surf shark fishing

[slothparade]

Hi, 
I'm looing to get into shark fishing in the surf but my setup isn't able to be cast (squall 50 vsw with 5ft6 rod). I don't have a kayak so that isn't an option. I was going to try ballooning baits but how does that work if there is no wind? 

I also have a spinfisher 950 ssm with 50 lb braid (300 yards and about heaps of 50 lb (tested to be good until 60 lbs) mono backing (It originally had the mono and I just did an FG knot to the braid) with a ex heavy shimano aerowave, the first owner had used this for sharks.  Would this be able to cast far enough or would it need to be ballooned as well?

 

Another question is is it ok to use the spinfisher for whiting ect just add a light leader like 12lbs?

[Green Hornet]

Take up jewfishing and you'll catch all the sharks you want, haha.

Seriously though, your balloon is only going to be effective from the beach when there's a very small swell and a strong offshore wind. Not a great time to be fishing the beach anyhow.

Most of the guys who shark fish with short, game fishing type gear seem to be using drones these days to get their baits positioned.

You don't necessarily need to cast far if there's a decent gutter in close, your Spinfisher outfit may get the job done, though you're not telling us the length of your Aerowave rod. The biggest problem with a short rod is your line tends to get pushed around by the waves, making it difficult to keep your bait in position.

Not saying it can't be done, but you'll do far better on whiting and similar small species with a lighter rod and reel suited to line around 4kg than your heavy gear. 

 

[JonD]

Ive gone back to longer rods for the reason mentioned above (line gets pushed around in the surf to much and also picks up more weed on shorter rods). When I say Ive gone back to longer rods, I mean its what I lend to people silly enough to want to play with sharks from the shore, my back doesn't like doing that anymore.

The rod doesn't have to be anything overly great as long as the reel seat can handle the drag the reel you are using is capable of. The reel you mention should be fine for most sharks unless you hook into a 3m+ bronzy you can't turn. I find the penn battle 3 6000 has been great for sharks so far, mine has 500m of 40lb braid and not gotten down to half that that in any runs yet. We have hooked a few on other outfits that we got to the spool backing and had to break them off (luckily breaking at the terminal end).

Casts really dont need to be far if you have a decent gutter, 40m will most often get you into very big sharks. You aren't so much casting to sharks but bringing sharks to your bait by putting small amounts of burley into the surf. I start off with a jewy rig to catch fresh salmon or tailor, which is slabbed into bait then the frame broken up and tossed into the surf.  Both salmon and tailor will continue taking even bigger shark baits, so I often end up using 4-5 of these on a night session with two rods. Any old oily fish frames are good to take to the beach with you. 

Any bigger than 30kg we tend to leave them in the water or at least partly in it with the surging surf.

There are heaps of sharks about at the moment so your learning curve should be quite quick.

Will be interesting to see if the sharks are still in close with all this rain, Im thinking they will be.

This small whaler was under 10 mins to land and release from just over a week ago on a 13ft cheap penn rod.

 

 

 

 

 

[slothparade]

On 3/23/2021 at 5:09 PM, JonD said:

Ive gone back to longer rods for the reason mentioned above (line gets pushed around in the surf to much and also picks up more weed on shorter rods). When I say Ive gone back to longer rods, I mean its what I lend to people silly enough to want to play with sharks from the shore, my back doesn't like doing that anymore.

The rod doesn't have to be anything overly great as long as the reel seat can handle the drag the reel you are using is capable of. The reel you mention should be fine for most sharks unless you hook into a 3m+ bronzy you can't turn. I find the penn battle 3 6000 has been great for sharks so far, mine has 500m of 40lb braid and not gotten down to half that that in any runs yet. We have hooked a few on other outfits that we got to the spool backing and had to break them off (luckily breaking at the terminal end).

Casts really dont need to be far if you have a decent gutter, 40m will most often get you into very big sharks. You aren't so much casting to sharks but bringing sharks to your bait by putting small amounts of burley into the surf. I start off with a jewy rig to catch fresh salmon or tailor, which is slabbed into bait then the frame broken up and tossed into the surf.  Both salmon and tailor will continue taking even bigger shark baits, so I often end up using 4-5 of these on a night session with two rods. Any old oily fish frames are good to take to the beach with you. 

Any bigger than 30kg we tend to leave them in the water or at least partly in it with the surging surf.

There are heaps of sharks about at the moment so your learning curve should be quite quick.

Will be interesting to see if the sharks are still in close with all this rain, Im thinking they will be.

This small whaler was under 10 mins to land and release from just over a week ago on a 13ft cheap penn rod.

 

On 3/23/2021 at 5:09 PM, JonD said:

Thankyou very much for the help

With all the rain and the murky water is it worth trying river mouths with all the fish and eels being flushed out sharks should be around them right?  

I am getting a saltiest 8 ft pe 8 rod. Would this work well for beach or is it better for river mouths. 

Would it be possible to use the squall setup off the beach? Could I just walk the bait a bit out in a gutter and let it do the rest or should I use a balloon in the gutter to get it out then pull the line straight and the balloon comes loose (having a piece of string tied to the line and the balloon so it doesn't fly away)

 

 

 

On 3/23/2021 at 5:09 PM, JonD said:

 

 

[slothparade]

On 3/23/2021 at 2:58 PM, Green Hornet said:

Take up jewfishing and you'll catch all the sharks you want, haha.

Seriously though, your balloon is only going to be effective from the beach when there's a very small swell and a strong offshore wind. Not a great time to be fishing the beach anyhow.

Most of the guys who shark fish with short, game fishing type gear seem to be using drones these days to get their baits positioned.

You don't necessarily need to cast far if there's a decent gutter in close, your Spinfisher outfit may get the job done, though you're not telling us the length of your Aerowave rod. The biggest problem with a short rod is your line tends to get pushed around by the waves, making it difficult to keep your bait in position.

Not saying it can't be done, but you'll do far better on whiting and similar small species with a lighter rod and reel suited to line around 4kg than your heavy gear. 

 

Thankyou very much for your reply

The aerowave is 12 ft. 

To sort the problem of the short rod could I use one of those 'spider sinkers' (the one with the wire prongs sticking out to hold in the sane) 

My light reel broke (one of the teeth on the gear broke) and spare parts won't get here until after my trip