How to catch sharks

[rhinoauk]

recently been fishing in tassie and all i have been catching is sharks. im not to sure what kind they are but they weigh in from 3.5-6kg. im pretty excited as ive never caught any before and ive been hooking them every time i go fishing now. I fish off the rocks but have trouble controlling them as they get close to the shrore. I fish with 10kg line and 2 sets of size 3 ganged hooks with WA pillies. each time they get to the shore they seem to snap my line off, just interested in any techniques of really HOOKING them, or techniques of how not to break the line??? should i try a stronger line?

comments appreciated.

Rhinoauk

[Sportfish_5]

Are you using a wire trace ? If not then that will help.

Cheers

Greg

[rhinoauk]

i use a pre made surf rig and sometines a black trace. i dont think its wire though. got a 20kg Breaking strain. The sharks dont have teeth that can nore through my line, i think im just a bit of a loser trying to reel them in.

[Billo]

even 1 kg sharks have teeth that would easily rip through 20 lb mono, they may be small , but they are needle sharp , it only takes a couple of head shakes to have one small tooth make a souple of nicks in the line and weaken it to snapping point . .....try getting some wire on there . ( with that said , i pulled up a 100kg whaler a few weeks back on 80lb mono trace ,...just a fluke ! )

[bidkev]

Mate, when I started hunting 'em I made the mistake of having the trace too short. I kept losing 'em and I noticed that most were lost when they turned from the boat.

I sussed that what was happening was that the line was rubbing the flanks of their body or getting tucked under their fins. When I fish for 'em now I always use at least 3 metres of wire although this may not be practical if you are bottom fishing and need to cast. It can only be used when float fishing.

I also have better results fishing close to the bottom. I always present my bait in the bottom 25% of depth.

I would upgrade your line and hooks to heavier as you never know what's gonna come along. A four kilo shark can smother ganged 6's no bother. Also, it may well be that you're losing 'em when your line frays on the rocks.......even sand has pretty abrasive qualities. 30 or 40lb mono even would be the go........you're not just fighting the fish but the land/seascape as well.

Good luck

kev

[rhinoauk]

gee thanks for the info kingtin. i have 30cm traces but i dont use them, i usually go for the 20cm ones. i bought some wire leader the other day so il try that out. 3m is a massive leader. i think il opt for a little bit less. i think a big gaff would also come in handy. ive upgraded to 30lb line so i'l see how i go. thanks!

[Tassie_Boy]

Hi Rhinoauk,

you might want to be careful shorebased shark fishing in Sth Tassie as most of the accessable areas are Shark Refuges and taking sharks and actively fishing for them is banned. Might be worth having a look at
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.ns...IR-4YA7GL?open

Cheers

Jon

[blaze]

my thoughts are if you are catching shark off the rocks you are likely to be encountering swell shark, aka draughtboard sharks. They are a patchy brown color. Mongrel things.
Seem to be in plague proportion some times of the year around weedbeds and rocky/sandy areas.
Lots of place in tassie to shore fish without fishing the shark nursreys, from memory there are only around 6 in the state.
cheers
blaze

[Tassie_Boy]

Only 6 shark refuges in the state? What are they 1) North Coast, 2) East Coast, 3) West Coast, 4) South Coast 5) Inland waters and 6) offshore waters.
I grew up on the Tamar - all of which is a Shark Refuge. And now I live just south of Hobart and all of the Derwent down to the Iron Pot is a shark refuge, all of Fredrick henry bay is a shark refuge, all of the Dunnalley waters are a refuge and all of the D';entrecasteaux is a Shark Refuge - pretty much anywhere a southern fisher can access.

So if you live in either the north or the south of Tassie you can pretty much forget about fishing for Sharks.

[rickraider]

snappa can help you ......he is a hero at catching sharks from the beach...cmon snappa put up the picture