Any advice for Sharks?

[Joshua van Wyk]

Hey guys, I'm heading down to Nags head, NC next week,  I'm gonna be fishing from Jeannete's Pier  for the whole week twice a day.  I'm gonna be fishing for Drum for the first time and I'm really hoping to catch a shark as it's been on my bucketlist for years.  Do you guys have any advice to catch these toothy critters? Are sharks even in the area this time of year? 

[soflabasser]

Make sure to use a wire leader when fishing for sharks and have enough line capacity in your reel.

[Joshua van Wyk]

So I made rigs with a 2 foot 145 lb steel leader connected to a 3-4 foot 80 lb mono shock leader connected to 50 lb main line.  Is 80 lb leader enough?

 

[B-Dozer]

You're gonna need a bigger boat!

[soflabasser]

14 hours ago, Joshua van Wyk said:

So I made rigs with a 2 foot 145 lb steel leader connected to a 3-4 foot 80 lb mono shock leader connected to 50 lb main line.  Is 80 lb leader enough?

 

The wire leader is a bit short for shark fishing, but you can always get lucky and land the shark with such a short wire leader. For my size 8000 spinning reels (combos that I cast the bait out from the shore, not ones I kayak by baits out) I prefer using a 3-4 foot wire leader rated at least 100 pounds for sharks in the 4-7 foot range. For sharks 7 feet or longer I prefer using +200 pound wire leader. I attach that wire leader to a heavy swivel. I then add 6-10 feet of 100 pound test mono top shot then do a uni to uni knot to the mainline. The topshot increases your chances of landing the shark since the sharks body is very abrasive and heavy top shot mono is harder to break by abrasion compared to braid or thin mono lines. By doing this I have landed many sharks in the 6-8 feet size, with a couple of them +8 feet. For kayaking my baits out I use a 12/0 Penn Senator filled to capacity with 100 pound mono leader and a 4-6 foot wire leader. I have fished with serious shark fishermen and they use unlimited class rods, reels bigger than my 12/0 Penn Senator,200 pound mono main line, and wire leader thicker than I use. They often catch sharks in the 8-10 foot range and a couple +10 footers every once in a while.