I went for a surf yesterday evening and was asked if I could paddle some bait out past the sandbar by some shark fishermen. I told them to F off. Then paddled out and caught some waves. I think the sight of shark fishermen on the beach added to the adrenaline rush of surfing chest high chop. I saw in the news today the lifeguards were all up in arms due to their proximity to swimming areas. It is called the Blacktip Challenge, and it is from Jacksonville to Miami, but the kick off and finish party is on Singer Island due to our large and thick shark population. The tournament is a catch, tag and release format. Here is the website. Discuss. www.blacktipchallenge.com
I have actually gone sharks fishing and paddled the bait out one time..... one time! That was an erie feeling! I had a backpack on with a 10 inch bunker rigged up, paddled it out and then I think I walked on water getting back. PS, I didn't catch crap. On the other rods, we were catching baby sand sharks left and right. Okay, enough about me. I can see where the life guards could be concerned with this, especially close to guarded swimming areas. And since they are responsible for about 16% of the attacks in FL
Whats the problem? I mean it isn't even surf season right now. All jokes aside, I support fish tagging to better understand the fisheries. I also enjoy surf fishing even though my success rate is painfully low. With that being said, I don't fish near surfers and 99% of the time I don't fish if there are waves... that just doesn't make sense. I don't think the tourney is drawing more sharks to the area either.
The data is going to NOAA's Apex Preditor Cooperative Shark Tagging Program, so yeah it is science based and they release the sharks, so all is good, but.... I wonder if the hotels that host this event have a clue. They get a few rooms booked during high season that they would have sold anyway, and now the guests that have kids are thinking, maybe we should have gone on a cruise, or to Disney, or Belmar for God's sake. And there are lots of sharks out there every day, no matter what, but bloody bonitas just down the beach from a public beach. Would you feel safe? Would you let your kids swim/surf there. I went out, because that's what I do, if I let sharks scare me I would never surf, but....
I'll take any opportunity to post these... Went out like 5 times last fall, water is too cold up in NC this time of year. Gotta wait till surfing season rolls around again. Caught 2 sharks in 5 trips. Never got too close to surfers, but were in the same area once. The rig your looking at is made of crimped weed eater line. We had a 1lb lead ball and a grapple hook type weight crimped together that I would wrap the leash around instead of my ankle, so the weight was 6 or 10' behind me, depending on SB or LB, and the bait was another 6-7' behind that, waving in the current and white water. Did it up to overhead waves, but we couldn't keep the baits out even with all that weight. This year were getting beach driving passes to certain areas and I just bought a kayak so I can get to deeper water, its hard to push yourself paddling way out on a surfboard. Would love to enter this here blacktip challenge.
what would be more interesting...tagging the sharks and seeing what their habits, etc are, or tagging the yocals in the gallery pics? just sayin'....
The sharks are there anyways, it's not like they know there is a contest and they all just show up so they can help with the research program. HAHA, I'd paddle out just like I do any other day, cause it's really just any other day to the sharks. Contest or not contest. Now I wouldn't be paddling out right by their lines, but maybe 100 yards down the beach. Got hooked once on my leash and nearly got my ankle, don't wanna ever get snagged for real cause I'll go to jail over that sh*t, and it'll be worth it.
So on the local TV news today they showed a "shark expert" digging up the body of a 8-9 foot hammerhead that died when it was caught and beached during the tournament. He was in Juno Beach and he said there were two more bodies of large hammerheads buried in the sand up at Coral Cove Park on Jupiter Island. These are a federally protected species. They are very high strung, more so than other species, and evedently become too stressed during long fights to release back to their home healthy. So now, is NOAA aiding and abetting the wanton destruction of a federally protected species in the name of "research"? Did the contest organizers team up with NOAA to get a free pass at sharkfishing en masse off local beaches without any regard to environmental impact, just giving lip service to their tag and release propaganda?
