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Ruby Red Lip
 
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We've been in Pensacola for a couple of weeks and have been very successful in our daytime surf fishing, catching plenty of redfish, sheepshead, and pompano (we are strictly catch and release). As night falls, the catfish move in. We've heard that you can catch sharks at night, but have been unsuccessful using frozen (mushy) minhaden as cut bait. Any suggestions for a better bait? What baitfish can you catch from the bridge (or anywhere else) to legally use as cutbait? And can you really catch sharks from the beach, and if so, what size are we to expect? Any suggestions for baits, hook sizes (have tried 8/0 circles and straights), location- surfside vs. bayside, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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Grouper
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hey tn, you can use almost anything that you can catch from the bridges for cut bait, but if you get you some mullet they make very good bait for just about anything that swims.as for sharks on the beach, they are there and they like mullet or anything else that is dead( dogs,cats,chickens,road kill, ex-wives and neighbors pesky younguns ). just use hook size to match your bait and it dos'nt take a big bait to catch a big fish. good luke and have fun.
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Ruby Red Lip
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Much appreciated!
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Trigger
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my sealf I dont us chicken and al that outher off the wall bull s**t go to gulf breez bait and tackel and get a bobo throw it in the gulf surf you ar better off with that than all that outher stuff
16 polar craft be your sealf the world will hate you anyway
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Sailfish
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get together with Konz and Rubberboat and get together one night and they will show you how it is done. 
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White Marlin
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| The choices of baits can go on and on. Mullet and Bonita are safe bets. I like to use stingrays too. I'd imagine that you are casting from the beach and not using a kayak to get baits out. If that's the case then you are probably using smaller strips of bait (so you can cast further). You will no doubt land a shark eventually.....but since you are using smaller strips of bait.....your going to have to deal with all the cats and stingrays. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss it a little more.
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Trigger
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| We typically use a 4-5ft length of 200lb teflon coated leader w/ a 14/0 or 16/0 circle hook. Depending on the current, typically about a 3oz pyramid sinker will work. Go to Maria's seafood and get some mullet that have been filleted. Ask them for mullet carcases for fish bait. Put the circle hook through the lips of the mullet and out of the head. It will make it stay on better, and give you extra weight for casting as well as weed out the little catfish. When picking a spot on the beach, get there while the sun is still up. Scan the surf and look for eddies where the waves are crashing on either side, but no waves are rolling in the middle. This is a channel where baitfish and everything else gets washed back out when the waves roll. You want to put your lines out in that eddie. Soak your mullet in menhaden oil before casting it out. Trust me, the oil WILL bring the sharks. That stuff is shark crack!! After casting out your lines, loosen your drag until you can pull on your line and it will give. When a shark bites, your line will take off, then possibly stop, then start screaming off the reel. Pick up the rod, slowly tighten the drag then reel like hell!! It will be a series of long runs and lots of head-shaking. Hopefully you will get to experience this!! Good luck!! Bob
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Ruby Red Lip
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| Walk out to the second sandbar around dusk. You don't even need to bait your pole. But remember kids dont try this at home.
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Snapper
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You can buy an inflateable raft at walmart (looks like a little paddle boat) They even have little hard plastic Oar handles on the side that you can hook the baits onto. Get your good sized piece of cut bait and hook it to the Oar handle and set your weight inside the boat. Laydown in the bottom and swim it out past the 2nd sand bar. Take turns holding the rod on the beach and paddling the baits out. Sometimes we would have sharks on by the time the paddler got back to shore. It works, its cheap, and fun, especially after you have paddled it out and its someone elses turn.
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Snapper
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It's fun until you are out just past the 2nd bar with a bloody bobo & poke a hole in the raft with the hook!!! True story!
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Trigger
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WHAT you need to do is get about a 7ft leader with a big ass circle hook on it(ggbt has them) throw that on any surf reel like a 706 with 50lb braid... butterfly cut a mullet an pich that bitch out....... sure nuff youll end up catching a black tip...... go down the beach towards chicken bone beach.. thell be there
oh and use a ballon for to watch your bait.. i use any bright color....
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Trigger
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you can also wade fish...... but only reel men do that....... haha
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Ruby Red Lip
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Lots of good tips- thanks to all.
More questions from your answers!
We've never used mullet as bait ( thanks bellafishing for supplier info)
Will it hold up on ice (not in freezer) for more than a day and still hold on the hook if hooked through head, or do we need to get day of?
Also, regarding soaking mullet in minhaden oil, recommend dunking just prior to casting or soaking for a couple of hours?
Where's chickenbone beach?
We've been going about a mile east of the last mega condos, and last trip were up near the closed down bathhouse past that ( 6 or so miles east of the split at ft pickens and via deluna)
Yep, Konz, never seen such small catfish on an 8/0 hook! Have had no problem finding nice eddies out on the east end, but definitely gotta go with bigger hooks! Last trip we caught fish almost immediately on every cast for hours! Lots of cats, something BIG that stole the bait on the first cast ( haven't seen the rod get hit that hard since we've been here- Will loosen the drag) and a couple other fish we've not identified yet. Will try to post later. ( may also pm you later Konz, when we have more than a minute.)
Thanks again all!
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Ruby Red Lip
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Trigger
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That's a bluefish and is excellent shark bait. Catch them fresh, slice them down the side, throw a hook in them and toss them out!! Fish on in no time!! Mullet need to be fresh and I would recommend soaking them for an hour or two. The more menhaden milk soaked in, the better. We have had very good luck in the past West of the end of Pickens road. Go out and look and you will find some good eddies. Watch your tides as well and try to time it for an outgoing tide. A couple days before and after the full or new moons are very good as well.
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Ruby Red Lip
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We were originally doing our dayfishing down there ( that's where we caught the redfish in the pic), but moved east to get away from the crowds. The only nightfishing we've done there was on the bayside- due to really rough surf that night. All we did that night was feed the fish. Appreciate the moon info too. We caught a couple of those bluefish Sunday night, but by that time we were so tired we couldn't see straight and the sun was coming up.
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Cigar Minnow
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I'm going to be down in your neck of the woods in a few weeks trying to do more or less the same thing. However, since I'll be in a group with some younger children and nervous women, I've been forbidden from trying to catch any particularly large sharks.
Back when I was on the West coast I would catch 3-6 foot Leopard sharks using ~40lb coated 7-strand and a 6/0 hook with a whole squid for bait. We'd hook up on quite a few stingrays in the process, but generally be able to keep bait on long enough to get a few sharks any given evening.
I've seen a lot of thread where people are talking about 90 to 120lb cable as being the minimum size for catching sharks. Is that a shark size issue, or a shark teeth issue? The leopards I used to catch had pretty small teeth (since they eat mostly crabs and other bottom type fishies) and I'm wondering if the higher test cable people use out here is necessary even for smaller sharks.
So, to summarize my questions:
Is it even worth it to bait up with a smaller/lighter setup (40lb cable and a 6/0 circle) down here or will I just end up feeding catfish and getting cutoff every time I hook into something more interesting?
Thanks for the useful thread guys!
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Ruby Red Lip
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| HNTRDAVE- I can't tell you much about the cable since we've not hooked into any sharks yet, but I CAN tell you that we've been fishing with 8/0 circles and straights and have been amazed at what small fish can get such a big hook in their mouths. We'll be going up to at least a 16/0 for our next attempt. Gulf Breeze Bait and Tackle (open 24hrs) sells premade shark leaders with 16/0 and larger hooks for about $8 and up if you are interested.
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Cigar Minnow
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Thanks for the info.
I'll be sure to pick up some larger hooks before heading down there. My wife won't let me put together anything with big hooks beforehand, but maybe after spending some quality time watching me take catfish off, I'll be able to put out a bigger setup.
I'm still wondering about the cable though, since I have a ton of the 40lb stuff on hand from my CA fishing expeditions and would rather not have to spend the money for new cable if I don't need to. I'm not targeting the big guys, but I'd hate to just get bit off over and over again.
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White Marlin
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hntrdave11 (4/24/2008)
I'm going to be down in your neck of the woods in a few weeks trying to do more or less the same thing. However, since I'll be in a group with some younger children and nervous women, I've been forbidden from trying to catch any particularly large sharks.
Back when I was on the West coast I would catch 3-6 foot Leopard sharks using ~40lb coated 7-strand and a 6/0 hook with a whole squid for bait. We'd hook up on quite a few stingrays in the process, but generally be able to keep bait on long enough to get a few sharks any given evening.
I've seen a lot of thread where people are talking about 90 to 120lb cable as being the minimum size for catching sharks. Is that a shark size issue, or a shark teeth issue? The leopards I used to catch had pretty small teeth (since they eat mostly crabs and other bottom type fishies) and I'm wondering if the higher test cable people use out here is necessary even for smaller sharks.
So, to summarize my questions:
Is it even worth it to bait up with a smaller/lighter setup (40lb cable and a 6/0 circle) down here or will I just end up feeding catfish and getting cutoff every time I hook into something more interesting?
Thanks for the useful thread guys!Okay some people may think I'm crazy but oh well. I normally do use at least 90lb leader and believe it or not I've had a 18 inch black tip bite through 60lb single strand. I would recomend using something bigger than 40lb but if you use a circle hook you may be able to get away with 40. Since the hook up will be in the corner of the jaw (but if the shark turns the oposite way and that leader finds a way into the mouth.......say bye bye). Guys feel free to correct me if I'm wrong b/c I don't normally use a shock leader since we paddle our baits out. If your casting from the beach (not using a raft or kayak) I would recomend using about 2-3' of 90lb sevenstrand and at least 12 feet of 60lb mono (to obsorb the shock of the cast) the short leader will be long enough to stretch across the jaws of a small shark (4 footer) and the 60lb mono should be enough to resist a tail swipe. When we paddle baits out I use about 10' of 150lb seven strand. This gives me plenty of leader to use to pull the shark onto the shore once it's beached. I use 8-16oz of weight (depending on surf and size of bait) and a 18/0 hook. I am by no means a pro but this has worked for me. You guys can feel free to PM me with any questions and give me a shout the next time your fishing and I'll be happy to join ya! Tight lines
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