# Sharks in Trinity Bay



## Mustad7731 (May 23, 2004)

Last night I spoke to a TP&W Biologist, He told me that 
there are creditable reports of large sharks (7'+) in Trinity Bay.
Most reports come from pilots of light planes...The Bay's
Salinty is compairable to the readings in late July and Aug...
So...you bay fisherman many want to take a 30 lb outfit 
and a gaff when you venture into Trinity Bay...
Mustad7731
Jackie


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

I saw a big mako of about 6' this time last year in Trinity Bay.


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## agteacher (Jun 29, 2005)

all hopes of me wade fishing are gone for sure!!! call me chicken I will just drift for those trout!! LOL


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## TroutSnatcher (Jun 27, 2005)

I've seen plenty of large sharks caught around the spillway. They're in there alright!


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## CypressTexas (Jan 2, 2005)

Wading Mark said:


> I saw a big mako of about 6' this time last year in Trinity Bay.


LMAO........


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

CypressTexas said:


> LMAO........


Why?


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## ElTiburon (May 1, 2005)

cuz a mako up here close to shore or in trinity bay is highly unlikely. I WISH!!!


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

ElTiburon said:


> cuz a mako up here close to shore or in trinity bay is highly unlikely. I WISH!!!


I may have been mistaken as to the species (I don't fish for sharks), but the shark in question was 6'-7' long.


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## KillerShrimp (Jan 12, 2005)

While fishing the birds late summer last year on the trinitys north shoreline, I got to see something crazy. When I set the hook on a trout he came up with a head shake walking across the water, So I was trying to horse him in for being a dink, and so I could catch another. When splash and and things broke loose, not knowing what was happning, the line was limp but still dead weight on it. When I reeled up The trout was dead or paralized but the big fish following was not, not a shark expert but standing on my 10ft scooter he looked to be more than I wanted to deal with. On the secound strike he took my fish, lure, and leader. Plus fishing the flats in the pocket I saw numrous sharks crusing around and sometimes busting bait. I have seen more sharks in the last 3yrs than ever.


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

Most sharks in the bays are bull sharks. Usually around 3-4' in lenght. Bull sharks start life in our bay systems then move out to open water each summer, usually in july. They become very active in the bay system each summer leading up to there leaving. 

Large sharks do go into, and are in all major bay systems in Texas. It could be any number of species, good chance it is a bull shark. blacktips, lemons, and others do move in and out of the bays. But it could be any shark that swims in the ocean, even a mako. The worlds oceans have no walls or fences, and any fish can go where they want. This has been proved many times, with babay great whites caught in sabine lake and huge whales in corpus by the causeway.


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## sumbeech (May 19, 2005)

Baby Great Whites in Sabine Lake? Educate me J.R. I have not heard of this, it must have been back in the days of sabine lake having gin clear water, white sand bottom and full of Tarpon. I have seen the pictures of the big Tarpon rodeos that used to be held Sabine lake, it makes me wish I was alive in the 40's.

Tony


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

Jolly Roger is right on about bull sharks being in the bay systems. Late one morning last summer me, my cousin and my dad were fishing near Bird Island in East Bay and I was bored so I put on a kingfish leader with a fresh dead pogey we had caught earlier in the day (thought we were going to fish the short rigs but wind picked up). Wasn't long before that rod was nearly pulled out of its holder when a 7-8 foot bull shark picked it up and ran with it. I really couldn't do nothing with it on the trout rod I was using but he came up a couple of times and we got a good look at him - enough that I could identify him as a bull at least (that wide snout was a dead giveaway). Needless to say it was something I'll never forget and has made me think twice about ever wading in East Bay again!


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## capn (Aug 11, 2005)

Have seen them in numbers in the 3-4 foot range on many occaisions. Up to 6, possibly 7 feet a few times. While I've heard of blacktips in Trinity, I've only seen bull sharks.

Last summer while poling the pocket and working redfish, I saw numerous sharks in water as shallow as shin deep, along with a 6-7 footer in water barely over knee deep. They don't need much water.

They don't really bother me. I've heard that they are worse in Gorda though.


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

*Sharks*

Caught alot of 3-4' ones in the bays here in gorda but have not seen any biguns! Starting to rattle my chain think I will stay in the boat a little more from now on!


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## catch 5 (Apr 10, 2006)

Oh great, thanks. I regularly fish in Gorda. I hate these shark stories. They freak me out.


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## waterspout (May 21, 2004)

they are all in the trinity river!


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## Jolly Roger (May 21, 2004)

sumbeech said:


> Baby Great Whites in Sabine Lake? Educate me J.R. I have not heard of this, it must have been back in the days of sabine lake having gin clear water, white sand bottom and full of Tarpon. I have seen the pictures of the big Tarpon rodeos that used to be held Sabine lake, it makes me wish I was alive in the 40's.
> 
> Tony


They caught the baby white back in the late 60s or early 70s in a net. Made the paper and a few news broadcast. I have saw the newspaper clippings but have never seen anything about the catch on the internet.

Lot of the very large sharks that are saw in bays each year are lemon sharks coming in shallow to pup. They pup every summer and if the other sharks are giving them a hard time they will travel way into bay systems for protection. Bull sharks seem to perfer bay systems with large fresh water inflow such as Sabine, Trinity, and Matagorda. But they are in all bay systems along the Texas coast. Trinity river does not have a saltwater barrier, so it is possible for bull sarks to swim all the way to the dam in liviston. Bull sharks are one of the few sharks that can live in both fresh and salt water.


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## spotsndots (May 20, 2005)

There were 5 of us wade fishing West Matagorda down at Cottons this last weekend. My brother had a 4-5 footer come up behind him back in a cove. He just happened to turn around (no fish on the stringer - he couldn't catch a fish if his life depended on it!!!) and about 20 feet away, here comes mr. brown. He thrashed his pole in the water and it turned away but it SURE GOT HIS ATTENTION. He's been bit before so I don't blame him for walkin on water.


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## gatorbait (May 21, 2004)

*Trinity*

There are lots of sharks in Trinity and Im worried this summer will be one of the worst. We usually get a good enough winter/spring flush that they dont come this far back until July/August. But they are already here now and in numbers. They are in the marsh pretty thick and the 3-4 footers are very common right now. Funny thing is I have caught more Black tips at the mouth of the river and at the spillway but allmost every single shark I have seen/caught in the marsh has been a bull. I guess that goes right in with what JR said about bulls and brackish water.  They are easily spotted in Jack's Pocket in the summer when that water gets gin clear. I think its pretty cool seeing a 5-6 footer cruising the pocket in 18" of gin clear water. Im still waiting for the day a big bull and a gator square off, I hope I get to see it.

Z


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## GoingCoastal (May 24, 2004)

********* said:


> There are lots of sharks in Trinity and Im worried this summer will be one of the worst. We usually get a good enough winter/spring flush that they dont come this far back until July/August. But they are already here now and in numbers.
> Z


 Yup! Might not be a good year for wading trinity .

Guy I know was wading fisher's 1-2 weeks ago. He said a big bull shark swam right up too him, He left a yellow slick hauling butt back to the boat.

Dave


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Jolly Roger said:


> They caught the baby white back in the late 60s or early 70s in a net. Made the paper and a few news broadcast. I have saw the newspaper clippings but have never seen anything about the catch on the internet.
> 
> Lot of the very large sharks that are saw in bays each year are lemon sharks coming in shallow to pup. They pup every summer and if the other sharks are giving them a hard time they will travel way into bay systems for protection. Bull sharks seem to perfer bay systems with large fresh water inflow such as Sabine, Trinity, and Matagorda. But they are in all bay systems along the Texas coast. Trinity river does not have a saltwater barrier, so it is possible for bull sarks to swim all the way to the dam in liviston. Bull sharks are one of the few sharks that can live in both fresh and salt water.


Back in the 80's while fishing the Dirty Pelican Pier I jeard Jerry Valentine yell to someone, "Come over hear and tell me if this is a mako". I turned and looked. Jerry and the shark was only about 15' away from me. There was a pointed nose pup shark about 2 feet long flopping on the pier and suddenly flop itself off the pier.

I saw it good enough myself to see that its snout was that of a mako or white. But, it was so quick that no one got a good enough look at it for an ID.


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## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

SurfRunner said:


> Back in the 80's while fishing the Dirty Pelican Pier I jeard Jerry Valentine yell to someone, "Come over hear and tell me if this is a mako". I turned and looked. Jerry and the shark was only about 15' away from me. There was a pointed nose pup shark about 2 feet long flopping on the pier and suddenly flop itself off the pier.
> 
> I saw it good enough myself to see that its snout was that of a mako or white. But, it was so quick that no one got a good enough look at it for an ID.


I am pretty sure that great white pups are much larger than 2 feet, I think they are actually 5 or 6 feet at birth. I have seen pics of Mako's that small though.

As far as sharks in the bay, down in Rockport last summer they were a quite prevalent. I have caught many small blacktips around the gas wells and reefs, all under 3 feet, but this was a little more concerning. Mud Island and Superflats had 5-6 foot bull sharks in pretty decent numbers. I had 2 encounters with bulls eating trout off my stringer, both off of Mud Island. Quite a few others I talked to had the same problem in that end of the bay last summer. Dolphins were also in the same area plucking trout off stringers all summer, so between the two it was pretty nerve wracking to have a string of trout trailing behind you!


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## rtoler (Apr 9, 2006)

*Sharks......*

It does sound stange to hear of sharks in the bays since %99.999 of us have never seen one there. But if I was a shark I would be there, waiting on a big fat waiter;-}

Anyone catch one in the bay be sure to take a picture and post it. We'll see if we can figure out what kind it is.

P.S.: Went ten miles offshore out of Freeport Sunday. Nada............ Would have given money to catch a shark........


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## goatruckman (Apr 16, 2006)

There are numerous sharks in the bay systems.... no matter which one your in. I have had many trout plucked off my stringer while fishing. Also i heard Capt Wayne on the radio about 3 years ago talking to a guy that caught a mako off the rocks of TC ****. He had pictures to prove it also.


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## hookguy (Aug 15, 2005)

I have a buddy in town this weekend that wants to catch a shark. With all the talk about sharks in Trinity thinking about giving it a go after an early morning fishing session. Any ideas on hooking up with on of these bad boys in those neck off the woods would be helpful. Thinking of getting a good bloody slick going, let me know.


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## PinStripe (Aug 3, 2005)

Use a big Mullet I would not chum unless you dont mind alot of bird chit on you and you stuff lol


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

MilosMaster said:


> I am pretty sure that great white pups are much larger than 2 feet, I think they are actually 5 or 6 feet at birth. I have seen pics of Mako's that small though.


I just got my tags in the mail yesterday and was flipping through the guide they sent with them. I can't recall the exact number, but remember thinking that white shark pups were way smaller than I expected. I'll look it up tonight when I get home, but want to say it was around 28" or so.


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## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

justletmein said:


> I just got my tags in the mail yesterday and was flipping through the guide they sent with them. I can't recall the exact number, but remember thinking that white shark pups were way smaller than I expected. I'll look it up tonight when I get home, but want to say it was around 28" or so.


I wasn't really sure either, but I like sharks more than working, so I googled it.

http://www.aqua.org/downloads/pdf/Great_White_Shark.pdf

Not as big as I thought, but still pretty plump!! Can you imagine momma great white carrying 8 60lb. pups!! That's like a volkswagen!!


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## DANO (May 23, 2005)

I have seen sharks in the bays, it does not surprise me at all that they are being seen more frequently. There are more people fishing, salinity levels are high (lack of rain), also the (Dead Zone) in front of the Mississippi River is growing in size. Just think what you might do if you saw a Texas Sawfish ( now extinct) cruising the Flats and the bays and weighing several hundred pounds. Then we have them Sorry ******** who have proposed an Open Loop LNG Terminal off Louisiana (sp ck), the effects of that will be catasrophic on the Marine Life. This too will drive more Marine Life towards the Texas Coast. Sharks have always been in the Bays at certain times of the year. Mako's or Whites,..the chances are slim to none. One thing is known that Bull sharks can and do swim quite a way up Freshwater Rivers !


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## sumbeech (May 19, 2005)

The mention of a possible Mako pup at H.I. years ago reminded me that there used to be a picture at the bait store on the SS side of SLP, of mako being boated right in the middle SLP, the bridge was in the background, the shark was no doubt a Mako and was about 6-7', I guess it could have been staged but the boat they were dragging it in was bay boat.

Tony


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## dpdogwood (Aug 9, 2005)

What do you do after you catch one and bring him to the boat if you want to keep him? I'm in a 14' jonboat.


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## fisher__man (Jan 13, 2006)

TPWD has pulled many of sharks out of all the bays not just trinity. Chocolate bay has quite a few also along with east bay. most have been smaller bulls 2-4ft but other species are cought. there are larger ones out thier though.


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