I keep seeing different things online, is it illegal in Destin?

I dont know whats gonna bite. How they know I'm gonna catch a shark? Never understood that.

In the past few years they have added all kinds of restrictions to shark fishing, but I have not heard that it is illegal to shark fish from the beach. I have several friends that do it all the time and they have you-tube and local television and newspaper coverage with huge sharks on the beach. Most sharks have a catch and release law or size limit now. The black tip is the only one that I really care to eat, (and I've eaten them all, over the years). Mako is second.

Something I've never tried. I'm sure I will only catch catfish if I catch anything, but thought it might be a fun thing to try at night.

I know in Alabama it is, and I believe in Florida it technically is. However, use a piece of cut bait and say you're fishing for bull reds as they'll often eat the same baits.

I thought it was just illegal to use a chum bag on the beach? Otherwise, you're just fishing...

Ran into the same questions when I went to Gulf Shores. Not sure about FL waters but in AL its perfectly legal as long as its not posted by a local municipality or in a designated beach. Also if swimmers are present you need to be at least 300ft away.

I called the local Gulf Shores fish and game and thats what they told me regardless of what people say.

Call and get the facts first. Checking on the internet is not a good idea when it comes to regs IMO. Lots of "I think and I thought or I heard" so get the facts direct from the source.

I don't know if it's considered different but a lady I used to work with. Her husband caught A large mako from a pier in Panama City years ago.. But he started on the pier and transitioned to the shore

A couple I go to church with where staying in one of the phoenix high rises. Her husband caught a 5 footer off the beach and his wife caught it all on video from their top floor balcony. It was really cool.there where 2 other sharks with the one he caught that you could see in the video.

There are two types of shark fishing from the beach. If you are casting a surf rod with a small steel leader and a hunk of skip jack of other cut bait, then I can guarantee you wont have a problem. (this is for smaller sharks) If you are fishing for the 9-12 footers, then you are going to need a small aluminum boat or kayak to paddle your whole bonita, jack crevalle, or stingray off shore about 300 yards. They will not let you do this in a life guard area. (I know because we have been run off before) In the late 70's and 80's, we used to bring some giant sharks onto the public beaches. They frown on this now for obvious reasons. (don't want to run the tourists off) I have a picture of a 14'5" hammerhead that we caught off the beach in the late 70's. I cant take credit for the catch, but helped my buddy rope and bring it onto the beach. I can send a picture if someone would like to post it on the forum. Just pm me your cell number. Thanks

Blacktips are good eating sharks.

Posting for Peach



This is Navarre beach around 1978. The angler is Roddy pate who still fished Navarre pier today.

Thanks for posting. Some of you guys would stay out of the water if you knew what was lurking close to shore. Last summer a 13-15 ft. tiger shark stayed around Okaloosa Island Pier all day. It actually swam near shore and close to a bunch of swimmers on several occasions. It looked like a submarine in the water.

It's pretty common at Cape San Blas in Florida. I bought me a rig months ago. Hooked into one on my first night but my leader came loose. I have a better leader now. May even try it this weekend.

what kind of set up?

Man that's really cool.

PENN Senator spooled with mono and then braid then wire and heavy mono leader.

There aren't any fish around Cape San Blas and it's a HORRIBLE place to vacation.

why a mono leader?

I think it has some heavy heavy mono but the section before the hook is wire. The longer leader helps prevent the line from being cut due to abrasion by a tail or fin. One of my neighbors made it for me.

I went to boot camp with a guy that caught a HUGE tiger off Cape San Blas...seems like it was around 14' long. He told me it ran aground about 30 yds from the beach, they had to get a wrecker out there to pull it the rest of the way in and load it to go to the scales...1050 lbs! I saw a pic of it, but it was so huge next to Dennis that it didn't even look real!

There have been some good ones caught on the cape. Last year some guy caught a big one that had been tagged near Appalachicola as a baby like 20-25 years prior TO THE DAY.

That's pretty cool that the shark stayed in it's common waters for that long and was caught again just a few miles from where it was tagged on the same day. Bet that doesn't happen often.

I've never shark fished from the surf but caught a few offshore. I can only imagine how hard it has to be to land it.

Jono:

We caught some sharks off the beach after dark summer before last. Easy fishing. Cut bait and a wire leader. Biggest we caught was probably 4ft. Fun though.

we used to shark fish at night of the Destin pass jetties, east side. We caught(landed) sharks to 11 1/2 feet. we lost bigger ones.

Awesome, I'm going to give it a shot tonight. I bought some random frozen bait at the walmarks earlier. We will see if it works!

Thanks for the input guys.

I got a 5' or so shark as close as I wanted to off of Ft Morgan when I was 16. Was using cut skipjack as bait with a wire leader. If you see any ladyfish running, find a shiny lure and get you some fresh bait that way. They are a fun fight and a lot of things out there will eat 'em.

Did y'all catch em all on a out going tide ? I took a couple Bonita out there last year but the tide was going out at noon and by then every honky with a fishing pole were seemingly on the east Jetti.

I surf fish all the time at the beach. Best fishing ever was when the oil was there. We caught fish all day long but didn't keep any. Have caught a few sharks nothing big in the gulf. One guy three years ago had on 85lb test, got a big one on and it kept going never checked it up.

outgoing tide at night. We used whole Bonita, on a 8" hook, heavy steel cable leader 10' long, rigged to 5/8 rope 100' long tied to a very large rock on the jetty. Take some friends and a cooler of beer. Throw the Bonita out as far as possible, build a fire, drink beer and wait for the rope to go tight. Manhandle pull the shark in and bangstick his azz.

outgoing tide at night. We used whole Bonita, on a 8" hook, heavy steel cable leader 10' long, rigged to 5/8 rope 100' long tied to a very large rock on the jetty. Take some friends and a cooler of beer. Throw the Bonita out as far as possible, build a fire, drink beer and wait for the rope to go tight. Manhandle pull the shark in and bangstick his azz.[/quote]

Dang. That's going caveman beast mode on them. Sounds fun.

No sharks yet, but got on some pompano and ladyfish today. Looks like storms tonight, but I have some bait now.

id eat them pomps... which i am sure you did.. right??

Yeah we kept those for us, ladyfish for sharks

Y'all should look at going bow fishing during the night. One of the most fun things I do down there.

Any recommendations of someone to go with?

Oh yeah...forgot to mention, though I'm sure you've figured it out by now...when you catch a ladyfish, keep the vent pointed away from you!

yeah, figured that one out... lol.

We are actually out fishing right now. I haven't caught any sharks but I caught my first bull red last night and that was freaking awesome. I don't know what's considered big, but it was a giant to me. Never reeled in anything that big before. Hoping something bites soon tonight

Update?

And pic of the red?

I can't get the pic turned, and I had no idea what I was doing so you can't really see the fish as good as I had wished, but thats it. Caught another smaller one too.

Congrats! Those redfish are awesome to catch.

If someone put a gun to my head and said "Choose, for the rest of your life," it would be redfish. Pike would be a close second.

JayHook might be able to help you with info: http://www.gulfshoresinshore.com/Home_Page.php

Well, We caught a few small sharks (3 footers) on the Cape, nothing big. I did have 1 pretty good run but did not hook up.

Nice fish. I caught 17 lb and 23 lb reds back to back one night several years ago from the Perdido sea wall. It'll make a grin for sure.