I’ve caught some really nice sharks the last few weeks here while shark fishing in Islamorada. We caught and released a 150 lb hammerhead on the “hump” one day, and then a week later we released a 250 lb dusky shark on the “hump”. I’ve been doing quite a bit of swordfishing lately and we caught and released a rare big eye thresher shark which we hooked in 1600′ of water! I thought we had on a monster swordfish, but when the 5′ tail broke the surface I knew we had on the elusive thresher. They fight extremely hard and are beautiful creatures. We also caught and released another hammerhead the next day offshore of the florida keys. The Fall months are great months to go fishing for sharks in the florida keys, so send me an email if you’d like to get out. We see a lot of big dusky, silky, bull, and hammerhead sharks around the humps when we get our fall run of blackfin tuna.
Well I finally got out on another monster shark fishing charter here in Mid May in Islamorada Florida Keys. I had a pair of friends from the UK aboard the Bn’M II and they wanted to catch something big. In the morning we trolled for a little while and caught a couple wahoo, a big mahi, and then went and did a little vertical jigging. We caught a handful of almaco jacks and 1 amberjack. From there it was time to find a shark! We ran out to my favorite shark area and set up on our first drift. It didn’t take too long and we had a bite. The rod bent over slowly and the fish started walking off line. But the excitement was short lived, the whole jack came back with full of teeth marks. We reset and put down another live jack. After about 10 minutes of drifting the rod loaded up. The tip lowered towards the water and we were tight! I had a feeling it was tiger, because it didn’t panic when hooked. The guys took turns on the shark, and after 3o minutes we had a 400 lb tiger shark boat side! We took a few pictures before releasing the shark to fight another day. The guys were happy and it was high fives and back towards Islamorada to celebrate!
I had Nick and Caroline from London out fishing in Islamorada on the 15th, and Nick said he wanted to catch something big. Well the old saying goes, “be careful what you wish for”. And the old saying is true many times, but I like to change it up just a little, so I told him “be careful what you fish for”. We caught some live minnows in the morning, and started heading offshore to try to catch a monster shark. On the way out we caught a few mahi, and we finally reached the spot I wanted to fish. We set out two bonitos, which I had caught a few days before. We made our first drift, but no bites. I was a little discouraged because there wasn’t hardly any current, so I wasn’t sure if we’d get a bite. We reset and put out the two rods again. Bam! We got a bite on the deep line, but pulled the hook immediately. We wound it up to check it and it was just an empty hook. But then we saw the float on the shallow rod lay side ways. Usually it’s up and down vertical with the weight of the bait and sinker on it. We started cranked and the rod slowly bent over. Nick got in the chair and went to work.
The shark didn’t do much at first, so I thought we might have had a small dusky or bull shark on. But then he woke up and the battle was on. It was an hour tug of war, and when Nick finally got the giant shark up on the leader he couldn’t believe his eyes! It was a 10′ , 500 + lb tiger shark! He was literally speechless. We got a little under water video of the beast boat side, and after a few minutes we broke the leader and the fish swam away healthy.
It was an awesome fight and an awesome fish. Fishing for big sharks takes patience, but if you get the right bite you’ll have a memory to last a lifetime! Congrats Nick! email me if you’re serious about trying to catch a big shark at bnmcharters@gmail.com
Now is prime time to go monster shark fishing in Islamorada! We left on the Bn’M II yesterday morning and the plan was to go vertical jigging, and then head to the hump to try for a big shark. When we hit the first spot we found some AJ’s, but the sharks had found them too! We managed to catch a handful of who ones, but the sharks got a few of them too!
I thought about shark fishing in the first spot, but I really felt confident with heading to the hump where the sharks school up this time of year. It can be a feeding frenzy on the spawning amberjack. We sent down a live jack on one rod, and put a dead bait near the surface. Before we got the live jack down we had a bite! Colin got in the chair and went to work. After about 20 minutes we got a visual on the beast!
We could tell it was a nice size shark. Once we got him closer up on the leader we identified it as a very large bull shark! Well over 300 lbs!
After taking a few pics we cut the leader and the big fish swam away. It was Colin’s first bull shark, and it was a darn nice one!
We made a few more drifts over the hump, and each time we had a bite. I think we used up all our luck though, because we lost one more shark after a 15 minute fight, and the other few bites got our bait off the hook. It was a fun day though, and I am looking forward to the rest of April, as well as Shark fishing May! Send me an email if you want to try to catch JAWS! bnmcharters@gmail.com
Well Monster shark season is here folks! I did two shark fishing charters the past week and we were successful on both of them! We fished on the Bn’M II. Just catching bait was a blast. We had amberjack on vertical jigging outfits from 10 – 50 lbs!
amberjack
The first trip we caught a big tiger shark about 450 lbs. The next trip we had a 15 year old kid from Minnesota who said he wanted a shark. And boy did he get a shark. Two actually, and his dad got one to finish up. We caught amberjack in the morning, and then ran to the shark grounds. We fished one bait on a buoy, and one deep line. We put the baits out and within 5 minutes we hooked up!
Young Charles got in the fighting chair and after a 15 minute fight had an 8′ hammerhead, about 200 lbs boatside! We took a few pics and released the shark to fight another day.
We then made a couple more drifts with no action. We didn’t give up though. I wanted Charles to get that monster! We put on some fresh bait and sent the baits back out. Within 10 minutes we had a bite. A big bite. Charles got harnessed up in the chair. The Shark smoked the reel, pulling drag at will. He then raced to the surface, and headed west. I knew it was a big one. Then the shark went deep. Charles fought the beast for an hour. Then we had a visual.
It was a monster tiger shark. Over 500 lbs! We got the fish next to the boat and took some pics before releasing it to fight another day.
Dad wanted a shot too, so I said lets make one more drift, but I don’t know if we would get lucky again. Well we were letting out the baits and the deep line got a bite. Mark went to work in the chair. After a 30 minute fight he had a 400 lb dusky shark under the boat on the leader. We didn’t get any good pics of it because the hook pulled on the leader, but he still got to see it and experience the brute strength of a giant shark! April is my favorite month for big sharks, so send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com when you want to try your luck at a monster shark!
