Well I finally made it to the coast to try my hand at shark fishing. Thanks to all y'all who answered questions on some of my previous posts. Being a newbie and on a severe budget, I had to make do. Here's my gear list: UglyStick 10'. Shakespeare open spinning reel. 50# of mono. Wire leaders with 9/0 hook. I had a 7' rod with a bait cast reel for baitfishing, and a smaller rod for the same purpose. Got in Wednesday night. Thursday was fishing with a friend and getting my leaders made. Friday morning I dropped a crab trap in Palacios bay, trolled for bait a bit. I went and got some croaker and hit Matagorda. This was my first time to put my kayak in saltwater. It was fun. I paddled out past the 2nd sand bar, and dropped the bait. I cast the other lines into the first gut. No luck there.

I headed in for lunch and because my wife needed the car. She and I went back out that evening, right at sundown. I paddled out all the 50# line off that main reel. Still with croaker from the morning before. Apparently no fish like croaker - at least not that day. We cast out the rest and wait for anything to bite at this point. Nothing.

Saturday morning I check my crab trap. I had some keeper crabs and hardheads. They had eaten all the bait so I rebaited it and set it again. I headed out to the kayak trails on the Matagorda peninsula just to play round and explore. Lots of bait fish jumping but they didn't take the lures or croaker. BTW, I was able to keep the croaker alive and active overnight. Saturday being my last night I wanted to get out early in the afternoon and stay light. I went back to the house, caught a nap. That evening my buddy and me retrieved the crab trap with plenty of crab and hardheads. We hit the beach, and set up.

Due to the surf conditions, tide, and the fact that I"m not comfortable in the kayak in the dark, We casted into the first gut. We knew it would mean smaller catches. However, we got nothing. We tried hardhead, cut hardhead, freshly wounded hardhead, whole crab, partial crab, croaker dead and alive. Nothing bit. At all.

Due to having to come home on Sunday morning we called it a night, and headed back. It was a good learning experience. I only get down there once a year usually. I think a big problem was bait selection, and the 50# on the reel didn't give a lot of distance (100 yards?) to get out there.

What do ya'll think? Look forward to hearing any feedback or questions you have.

i went shark fishing at big shell once.....had about the same luck as you.

we didn't even get a hit, i woke up at sunrise the next morning and had a ball catching skipjack.

I'll leave the shark fishing for other folks

I've never fished for shark, so others may disagree, but...You might try 20-30 lb line (or even braid) so that you can get more line on your reel. You might get spooled pretty quick if you only have 100 yds worth of line, especially if your reel isn't quite up to shark standards. I would think you might need 250-300 yds worth of line on.

i fish for sharks more than anything else for the most part. you got the right idea for the most part but a few things need some tweaking. first, 50lb mono is overkill unless your targeting big sharks. ive caught many sharks in the 5-7ft range with 30lb, plus you get alot more yardage which is something you need when yakking out baits. id suggest spooling up with 300 yds of 65lb power pro spectra and then finish off with as much 30lb mono as you need to fill the spool. not sure what kinda reel it is, but you should get alot more capacity that way. bait and bait placement makes a big difference as well. with bait, the fresher the better. i buy alittle bait as a backup plan but generally try to catch my own. what you catch is whats out there, and its what theyre eating. i use 5-8 ounce spider weights depending on the current and how big of bait im using. crab really isnt a good shark bait, its more for reds and drum tho bull sharks will eat anything. as far as hooks, i ALWAYS use circle hooks. 12/0-20/0. you significantly decrease the chances of gut hooking fish which makes for a difficult release and sometimes will kill them. i also like to offset them for better hook up. as far as bait placement, sharks can be anywhere from the 1st gut and beyond. if youre yakking out baits and only have 1 rod for sharks, id drop out past the 3rd bar, but make sure you have enough line on your reel after incase you get something that decides to make a strong run for deeper water. when youve got big tides and waves, youre good with casting baits out from the 1st or 2nd sand bar.