I was reading another thread about fellow TFFer's catching sharks near swimmers and it made me laugh..

Many years ago one of my favorite things to do was to catch sharks from the beach off our condo during high tourist season on South Padre Island.

So at 8pm or after the last few swimmers were out of the water we would jetski out our shark baits. Now, in my late teen years my shark setups were 9/0's on Ocean Masters and we would usually have 4 setups spaced with in 50 yards.

Now...

When tourists see your heavy duty tackle they often giggle. Some even crack jokes, "That's a big reel son, whatcha gonna catch? Jaws?" Har Har fun and games..

However, WHEN, not if, but when you catch a shark and beach it those same people come running down from their condo patios where they have been watching you and marvel at it.. That's when the psychological warfare starts.

First are the pictures. Then come the questions? What kind? How much does it weight, is it a nice shark, as in friendly. Can you eat em? What's it doing here? Ha, but my favorite is when someone asks are there more sharks?

That's when I just make up BS, I tell 'em the biggest whoppers about man eaters and giant tigers and bull sharks cruising just a 100 yards offshore and in the guts. Lies and lies.. but to see the terror in their face.. classic..

That's a good way to fill swimming pools the next day because most won't go in past knee deep. Not after my stories of 800 pound sharks lurking in the sandbar guts..

HA HA HA!


Also, don't step on my sand castles either..

1. Because they took me hours and hours to build
2. Because I bury jellyfish and man o' wars in them, so if you do step on it.. well.... I will get the last laugh..


-Z-

Now that even beats my story of finding a big toe in the belly of a shark that I caught on the beach.

I kept the shark size to about 3 feet and usually steer the conversation towards the strangest thing I have ever found when cleaning a shark, that's when I break out the story about the big toe. And of course I was fishing just a few hundred yards up yonder on the beach when I caught it too

lol genius...and more genius

You guys are a trip!

ima have to tell them city folk some shark stories when im down in galveston now. it always seems to slip my mind when im there. as brown as galveston water is, it'll make em mess their pants

you guys are pure evil..... muhahahahahaha! I LOVE IT!

been makin tourist run for their mama since i was born. from day 1 i had a shark story. in all seriousness, that would be cool if i did that from day 1

FYI tourists..

Swimming the jetties at night is not a steller idea.. If you don't see the locals doing it, I don't know why you think it should be done then..


but I ain't gonna stop you..


Because I am def. not going to pass up a good old fashion shark attack if there is one and you know I always got my camera ready so it's going on YouTube..



-z-

high quality entertainment there i tell ya what

My son lives in Iowa, and every year he takes pictures home from our latest fishing trip and makes up all these wild stories about how the sharks did this or that.

He has a captive audiance too, not many Iowans have ever been shark fishing, and he likes calling me and telling me how gullible they all are

Its funny you get tired of tell the beach walker or kids in the water to stay clear of your lines. Then you pull up a 4ft shark. Man I didnt know ther were sharks out there.???

DO you live in SPI or are you a visitor also? When you talked about your condo it kinda threw me off. Do you live in this condo or is it a summer home/rental. If so, then you are a tourist too.

I have lived in Corpus Christi about 20 yrs, am 25 now, and have actually lived on the island for about 5 yrs or so. When I am not fishing I am surfing, so I know a great deal about the waters of our area.

Our waters, and the entire gulf for this matter, are teaming with sharks. Honestly, more shark attacks happen in the gulf each year than like the rest of the worlds beach locations combined. However, people dont realize this because most species around here are rather small and its the white sharks and tigers, that frequent more distant waters, that grab all the headlines. Getting chomped in two sticks in the mind more than loseing a toe. But as far as numbers, we have many sharks and much more attacks than areas such as California, Australia, or Africa.

However, there is one shark that frequents TX waters that is a complete nightmare. The Bullshark!! Bullsharks have more testosterone than any other animal. They are the pitbull of the sea. Unfortunatly, they like to swim in shallow waters where bathers often swim. Though they aren't as big as a white or tiger, they do grow to man eating size at 8 to 12 feet. This is the shark that is killing and mameing many people in Brazil, causing a national dealima, though the reason this is happening is because of people. While surfing, or wading, this is the one shark that I worry about. Though they are usually not big enough to inflict massive damage with one bite, they are known to keep coming back and attacking. There is a real good Discovery Episode about them in Brazil.

As I said, Bulls like shallow water, many PINS surf fishing guides will set a rod up in the first gut; and they do catch! Even more fascintating is that they can live in fresh water just as well as salt. In Africa, they are called the Zambezzie Shark because of their presence in the Zambezzie River. I am waiting for one to swim into the nueces and be spotted now that the Parckery channel connects bays to surf. I have alot of respect for this shark.

Now must of our shark are small like the blacktip but we occasionally see larger species such as Mako and Tiger. This is not vary common but a few years back a fisherman got a 9 ft Tiger from BobHall Pier while I was surfing, Scary! Tigers are very nasty and thank god we dont have alot of them.

Sharks are a fact of life in TX waters and if you are in or around enough you will have encounters though most dont get ugly. You are not bull #@*#@ing when you tell people about all the sharks in he water, though things dont usually turn unpleasant.

It is fun to scare dummys though and Im always down to keep dumbos out of the area.

Dang LooptyLoop, I sure am glad I never read that post when I was a kid. We used to swim out from the beach untill we found a sand bar shallow enough to wade around on.
I suppose trying to fish off your surf board would not be a wise thing to do. I was thinking about renting one last summer at P.A. and taking my fly rod with me.
What the heck was I thinking.

Born and raised in South Padre.

Moved to Dallas to attend college.



-Z-

GALVESTON, TX
While the ocean vessel 'Dawn Raider' was commercial fishing shrimp, this Great White was hooked in the mouth but only resisted slightly for 15 minutes before it came up alongside the boat to have a look; long enough for one of the crew members to slip a rope a round it's tail !!! 'And that's when the **** hit the fan!!




So much for swimming in the Galveston's warm waters this year.


.. The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS, the boat was taking on water over the stern and the crew watched in horror as the shark would actually jump completely out of the water at times. This went on for an hour before the shark finally drowned. She weighed in at 1035 LBS. It is suspected she followed a weak El Nino current into local waters in search of food. Although mid 60 degree water is considered ideal for these sharks, the larger ones can tolerate water in the low 50s.

Ha.. that shark was caught in N.S. still tho.. amazing..

If you want to be ripped apart by a shark in TX you need to hang around P.O.C. or the North Jetties after night..

If you want to hunt BIG sharks then you need to hit a few rigs at night or head south down the border into Mexican waters.

The Tequila rig is a shark magnet. I am just glad we don't have many white tips here..

Now if you go 200-300 miles offshore you can find them.

.. if you have ever fished off Tampico, in Mexico well there you can run into big Crocs and Sharks!


-Z-

About two yrs ago a 9 foot Mako shark beached itself in CC bay, right in front of the college in this little jetty inclosed area that people like to splash around in.

It gathered tons of local attention and the biologist at the college had a field day. you can probably still see pic on the internet off the callertimes.com web site. It will be mounted in the college some day.

It was said that the shark was sick and died of some sort of disease. It would have had to do alot of zigging and zagging to end up there.

Since the opening of the packery channel, I have seen a huge influx of shark in our bays. Mostly small blacktips but occasionally something bigger. A large hammerhead was caught at oso brigde, a favorite local wade spot. Also, we had a large Bull crashing into bait fish between us and the shoreline while wading an area of Alazan bay about two yrs ago.

However, I am still more worried about stingrays!

Stingrays don't bother me.. I am loud and splash around like a crazy person when I am in the water..


What I hate are sneaky jellyfish!


Everytime I turn around they are hitting me in the privates or slappin me in the back. Now I could.. could.. wear a shirt or at least something other than soccer shorts to wade in but dang it! They feel good!


-Z-

Thats kinda gross to think about

i agree with ya, but dadgum, put some clothes on

Another thing, I guess your not fishing when you talk about being load and splashing. What do you do when your fishing and having to be still and quiet?

They say that you are supposed to do the "sting ray shuffle," this is were you slide your feet along the bottom without taking them off the ground. The rays feel your vibrations on the floor and usually move, in case they dont, you slide into them instead of stepping down on them and drawing a strike. However, this tactic doesnt make you feel comfortable when you are surrounded by stingrays. One spot that I love to wade in is Shamrock Cove. During certain times of year you can see them everywhere in the clear water. When I lived on Oso bay, I like to fish the mudflats for tailing reds. However the water is very murkt due to the muddy bottom. On the few occasions that I fished with live shrimp back there, you would catch a stingray about everyother cast. Its scary to be standing 100's of yds out in water that full of rays.

By the way, by being loud and splashing, you are probably increasing the likelyhood that you will get hit. Fish cant hear for one, and all of your splashing is done on the surface, attracting sharks, and doing nothing to detere rays which feel floor fibrations. The jumping around may even cause you to come down on one.

As for the jelly fish thing, at least jellys are not always heavy in the water. Though when they are it can be hell. Usually when the surf is good, they cover every square inch of the water making things awefull.

I have been fishing the LLM for 20+ years.. Doesn't matter if you are loud or not when fishing the bay or flats

First off you are NOT going to find many large sharks in my part of the bay, Padre sharks cruise the beach shoreline. Secondly, the sharks in South TX don't bother people they might steal your stringer but they aren't taking a bite outta your leg. We used to swim the jetties back in the early 90's sharks were never a problem. Not like in Florida. We got nice sharks here.

The reason I do get in and spash around and make a big commotion in the water is to create a muddy wonderland for fish. After I am done making a nice 20-30 foot sandy, murky, churned up water spot, I will drift or pole back a few yards in the boat and fish the area I just made. FISH love that!

All you have to do after that is throw your bait in the middle and them rip it outta there.

This isn't the Bahama's were you need to sneak up on bone fish. My motto is draw attention to yourself the then sit back and fish that area as the fish go to investigate.


-Z-

Dude , are you kidding me. That was not a very smart, logical, or curtious thing to say. If you are fishing in the flats, you need to be very quite. Ive seen schools of redfish spooked out by a kyak paddleing by. Shallow feeding trout are the same way. When fishing skinny water during the summer you even need to downsize lures to decreas your splash and comotion in the water.

Your churning up the mud is also a good way to get rays to move in behind you. If you bring in anything it will be them or if your lucky a flounder.

Just because there are not bonefish doesnt mean that you dont have to be tactical while fishing here. This is one of the best bay fishing areas in the world and a big trout, red, snook, or any other game fish will spook if you make a comotion like you are talking about.

Hey look, to each his own, your approach is not one that I would ever dream of using and seems kinda comical, just dont do it around me. Other than that, different strokes for different folks.

Man..

If I said one thing you would surely.. surely.. say another..

Tell ya what..

Come down and fish TIFT, Texas International Fishing Tourny, this year, if you do that I will fish the Bay Division instead of the offshore..

Then we can see what's what..



-Z-

Just FYI, that last picture - while impressive in itself - is not, repeat NOT a shark. Some sort of dolphin, and I would guess a bottlenose from the shape of the dorsal fin & the silhouette of the snout.

Still would give me a sphincter-loosening scare if that popped up in the water next to me!

PS - isn't that a mako shark in the top pics? Doesn't look like a white to me ...

Ya it's a Mako..


Beautiful shark.

SPB,

You can think that Bull sharks don't come into the bay system in SPI, but they do.

I know Port Mansfield is up the coast a little ways, but SPI isn't any different than any other coastal area. While in Port Mansfield I have seen 5'-7' Bulls in 2' of water cruising.

I have seen the same thing in Port Aransas around East Flats.

I have been a victim of Bull Sharks stealing my stringer and scaring the **** out of me in West Matagorda.

They are there and with the Bull Sharks reputation....eventually someone will get hit.

Thankfully, there is enough food in our area bay systems and surf that Bull sharks haven't resorted to eating humans yet. That is the problem in Brazil...no food and murky water.

I, too, was like you..."Sharks, there aren't any sharks here. If there are sharks they won't bother me though."

That was until I had one sneak up behind on a shallow flat in West Matagorda last year and blow up on my stringer less than 5 ft. behind me. Also, I have had them follow me around while I had an empty stringer. It is quite unnerving to be in chest deep water with 5'-6' Bull shark following you like a lost dog just waiting for you to catch a fish.

None of this stops me from wade fishing the surf or the bays, but a person should proceed with a little caution.

We used to catch bulls at the Coast Guard Station and under the Causeway but you do not see large sharks in the deep bay. I didn't say any sharks, I said large sharks. Crusing down the ICW, but not in the flats or deep bay.

Aso, the sharks here aren't gonna bite you..

Not saying they won't ever take someones leg.. but they really don't bother people.. EVER!

The flats fishermen bring in blacks and lemons from the deep bay to The Sea Ranch all the time, sometimes bulls, little ones.

Sharks just don't bite people down here.. Course now that I say that some kid is going to lose an arm tomorrow. That's life tho.

Like I said we got nice sharks down here.. If you can say such a thing.

Sides the episode on shark week I saw about the Brazil killings was in part do to no fish and the fact that a river emptied into the ocean that carried waste from a slaughter house from upsteam. Ha.. That might be a problem!!

I am trying to get an underwater container for my Rebel camera and if I do I will take lots of pics of our SPI friendy sharks for people. Then again.. if I die.. well.. talk about proven wrong!

Sharks down here go Texas Hostpitality, you know how it goes!


-Z-

SPB,

I haven't seen any of the large sharks like Mako or Tigers. But, a 5'-6' Bull shark looks awfully big to me when he is within arms length of me eyeing my stringer! LOL

SPB;

What's the boat shark fishing like there in SPI around the first to second week of July?

The kids and I are planning a trip that should start off somewhere around Galveston and end somewhere near SPI.

ANYONE;

When the Sharks start moving into the Galveston area in numbers please let me know.

I know they start getting in around late April, Early May, I'd like to make a trip or two before june if possible.

Find this spot and fishing will be great for some Big Sharks!

Padre has quality sharks not numbers in most cases.


-Z-

Bum, Im not trying to hate on you nor am I going to come fish any tourny to prove whats what, but I will disagree with anyone who says that the best way to catch shallow water fish is to be loud, splash around, and stirr up the water.. I mean come on! I garuntee that you dont actually do this and just got caught up in your comments. If you say something that is right, I will agree with you but when you say something like that then I will not.

However, differne strokes for different folks, and if that is how you actually do it then I have stated my opinion about it and will say no more. It doesnt make you a bad person.

Gawd, I'd just like to find water that smooth and clean.....

Or is that the bay side of spi?

Sounds like you may be treating us wade fishers like you do the tourists...tell them something you think is false so they will go away or fail.

I may not live on SPI but have wade fished extensively there and all over most of this hemisphere....and flats fishing is all about stealth, stalking. Make noise, muddy up the water, no thanks...give that advice to the tourists, but I just don't buy it.

Regarding sharks, my belief based on a lot of wade fishing experience, is that you better respect them when you are in their world. Bull sharks are one of the most aggressive sharks in the world, and they are very common in 6 foot(and up) sizes everywhere in the Texas surf. It's just common sense, when you are in their environment, you should respect them....and that advice is good for tourists and all.

Bum, if you dont want to listen to me then listen to lark. When you make the kinda comments you are making it makes it look like you have no idea what you are doing and dont fish very much, which is fine, but just dont go around giving that kind of advice because people will disagree with you and be alot ruder than I have been.

Also, like I mentioned before, and stated by Lark; if you start causing the kinda racket that you are saying helps to catch you fish you can bet that several angry anglers will be waiting for you at the boat ramp.

Also, when you make comments that Padre does not have many sharks it makes me wonder as well. Padre has large numbers of sharks and the gulf offers some of the sharkyest waters in the world. Just watch the discovery channel for this one because it is obvious that you do not spend much time in the water.

To M Thompson, the gulf waters off padre island look like that most of the summer, barring a tropical disturbance. All you have to do is go out. Watch the weather channel and as long as the seas are under 2 feet, you will see it like that picture. I fish offshore a bunch during the summer and I dont even have an offshore rig. I do it in a 20 foot shallow running blue wave, no problem. Just watch those bouy & wheather reports.

loopty and lark;

Re-Read his post, he wasn't talking about wade fishing, he was talking about stiring up sand THE fishing the area from a boat. And it DOES work.

What it does is the noise and vibrations will sound like a fish in distress, then when they get close they find a mess of floating sand and start to look around for scraps of the fish to feed on...

I said it before, I am a drift fisherman, probably 95% of the time. If I have to get outta the boat to catch fish I do it in the way I described, splashing, mud holes, etc.

Secondly, South Padre doesn't have many sharks, they have Big sharks. How would I know? Well like I have said BEFORE on here I tag sharks and have been on three 2 week long excursions that tag sharks, they decided on the upper coast because of quantity.

I guess they choose their annual tagging location poorly after all who would know more about sharks and their patterns, the organizations who tags them or the Discovery Channel.


** Thompson yes that was in June a few years ago.**

We were talking about wade fishing and talking about stepping on sting rays. That is shallow water weather or not you fish from a boat or by foot.

Also, you have 2 week excursions, I have had a 25 yr excursion. I have grown up on the beach weather surfing or fishing and I will tell you that padre island, and the gulf in general is teaming with sharks. And yes i will listen to the Discovery channel over some tagging party that no one has ever heard about. Now I will not speak as much about SPI as I do Padre Island because I mainly stay between P Aransas and PINS, and I will tell you right now that this area is loaded with sharks and anyone that says other wise doesnt know. A two week excursion doesnt make you know more about my local waters than I do, and if you think it does than your mistaken.

You see, this is why I cant stand to post sometimes. Because of the ridiculous things I hear. Like I said, If you want to splash around and act like a goof, then just make sure that you are doing it by yourself and away from me. Other than that, I dont want to fish with you, compete with you, or converse with you. There is no point. Again, doesnt make you a bad person. Conversation over!! I will reply no more!!

Well I can still reply..

A. I grew up 50 yards from the beach.

B. http://na.nefsc.noaa.gov/sharks/

C. We tagged 2500 sharks in that 2 weeks, the other boats that put out of S. Texas average 1900. Which is why they concentrate their efforts on the Upper Coast now.

D. Secondly, all you do is look for trouble.. You think your style of fishing is some how correct and other's are WRONG? Last I checked you weren't King of the Bay.

E. You don't read posts and haven't heard a word I said, only what you want to hear. This was about sharks in MY waters, not yours, MINE! SPI! I wasn't saying anything about sharks in any other part of TEXAS other than SPI. We are quality not quantity, as in other places in TX.

I don't have a problem with people fishing other techiques or what not, but I do when they say my way is WRONG and that I don't know what I am talking about.




-Z-

preach!

Don't sweet it Bum we know what you mean. Some jokers just want to start trouble and think they know best, while others are clearly wrong in their eyes. Last I checked, you and I have placed pretty high in the Redfish Cup and TIFT tourny's. not to mention being the only boys from Big Tex ranked in the FLW Redfish Series in Florida.

SPB,
Do you really want to frighten the tourist? Tell them about driving down Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas at 2 AM on Friday or Saturday night. I will take a shark anytime!
Just trying to lighten up this thread.
Great photo!

dadgum, too much hostility

my thots exactly

this thread has been dead and burried for 2 weeks now and everyone has made friends through PM, so dont bring it back up!

pfffft!........