to burley up, how to rig up with the balloon etc etc. Just all general info please

Thankyou all for your help

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JohnF's picture

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SHORE BASED.....hmmmm, north

Wed, 2012-08-22 22:02

SHORE BASED.....hmmmm, north barge may just be out of casting distance......may have to paddle the bait out.....thanks Matt!!

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Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.

psion's picture

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shark fishing

Sun, 2012-08-26 15:46

hey Ry-Z

sorry mate got called out the country for 3 days,

pop me a PM with your email and we can chat.

 

cheers

psion's picture

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Date Joined: 15/05/12

using braid

Sun, 2012-08-26 16:04

Nothing wrong with Braid mate. just use it as backing, but its a pain in the weeds. But it does have some advantages. My 910 holds 550-600 metres of 80lb mono. (which is not enough if you are ballooning or Kayaking your bait out 350 metres. it just doesn't give you enough line. So I put 1000m of braid with 250 m of mono top shot on my reel. This means I can balloon or kayak my bait out 350-400m and still have 800m of line for playing the fish. As Braid is lighter and thinner it is easier to deploy (try paddling with 400m of mono dragging behind you), but braid causes really nasty knots if there is weed arround.

I don't recommend Braid for sliding or for use on its own. Mono has the abity to strech up to 10% and is more abrasive resistant. Very important when you are dealing with large sharks.

You will also need a Gimbal belt and bum harness. Don't get the back one. unless you are the hulk.

As I said not a short topic

 

cheers

 

 

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Shark fishers I know down Albany way

Sun, 2012-08-26 22:06

won't go LB for shark unless they have a bucket of blood. They are very successful at it as well.

Chris fish's picture

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Date Joined: 23/02/11

 Don't need burley at all

Mon, 2012-08-27 05:36

 Don't need burley at all down south ;) plenty of monsters if you look in the right places. Few of my mates target just sharks and they live down there and do very well.

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Chris fish's picture

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Date Joined: 23/02/11

 I have 2 outfits that I use

Mon, 2012-08-27 06:06

 I have 2 outfits that I use for sharks, torium 50 with 1100m of 55lb braid and 200m 24kg mono on a 12ft catana overhead rod and a Trinidad 30A with 600m 40lb with 150m 40lb mono topshot on a 10ft custom overhead. The trini I use for sliding small baits up to about a mullet or 1kg and the torium I use for sliding big baits about 2-3kg with 8-10oz grapnels or kayaking or swim baiting ( live baits) bait up to 15kg , for small rat sharks in the area your looking at fishing I've found that a baloon with a mullet sitting 2m under it is great. As mentioned wait till summer and you should see 2-3 a night if your in the right spot. Also I'm yet to use berley to catch a shark I find it just brings the rays in .

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Ben85's picture

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Hi- I havnt contributed much

Fri, 2012-08-31 11:52

Hi- I havnt contributed much to fish wrecked in the past however a few points based on my own experience below:
 
Like psion said, mono is very important and backing with braid provides good overall line capacity when you also need to allow for the distance you have paddled the bait out. Considering the distance from the beach to where the hook-up will occur I've found 24kg mono to be more than enough seeing there will be plenty of stretch to absorb the weight. 
 
Unfortunately you don't have much say as to the size of shark you will potentially hook up to so I would recommend a 50w size lever drag overhead matched with a 15-24kg rod. While short strokers are nice when fishing from a boat, you need something with a bit more length when fishing off the sand or rocks. Generally this is to get your line up above the waves. Also a longer rod holder will insist in achieving better clearance. 
 
I think the length of the trace is something that is reason for a lot of lost fish. Minimum should be 6metres of 400lb nilon coated trace
 
While its no secrete sharks will eat just about anything, the most successful baits were Congo eel and eagle ray. Salmon, tuna, mullet ect. Is also good however it's hard to keep the rays away from it. 
 
Rigs- I only used to fish on the bottom, basically before the trace I would have a couple snapper leads which would keep the bait on the bottom and ensured the waves wouldn't move it around too much. The other way to keep it on the bottom was a break-away set-up where 8lb line was tied off to the trace with a heavy weight. When the shark took the bait the break-away would do just that. I never floated baits as I didn't have the patience (wind, tide, chop ect) however the benefit is that if you hook-up you know it's going to be a shark! Regardless if theres a shark in the area it will find your bait.
 
That's a few points from my own experience, but I know plenty of people with different methods and all do well also. I'm generally referring to land based game in my above. However if you're just after a few small whalers in the surf then a basic surf rod with a light wire trace and some mullet baits should be enough in the summer months.