Toothy Critters
It’s that time of year, if you’re looking to catch a big fish. The sharks are absolutely going nuts in Tampa Bay. These toothy critters are feeding on just about anything they can get their mouth around. If you’re looking to hook into black tip hammerheads, it seems like cut ladyfish and stingrays are your ticket. Just be ready to use a big heavy rod to catch these sharks. You will definitely need a big size reel that can hold some serious yards of line.
It just so happens, a couple of weeks ago, we ended up catching a Mako shark in the Tampa Bay area in six feet of water near St. Petersburg pier. This is an unforgettable catch and fight with lots of tail walking across the water and line peeling off the reel.
My angler, Tom, was so surprised to hook into a fish this big. The Mako came in over 7 feet long and probably weighing over 200 pounds. We caught him on 40-pound braid using an 80-pound fluorocarbon leader with a 6/0 Mustad offset hook. Thirty minutes before we caught the shark, we caught a nice cobia. We also caught some nice trout that day.