Memorial Day Weekend Shark Fishing with Family!

Good morning everyone & Happy Memorial Day! While I hope everyone is out having fun and being safe, let’s not forget what today is about.

Over the weekend we had family down visiting to see my son graduate high school! Congrats Dylan Merchant! Your daddy and I are so proud of you!

During our free time, my husband and I took the family shark fishing. There was alot of action. Normally when we shark fish it’s a sit and wait game. But during these two trips we couldn’t stop for even a minute. It was non-stop fish biting or us rebaiting and rerunning line out. For the first trip we took my mother and father out. We got settled into our spot at 9:30. By 10:00 we had already used the Gannet Pro+ to drone out 4 baits. At 10:15 we had our first hookup. The first bite was on a bluefish caught while on one of my previous guided trips by a little boy named Isaiah McBrayer! He opted to let me use it for shark bait instead of letting it go. It aided in the tag and release of me a 5ft female blacktip. Thanks little man! I rebaited the hook with a fresh horse mullet and sent it back out to the same spot, about 250 yards out Into the color change. It was in the water 15 minutes when it got picked up. It was my dads turn. He climbed up on the rack and reeled in a 5ft bull shark all by himself...his first shark! So proud of you dad! Congrats! He helped safely tag and release her. After that we got at least 10 more runs and no takers. They kept spitting the bait, or our lines would get cut off. About an hour later the tide went slack and the bite was dead.

Same thing happened on our second trip. The next trip we took my mother in law shark fishing. This time we used jack crevalle for bait. We dropped 250-500 yards out. In under 30 minutes of running all baits, she was hooked up! She reeled in with the help of Tim, a 5ft bull shark! Congrats on your first shark! After that lots of pickups and breakoffs. Low tide resulted in a slow down.

We haven’t really tried to fish for anything else this week. During a guided trip we tried for reds but was unsuccessful. We have noticed the jacks running the beach a bit of a ways out, but not close enough to cast onto. This week was mainly sharking for us.

If you head out be safe. Use sunblock! And have fun. Happy Memorial Day!

Vernon Farrer with his first Bull Shark

Darlene Merchant with her first Bull Shark!

Me with a Blacktip Shark