# tarpon and shark interactions?... jpegs to follow



## williamdailey (Mar 24, 2009)

no - not jpegs of tarpon suffering a shark bite... I only intend to include some historical fishing jpegs of tarpon and historical jpegs of sharks.

MORE IMPORTANTLY - my question to those anglers willing to share their experience and opinion...

is the incidence rate of shark attacks on hooked tarpon greater in florida than texas and louisiana? I am aware many of you have fished tarpon in numerous destinations... so feel free to expand this area to other destinations... whether gabon or guyana... liberia or louisiana... tecolutla to the keys.

I have never posed this question to the numerous guides and anglers I know in texas and louisiana... 

the fact is I have never heard of venice / grand isle, LA anglers losing a tarpon... I have never heard of sharks being problematic to tarpon anglers in Texas

Thanks for your time... my jpegs are at the office... will post those later

If you're not outdoors today... get out there


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## capt mullet (Nov 15, 2008)

Tampa has a lot of bull sharks hammerheads and just plain BIG sharks running around. It seems like the sharks here on average are smaller and therefore in my experience you dont get as many shark attacks here in Texas like you do in florida. In Tampa it was a fairly common occurence. Tampa is a bull shark nursery and therefore a lot of mature Bulls would show up from all over teh gulf to lay their pups so that may have something to do with it.


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## williamdailey (Mar 24, 2009)

capt mullet said:


> Tampa has a lot of bull sharks hammerheads and just plain BIG sharks running around. It seems like the sharks here on average are smaller and therefore in my experience you dont get as many shark attacks here in Texas like you do in florida. In Tampa it was a fairly common occurence. Tampa is a bull shark nursery and therefore a lot of mature Bulls would show up from all over teh gulf to lay their pups so that may have something to do with it.


thanks captain lambert - it is my understanding as the season progresses from spring to summer in boca grande the likelihood of a hooked tarpon getting chomped by bull or hammerhead shark increases... I have seen jpegs of very large tarpon cut in half, and the inevitable youtube videos.

but as I stated, sharks rarely seem problematic in texas and louisiana unless we're speaking to reeling them in...


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## capt mullet (Nov 15, 2008)

Boca Grande attracts a lot of the bigger sharks because of the unbelievable amount of tarpon in the pass. At any one time (during tarpon season) they say there could be 10,000 to 30,000 tarpon in the pass itself so like our trout and reds the big sharks follow their food source so they have huge sharks all over Boca grande. The smaller sharks run around in wolf packs while the big 17-22 footers are solitary feeders. Needless to say I wouldnt swim or even kayak in that area. A kayak would look like a big topwater bait!


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## Animal Chris (May 21, 2004)

Bill, from what my father told me, the situation used to be very similar in Port Aransas. He told me that it would get so bad at times that if the fish jumped a third time, odd are he was jumping to get away from the sharks. 
Back when I fished Port O'Connor a lot, there were a lot of big sharks in what was then Pass Cavallo, but you really didn't have a problem until the hammerheads showed up in late August and September. Back then, we fished with Heddon Brute Sticks and 6000's filled with 15 or 17# mono so we could break a tarpon off if a shark got after it. The bad part was that 68M Mirro Lures were $1.98 at the time. The trip could get expensive in a hurry.


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## williamdailey (Mar 24, 2009)

thanks chris and captain lambert -

the pictures of boca grande loaded with vessels in the pass fishing the silverking are amazing... anglers and vessels almost fishing shoulder to shoulder.

of course, we haven't fished tarpon 'shoulder-to-shoulder' in texas and louisiana in decades - we're just not going to have that sort of angler density... the whole of the food chain making menu items to simple for sharks in boca grande

thanks... if you have an opinion or experience, please add your two cents


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## CrazyYak (Mar 16, 2005)

capt mullet said:


> Boca Grande attracts a lot of the bigger sharks because of the unbelievable amount of tarpon in the pass. At any one time (during tarpon season) they say there could be 10,000 to 30,000 tarpon in the pass itself so like our trout and reds the big sharks follow their food source so they have huge sharks all over Boca grande. The smaller sharks run around in wolf packs while the big 17-22 footers are solitary feeders. *Needless to say I wouldnt swim or even kayak in that area. A kayak would look like a big topwater bait!*


The paddle has been used as a weapon before against a 6'+ Bull Shark, I would hate to have an encounter with a extremely large Shark. I've learned it's extremely important to keep any bait or fish sealed up properly.


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

Fishng out of Venice la in the delta I have seen a lot of sharks feeding with the tarpon. Even on the beach front I have seen both. On the beach front it is mullet they are after. In the Delta it is normally schools of rain mnnows. Thus when a tarpon is hooked he is not like a rain minnow or mullet. Also I agree that normally these sharks are not as big as well. I have seen schools of hammerheads on the delta but none the monster size from Fl. Thus I do think it has to do with the size of the sharks and there feeding habits. For example in the Delta you almost cannot use live bait for tarpon fishing because of all the sharks, and kingfish with mostly sharks. Most of the sharks are blacktip or spinners.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 15, 2007)

I was fishing in Boca Grande two years ago and had a big tarpon hooked up for about 30 minutes. He was almost done for and was slowing rising and then my line went nuts and he came to the surface. He was immediately followed by an enormous hammerhead who who came halfway out of the water on him. This things dorsal fin was so big it was bending over. He grabbed the tarpon and took him down and i could feel head shaking and then it popped the knot right out of my 100 lb mono leader. It was the most intense thing I have ever seen. It was my first tarpon and all I got was sore arms and back after all that work. The day before that I saw a school of bulls devour a tarpon right at someone elses boat.


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## williamdailey (Mar 24, 2009)

great white and that guy,

thanks for the posting... hammerhead sharks are wild aren't they? one thing that most impresses me about the greater hammerhead is the huge first dorsal. of course, size is relative and many anglers don't give it a second thought. their first dorsal is frigging huge...

I have attached two photos... the historical photo from the bob hall pier - fantastic fish... you can see the tip of the dorsal behind the man's right shoulder. The second image is simply the hammerhead in his, or her, element... again get a look at spinnakeresque dorsal fin - frigging huge!


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## Scott (May 24, 2004)

Sharks do prey on tarpon in Texas and Louisiana. We have had tagged tarpon get eaten. I think when shark density is high enough, even a revived tarpon may get eaten. We have had at least one tag that traveled for about a month on the back of a tarpon before the tarpon was attacked and the tag consumed. How do we know that? Well, light levels go to zero. Temps remain constant and the tag pops up and starts trasmitting within four to seven days after being eaten. When the tag is retrieved, it had tooth marks on it. Survey says?

When a lot of sharks are around, I suggest we all do what we can to land our tarpon green, revive them well and release them strong. A tired or weak tarpon is a potential victim, even of a smaller shark. I have not experienced a shark attack one during a fight in Texas but have heard of it. I did release one last year that stayed and lazily swam off just under the surface for a long distance. As I though about why that fish did that, I later thought that maybe there was something beneath him stalking him.


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