SURF FISHING FOR SHARKs?

You may want to check with yellow fin. You can get into a little trouble.

Shark fishing from the beach is not legal in SoWal. The reason is that shark fishing tends to attract sharks.

It was often done in the old days by taking a line out from the beach in a small boat several hundred yards, dropping chum and a large baited hook. Then paddling back as fast as possible. To be more fair to the sharks some people swam instead of using the boat.


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I believe the little boy who was eaten and killed by a shark out by Pensacola a number of years ago, died primarily because his uncle was chumming and shark fishing from the shore. Its illegal for very good reason.

I have no intention of chuming. That obviously poses a much greater risk. I was just going to toss a piece of cut bait out. Surely there are other species that you use cut bait to fish for. Maybe I catch a shark...maybe someting else.
Hmm...
I'll call the folks at Yellowfin.
Thanks guys!

We were next to a guy in Grayton last weekend who pulled in 2 small black tips. Since we were swimming right, there, I was not happy. Guess he must have been using some sort of bait that attracted them if he pulled in 2 within an hour---

Please be respectful of other beachgoers and save your "exciting fishing experience" for a secluded beach and let us swim safely!

Guess he must have been using some sort of bait that attracted them if he pulled in 2 within an hour---

It's doubtful he did anything which specifically attracted sharks. The sharks are there...always. I see lots of them, just swimming along with everyone else. Most people never notice them.

Swimming safely in the Gulf of Mexico is not possible. Sorry....too many variables.

The guy was using frozen cigar minnows on a Pompano rig which will catch a shark, obviously, but that was not his intended target.

I just read an editorial in Florida Sportsman magazine that called for the elimination of prohibitions on shark fishing from the beach. The reality is that we already swim with hundreds of the beasts and there have been numerous unprovoked attacks on swimmers not related to chum, fishing, etc. (and numerous is of course relative because statistically you are more likely to die from hornet stings than be attacked by a shark). Not to be gross, but there are plenty of reproductive age women swimming in our water, and if it was as simple as 'blood attracts sharks and will attack what is bleeding', we would see many more attacks.

The real reason shark fishing from the beach is banned is because pictures of sharks scare the living crap out of people and the tourism folks don't want to have to soothe the nerves of scared mommies that their brood of little ones is safe swimming with sharks. Funny that Jenny mentioned the guy catching the shark, because when he let the second one go (he did not keep them), it darted back out to sea and a kid probably 11 or 12 years old began to hysterically implore his mom to get out of the water "because there was a shark out there". Yeah kid, if you only knew how many sharks there are out there, and way bigger than the three footer you just saw!

Sometimes you can't get away from the sharks. Last time I was down, I was fishing for reds using anything from cut bait to sand fleas and caught and released nothing but sharks (12"-18"). I eventually gave up when a lady scolded me for catching sharks off the beach. All I wanted was a pomp or red but instead I got sharks and a guilt trip...

Is there anywhere in the Grayton beach area where it is legal to surf fish for sharks? I'd like to go after sunset, when there are no swimmers.

No, it is not legal to fish for sharks from any of the beaches.

Contact the Florida Wildlife Commission http://myfwc.com/

and the Walton County Sheriff's Office http://waltonso.org/

It's bad luck to ask the internet for legal advice.

Also, go to Stinky's Bait Shack next to Stinky's Fish Camp restaurant for local fishing info, bait and everything else needed.

Thanks everyone!