Nothing like a 844lb Shark to make your day when fishing. This has been a banner year for large sharks along the Emerald Coast. The story has been picked up by the national media.

Quoting the Kansas City Star:

Bruner and his fishing buddies were on a 52-foot charter boat with Capt. Robert Hill, about 70 miles southwest of this beach city in the Florida Panhandle.

The fishermen first noticed the big mako because it kept eating grouper and scamp they had hooked.

“It was like ‘Jaws,’” Hill said.

Hill hooked a two-foot amberine on as bait and tossed it out. The shark eventually hit it.

After the long fight, the shark was gaffed and eventually gave up after its tail was roped. But even then, the men could not get the big shark in the boat. They tied it to the stern with three ropes and made the four-hour trip back to land.

Be sure to link through to the article for more pictures.

Why bother with a boat, cut bait, and chum when you can catch sharks from your balcony with a pork chop? Anglers in Australia’s “Gold Coast” region of southeast Queensland (central east coast of Australia) can bull shark fish from home along hundreds of miles of brackish canals. This quote from the UK Telegraph on shark fishing along the canals of Australia’s Gold Coast says it all: (more…)

Florida leads the nation in shark attacks and this month the ‘hot’ zone seems to be the central Florida coast around St Lucie county. Over the April 1st weekend, two people were bitten within an hour along the same stretch of Atlantic beach. Fortunately, neither attack was life threatening. See our map below. (more…)

Kyle Gruen, a 29 year Vancouver resident, is recovering after shark attack off Kama’ole Beach Park II in Kihei, Hawaii (see below for a map). He was swimming within 30 to 40 feet of the beach around lunch time when the attack occurred. (more…)

The 2006 Destin Fishing Rodeo is well underway. Taking a look at the current standings, the charter fleet is mostly ahead of the private vessels in most categories. The largest fish so far is in the shark class at 339lbs. We hope to make it out to AJ’s soon to get some weigh-in pictures. If you’d like to make a report on the tournament, please use our Contact Form.

Mark Miller of Primofish.com was in enough to send a link to his photo gallery from Destin on September 16-17. In his own words,

I posted some pictures for my weekend in Destin Sept 16-17 while the Destin Shark Tournament was underway. There were a few pics of the 480 pound Tiger Shark caught by Cherie Mills, so I thought I might pass the web gallery on to you in case you are interested.

Visit Mark’s Gallery HERE.

He does have some good pictures of a few of the big sharks - as well as some nice underwater photography in the Destin Area. Thanks Mark!

Know of another great online fishing gallery or tournament report? Please send us the link via our contact form!

Cherie Mills took top honors in the Lady Angler category in the 2006 Destin Deep-Water Shark tournament, but it took more than landing a 480lb Tiger Shark to do it.

A challenge by second place finisher Virginia Lipscomb over allowable assistance by Mills’ crew invoked a rather interesting clause in the tournament rules - resolution via polygraph.

(more…)

From an e-mail forward at work today, we learned about a 6′ bull shark caught near Cinco Bayou Bridge, in Fort Walton Beach on the 10th of September. Least anyone have misconceptions, this is not uncommon. Bull sharks are the most common shark in our area - and also the type of shark most adapted to brackish and even fresh water. Bull sharks have been found as far north as St Loius, Missouri on the Mississippi river and caught quite often in the bay, bayous, and intercoastal waterway around Destin. We are not aware of any inshore human attacks in this area.


Quoting from the e-mail: (more…)

Business travel kept us out of town during this week’s Destin Deep Water Shark Tournament, but it seems most web coverage centered around the Human Society of the United States (HSUS) protest. Typical articles include those posted at Floridatoday.com and the Northwest Florida Daily News. Just to be clear, the HSUS aren’t the people who run your local pet shelter - they are what most would consider a radical organization who’s mission, if run to its logical conclusion, would put animal rights on the same plane as human rights. While sportsmen can have legitimate disagreements on how best to conduct “big game” fishing tournaments, they are conducted in accordance with state and federal regulations. Hopefully, improvements in fishing technology will allow us to conduct more tournaments as catch-and-release for big fish as is normally done in bass fishing.

If anyone has pictures or stories from the tournament they would like to share, please send us a note via our Contact Us form.

The 21st Annual Destin Deep Water Shark Tournament will be held this month from 13 - 17 September. A Captian’s meeting will be held on the 13th at 5:30pm. Weigh-ins will be conducted at the Destin Fishing Fleet Marina starting on the 14th. The awards diner is at 7pm on the 17th at Fisherman’s Wharf. The tournament is sponsored by the Destin History and Fishing Museum. Call 850.837.6611 for full tournament details.