# Shark Bite



## Yellow Mouth Chaser (Jan 8, 2008)

I know most of y'all fish for sharks but how many people have had this happen to them? The story behind the pic, we where on the second bar casting out. We had had a few small sharks around but no big deal. Then out of no where this 6' bull shark comes up and eats these two trout in no time flat. The stringer was only 3-4 feet away when it happend. His body was half out of the water when he bit. Never knew he was there until it happend. There my have been some girly screams at the time. This made the trip end a little sooner then planned.


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

west matty bay down by cottons and greens can get flat thick with sharks and some real solid bulls too, they are trained to the wade fishermen


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## alvinslash (Jan 14, 2012)

get a basket not a stringer for the surf


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## hog_down (Jan 11, 2010)

If that happened to me, you would see a white man attempt to walk on water...


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## daddyhoney (Dec 4, 2006)

If you have to use a stringer make it long and do not tie it to yourself. Keep a close watch out if the tide keeps washing it back up next to you. Better yet catch one and walk it back to the cooler. Hard to replace a leg.


Billy Sandifer of South Padre Island fame tells a story about wading the surf for tarpon with a couple of clients. He spots a very large tiger shark checking them out and they exit quickly. They drive down the beach a short ways and stop to check on another fisherman. He was shaken up because a huge tiger was spotted in the shallows near him and between him and the beach. The moral of the story is, there are things out there that need to be respected that can kill you. Safety first just like in the work place. Be extra cautious when landing trout with your hands when wading. Stubby is a nick name for carpenters not fishermen. Gary


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

I've had it happen several times in Sargent.Thats why I use a 20' stringer when I'm wading the surf.


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## cobra_steven (Jun 2, 2010)

Oooo that's not cool at all. I love wade fishing the beach. I'm thankful to have not encountered a shark this way...nor stingrays.... 
My brother had the shark encounter at Sargent once before. He owns a Hobie now!


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Its happened to me in shin deep water. I never saw it happen and never knew it happened. I assume it was a small one.


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## histprof (Oct 30, 2011)

I don't remember when I stopped being bullet proof. I used to wade all day, never thinking of rays. In those days, I continued to trout fish, even seeing shark fins cruising by. One time, I kept fishing until I finally caught a 24" blacktip on a live shrimp under a cork. I didn't want to believe that those fish that I could see in the water around me really were pup sharks. That guy doesn't fish with me any more. I get a hookup, I back out of the water and beach the fish. No stringers for me anymore. And, I never had anything close to what the OP shared happen to me. But I have seen huge bulls blasting schools of mullet against the jetty.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Let's just say I would have polluted the GOM!


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## GotUm (May 27, 2004)

V


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

I've had it happen a few times. I've seen a 6'+ bull shark bust a school of bait 4 feet in front of me in waste deep water. I finally built a fish basket to hold my fish instead of a stringer.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

I was fishing out in the first gut once and came back after an hour or so. Wife said she couldn't believe how calm I was and that I stayed out after that shark kept cruising by. I said, "what shark?" Took me 20 mins to convince her I had not seen any sharks because it apparently circled me for quite some time only a few feet away at times. She said it was bigger than the ones she's seen me catch (up to 6-7 feet) but not a monster. The scary thing is, I didn't have a stringer out... it was all me. 

Another time I wasn't fishing, just waded out to make a cast as far as I could. Cast my long rod and turned around to walk back and between me and the truck there was a big momma cruising by nice and slow. I didn't cast any more baits that day.


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

I have several stringers hit by sharks that looked like the picture in the surf and in the bays. My buddy and I were fishing behind SLP and had 6'+ bull shark take a mac as he reached to grab the fish. 
Years ago my buddy and made a trip to Rockport and used Sally's ransport ship to take our yaks accross the bay and we fished behind St Jose Island. I had Porpoise take four nice Trout off my stringer hanging off of my yak. A hour or so I had caught five more Trout and had a 4' Shark cut the tails off of my Trout and swam beside my yak and I hit him with my paddle, it didn't hurt the shark but make me feel better. LOL.


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## allent2002 (Apr 10, 2012)

I learned Several Years ago - Told to me by an 85 Year old fisherman I still appreciate - even tough he is gone... Son, if you are in the water to your Knees -- You are No Longer Top of the food chain!!


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## Bearwolf34 (Sep 8, 2005)

allent2002 said:


> I learned Several Years ago - Told to me by an 85 Year old fisherman I still appreciate - even tough he is gone... Son, if you are in the water to your Knees -- You are No Longer Top of the food chain!!


Good piece of advice there. If I can get over the stingrays then Ill start worrying about the sharks.

Back in december i was fishing out at surfside access 5 and had been walking out to the first sandbar and tossing the baits out. For whatever reason the next time i cast from the beach right up against the sandbar where I was previously standing and no sooner than it hit something whammed it, got it in and it was a small 30" bullshark. That kinda got the thinker going and glad that I hadnt run into momma!


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## Yellow Mouth Chaser (Jan 8, 2008)

This pic was taken just down from Access 5 on surfside. Like y'all I have seen them and never thought much about it. But this one kinda got me thinking. SLP and near by surf areas seem to have a lot of big sharks running around.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Last December when i was on PINS, we had several whiting bitten in half while reeling them in. It was happening to almost everyone I talked to on PINS that day.

I have caught a couple of 6 foot sharks with baits that were cast from the sand. And several a little smaller than that. 

What I have found to be consistant is that the more desolate the beach, the closer they will come.


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## Agee008 (Feb 22, 2012)

The sharks are still around??? I thought they were gone. I love sharking. Let me know where they are and I will get them out of your way!!!!


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## Fordzilla06 (Oct 14, 2010)

Did you have to change your undies after that?


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## Fish-a-mon (May 21, 2004)

Shoot a inflatable two man raft. It fits a cooler and tacklebox


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## El Primero (Jun 14, 2008)

Back when it was open and the fish were thick in Cedar Bayou, those toothy critters claimed several fish off of our stringers. Every now and then you could catch a big bastage cruising/surfing in a wave crashing big'ole horse mullet. We all had long pier-type stringers that were 20' +/-....just in case!


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

I've had 2 events happen to me that made me think a bit. The 1st event happened a couple yrs ago. I was wading out to the 2nd bar to cast and 5 dorsal fins appeared out of nowhere about 10 yds in front of me. I cast out my hardhead bait at least 50 yds past them and 20min later, I landed a 5' blacktip. Last year, I had waded out to the 2nd bar to cast which put me near my other bait (live mullet) sitting in the 2nd gut when a 3' blacktip went aerial about 20yds from me. It had taken my bait in the 2nd gut. I hightailed it back to my rod to land him. At the time, neither event really scared me since I was closer to shore than they were but it got me to thinking I should have been.


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

I have lost Trout behind San Jose Island, SS, SLP beach and behind SLP- This one was a 6'. My fishing partner hooked up with nice mac and was reaching to get it, when the Bull Shark took it. We were fishing a cut behind the pass. I also had big bull take a Trout a few days later in the same area.
When I catch one in the surf, I usually take to shore and put it on ice. I lost three nice Trout one spring morning fishing the pocket, thn I started the above proceedure.


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## jettycowboy47 (Jun 17, 2012)

surfguy said:


> I've had 2 events happen to me that made me think a bit. The 1st event happened a couple yrs ago. I was wading out to the 2nd bar to cast and 5 dorsal fins appeared out of nowhere about 10 yds in front of me. I cast out my hardhead bait at least 50 yds past them and 20min later, I landed a 5' blacktip. Last year, I had waded out to the 2nd bar to cast which put me near my other bait (live mullet) sitting in the 2nd gut when a 3' blacktip went aerial about 20yds from me. It had taken my bait in the 2nd gut. I hightailed it back to my rod to land him. At the time, neither event really scared me since I was closer to shore than they were but it got me to thinking I should have been.


How far out was the second sandbar from the sand? This is around Galveston right?

Are Blacktips the same as Bull Sharks? I hear that Bull Sharks are basically stupid & have limited eyesight. But they are the most aggressive of shark species.


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

Happens all the time. Get a basket with a styrofoam ring on top, problem solved.


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

jettycowboy47 said:


> How far out was the second sandbar from the sand? This is around Galveston right?
> 
> The 2nd bar is about 100-150yds from the sand at Surfside because it's usually typically shallower than most beaches on the gulf coast. About waist-chest deep at mid-high tide. Surfside is west of Galveston across the San Luis Pass tollbridge.
> 
> Are Blacktips the same as Bull Sharks? I hear that Bull Sharks are basically stupid & have limited eyesight. But they are the most aggressive of shark species.


No sir. Blacktips and Bull sharks are different in many ways but they are common in that they are probably the most aggressive sharks that feed near shore. That's why they get caught alot by surf fishers.


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## texjam (Jun 6, 2006)

Bolivar Pocket in 1990's


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