I never like seeing a shark with that blunt head while wade fishing. A Bull shark is a serious customer. Not one to be taken lightly like some little ankle biting Black tip. One can put a line up of guys wading the barrier island up on the islands. Second guy laughing at the first until it’s his turn. I see a shark with a blunt nose I am getting super shallow.

The amount of sharks around is ridiculous. It seems they are everywhere in record numbers.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-...e-earthquake-underwater-predator-pounces

We were in the back of a really shallow back lake on Friday. About 18" deep. And there he was about a 5' bull thrashing around back there. WTF.... I had to run through 4" to get in there, water has been super low.

I'll upload the picture, but they are indeed in places they don't belong.

Bullsharks dont play nice LOL

reverse....

A bull shark was spotted up in the Mississippi river near Alton, Illinois. They can survive and thrive in Brackish or fresh water. Bulls and Hammerheads, two creatures I have a lot of respect for when I'm setting on a 14' piece of plastic 3 miles from shore. But in that scenario, the biggest daily threat is probably a hooked cobia at the kayak.

Pretty crappy picture, but you can sorta judge the size of this thing at probably 5-6 feet. In a place I have no idea how it got in there, but there it was. First picture is mr shark, second is approximate location.

Got a lot of bull shark stories from fishing the flamingo everglades for 20 years from kayak.. been hit by bull sharks 3 times that almost knocked me out of kayak... have been brushed by them so many times Ive lost count... their breeding grounds on the shallow flats where the everglades pours into the salt water of Florida Bay is probably the most shark infested waters in North America. All sharks on the shallow flats there seem to be curious, bull sharks the most curious of them all..

Once made the 2 hour drive from my home in Hollywood, Fl to Flamingo, Everglades National Park, arriving around midnight, to fish for snook, in a month long, state wide, catch, photo and release tournament for snook, trout, and red fish I was entered in. Only had a week left in tournament and thought snook would be the easiest of the bunch for me... already had a good trout over 25 inches and a decent red fish... had never intentionally fished the everglades at night though I had come back in at or just after dark many times. I had never seen anyone fish there at night as the mosquitoes would swarm you. I was prepared with full bug suit and plenty of deet and thought it would be a slam dunk at the end of tournament to come from just off the lead and beat a friend of mine from Tampa who was a few inches ahead of me.

Unload kayak, paddle out of marina with mosquitoes swarming all around me, not a soul on the water or at the marina. Paddle out the marina and as the last light of the marina disappears, I hear explosions going off all over the bay. They sound like fat folks doing cannon balls in every direction far and near. Mullet are showering all over as well.. I am on high alert as I paddle, mullet flying everywhere, one flys out of the water hitting me in the arm pit. I am literally freaking out.

I can hear snook popping on top, they make a most distinctive sound, and I can hear monsters ... either shark or tarpon blasting into the mullet as well. It was the only time in my life I was afraid to cast... so I didnt. I had a topwater tied on and in no way did I want to tangle with tarpon or shark in almost complete darkness. So I paddled to the edge of a spoil island that had a ditch where the bait and fish would come off the flats when the tide started going out.. I paddled kayak right against a mud bank and just took in all the loud blasts.

My eyes had adjusted to what little moon was up and the stars and I could see everything.. including a huge school of mullet that were being chased right at me. Hundreds of foot long mullet jumping in front of each other as they are scooting into the mud under my kayak, jumping into and over my kayak.. onto mud bank and thrashing in the mud trying to escape as a big hump of water right behind them torpedoes me right at the water line as it knocks my kayak further up onto the mud bank. That damn shark used my kayak as a seawall to pin the mullet against.

I was in shock.. was not about to cast, didnt cast.. waited about half and hour until everything settled down and no more loud blasts, used my paddle to push and pull my kayak the rest of way back into water.. paddled back to my car... loaded up and made the two hour drive home.

The next weekend, went right back, during daylight hours... windy winter day.. stayed in deeper channel, had my heavy rod with 20 lb mainline and 50 lb leader tied to a DOA BIGFISH LURE.. cast out the near footlong jointed plastic swimbait that dives a couple of feet down and looks just like a mullet coming through the water. Put rod in my center console flush mount rod holder, tighten drag to where I think I need it and start trolling as I paddle.. Get about a quarter mile from marina and I hear the biggest explosion behind me... kayak shuttering from shock, rod bent over backwards as I reach to get rod out of flush mount. fish is pulling drag and is about to pull me over as I cant get rod out, as drag set too tight and rod handle jammed in rod holder... forget about rod and pick up paddle and paddle like a madman on both sides of kayak trying to keep fish going straight behind me where it will only pull me backwards instead of off to the side and pull me over.. finally get a chance to grab rod out of holder and the fight is on.. Think I have moby snook.

It stays in the channel which is only about 6 feet deep at high tide, get most of my line back and start thinking its not fighting like a snook... more like what I think is either a shark or a crocodile... whatever it is stays near bottom slow steady pull, pulling me back towards marina. After about 20 minutes Ive got another boat nearby watching me.

Finally get fish straight under me, have 5 foot leader in rod tip and grab leader... start to slowly pull it up hand over hand and as its coming off bottom I am starting to doubt my decision to bring it up right next to my kayak that only has 11 inches for freeboard.. stop pulling leader but too late.. the momentum of it coming up causes it to surface...its tail comes up first about 6 or 7 feet away as I have camera ready but snap picture quick, put camera in pocket and realease drag to get away from that ugly beast... a big bull shark.

Guy in flats boats pulls up as I had told him it was a shark and I was about to cut my leader when he asked me if he could retrieve my lure for me... found out he was a guide and didnt want to leave hook in shark if possible... Give my rod to him, climb on board his boat, push my kayak out of the way and just sit back and watch. He had two clients with him, either his sons or two younger guys... I never asked. I get to take some pictures of the shark I would never have gotten if he hadnt offered to help.

He tried to get hook out with a pair of needle nose pliers, it didnt look sanitary and he finally gave up and just cut it loose. Capt Jim Hale was the guide, said it was a bull shark in the 200 lb range. Im still looking for the pictures.



picture above from 2021 trip to flamingo.. I was staked out just 6 feet from mangroves and the shark above blasted bait right up against me ... then move on up current and I got picture of it blasting bait again.

If sharks actively pursued humans as food you would not be able to go in the water on the Texas coast. Sharks are everywhere along the coast and protecting sharks has increased their numbers. Bull sharks have an attitude. I am very careful with them when removing a hook. My most memorable bull shark was a fish over 200 pounds I had hooked and fought for about 30 minutes. When it got close to the boat, it stopped, turned and intentionally rammed the boat. It hit so hard it knocked one of my anglers off his feet. The shark then grabbed the swim step and swam the boat in a half circle dislodging the anchor. Definitely be careful with bulls.