First attempt at drift fishing for sharks...

[Jared D]

Well, after three months of saltless exposure, I finally was able to get offshore. We were watching the weather all week... 2-3 feet, 2 foot or less..... then late Friday it jumps to 3-4 with a 4 second period. We decide to give it a poke anyway.

We picked up the needed supply of pogies, about 5 gallons worth, and then venture off to the deep. The spot we run to is a ledge that holds tigers... lots of them. Unfortunately, the Government saw fit to close a 2 mile by 3 mile section of the ocean as a Marine Sanctuary last year, and our ledge happens to fall with in that zone. Now we are unable to anchor.

We try drift fishing. Wind was blowing from the south, same general direction as the current. Made for a fast drift. We set up our drift 2 miles from the spot to allow plenty of chum to be dispursed before we get to the spot. Now when I say chum, I mean chum! Pogy oil, chum churn of fresh pogies, carcasses from the days prior trip, block chum, and old freezer collections of fish goo! We were making a slick like Exxon Valdeze!

Well, long story short, we only managed one Tiger. A small 8 footer that struck as soon as we crossed the ledge (I mean, as soon!). We did have fun on the flat line all day, having kingfish after kingfish gooble up our baits. We finally gave up the drift after 6 hours and 4.5 miles of drifting. We crossed the entire area and only got one shark as soon as we crossed that specific area.

I was very disappointed. We tried slowing up the drift, but we werent able to at all. Going to have to find a new way, as its too expensive to run all that way just for one shark.

Oh, we did stop on the ledge on the way back in, and dropped down some greenies and pulled a gag, and another grouper (short) that I didnt recognize. Seas were building so I never got a pic of it, but it looked like a scamp with a normal tail!

[joeksr]

Maybe to much slick and food in the water.
Why take a baited hook it there is a lot of food floating around.

[WAHOONBOX]

AW JARED....YOU CAN'T GET EM EVERYDAY BRO...THANKS FOR THE ADVENTURE AND YOU ARE STILL KING OF HOGS BRO!

[Jared D]

Maybe to much slick and food in the water.
Why take a baited hook it there is a lot of food floating around.

Thats just it... not any food in there. Just scent. Lots and lots of scent. Very few pieces bigger than a nickle make it out of the bags.

Thanks Box. I am very happy to have been able to go... just was frustrated that we had such a low catch. This spot usually yields 5 or more tigers a day, each with a pile of Cobia under them just dying to tan on my grill!

[thejack]

Hey Jared I know secret spots are just that, but I would love to be able to run out for some tigers, they are my favorite shark to catch. PM me if you will. Todd

[SeaBiscuit]

Good report Jared. Sorry you didn't catch more, but you did try a new way and was successful.
I'm sure you've thought about this, but there have to be some features of this area that attract these large sharks (think of how much a resident pack of tigers has to eat!) that may be duplicated in other nearby areas outside of the restricted zone. You just might be able to find another concentration of them, if you can afford to do the prospecting. Finding a "new" spot is very rewarding.
Come get some groupers.
SeaBiscuit