TEXAS SHARK FISHING

Welcome to TEXAS SHARK FISHING! We are one of the most active shark fishing sites in the world, covering land based shark fishing, saltwater fishing, surf fishing, offshore fishing, and fishing in across North America and the World. Our site features shark fishing videos, thousands of photos, weekly saltwater fishing reports, shark fishing information, and much more. Our membership base includes North Carolina Shark Fishing, South Carolina Shark Fishing, Georgia Shark Fishing, Florida Shark Fishing, Louisiana Shark Fishing, as well as some members from Australia and South Africa. In the future we expect to include New York Shark Fishing, New Jersey Shark Fishing, Delaware Shark Fishing, Maryland Shark Fishing, and Virgina Shark Fishing membership.

We catch tiger sharks, hammerhead sharks, bull sharks, lemon sharks, sandbar sharks, blacktip sharks, spinner sharks, and makos sharks onshore and offshore. We catch redfish, speckled trout, black drum, pompano, tarpon, kingfish, cobia, jackfish, striped bass, and bluefish. If you are interested in saltwater fishing or an experienced shark fisherman, this is a great place to call home. Please bookmark this page for future reference and take a look around at the videos, articles, photos, and fishing forum.

We are the home of THE SHARK FISHING HANDBOOK, written by Christopher Deaver. The Handbook is an indepth online book helping new anglers get into the exciting sport of LAND BASED SHARK FISHING and helping experienced shark fishermen improve their catch rate.  There are eleven exciting chapters in The Handbook providing a very comprehensive overview of this sport:

Chapter 1, Shark Fishing Orientation, provide a general overview of what is required to become a shark fisherman, before moving on to specifics subjects and techniques. The right mental attitude towards the sport and learning the sport is your foundation to success.

Chapter 2, Building a Shark Fishing Crew, covers the importance teamwork to success. Get the right team together, and success is inevitable.

Chapter 3, Shark Fishing Tackle - Selecting Rods and Reels, is a general knowledge article for selection shark fishing tackle. We cover the tackle for catching medium sized sharks, tackle for huge sharks, and tackle for general surf casting.

Chapter 4, Planning A Shark Fishing Trip, provides an overview of the thinking behind planning your shark fishing year, the importance of water temps, short term planning tools like tide charts and weather forecasts.

Chapter 5, Picking a Spot and Setting Up Camp, includes information to adapt to the beach environment, beach comfort, use of metal rod spikes, and a little on reading the surf.

Chapter 6, Shark Bait, a very comprehensive chapter covering a very important aspect of shark fishing. Pay close attention to taking care of  your bait and keeping it as fresh as possible.

Chapter 7, Shark Leader Preparation and Shark Bait Rigging, covers the preparation of stealth traces and setting your bait up.

Chapter 8, Shark Fishing Bait Placement Strategy and Deployment, provides an overview of how to fish your rods, haow deep to run the lines, selecting bait deployment options including kayaks, zodiac, or jet ski.

Chapter 9, Fighting, Landing, Handling, and Releasing Sharks, the title says it all. Pay attention to keeping sharks in the water and staying organized when handling sharks.

Chapter 10, Fishing Hard and Staying Motivated, coping with hard times and staying motivated.

Chapter 11, Putting the Shark Fishing Handbook into Action, a review of the important points of the handbook, sort of a checklist of what you should be doing to be successful.

We feature one of the most active shark fishing discussions forums in the world: INTERNATIONAL LAND BASED SHARK FISHING MESSAGEBOARD. We average over 100 member posts daily with discussions ranging from fishing reports, rod building, reel repair, surf fishing topics, reading the surf, too networking with other members around the globe. He have fishermen from North Carolina, Florida, South Africa, Australia, Georgia, and many other places.

Our members have landed large hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks, lemon sharks, and bull sharks from the surf. We have some great catches, like Simon Harmon’s 13′6″ tiger shark from the beach, and Stuart Richard’s 10′1″ mako shark from the beach. Our primary catches are 5′ to 6′ blacktip sharks and bull sharks, with some hammerhead sharks, sand tiger sharks, lemon sharks, and tiger sharks. Please register for the forum and feel free to participate in the discussions. We have both new and experienced anglers to help you.

We have a new OFFSHORE FISHING FORUM, covering yellow, bluefin, and blackfin tuna, as well as wahoo, kingfish, and amberjack. Many of our reports are from the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

LARGEST LAND BASED SHARK OF THE CENTURY: SIMON HARMON’S MASSIVE 13′6″ TIGER SHARK

Many shark fishermen around the world dream of catching a large tiger shark. For most people, a ten foot tiger shark weighing about 400 lbs would be the catch of a lifetime. If that shark was a land based catch, the statue of that feat would place you in a special class of anglers. Any tiger shark in the 12 foot class weighting in at 650 to 800 lbs is a very rare catch, with only a dozen or so landed on the shores of the United States every year, a very prestigious accomplishment for anyone.

This is the story of the 13 foot 6 inch tiger shark that was landed and released by Simon Harmon, and assisted by his brother James which was posted on the WWW.TX-SHARKFISHING.COM website in 2004. We are very certain this is the largest land based shark catch of the 21st century. The shark had a massive girth and went 1,100 + pounds. We commend Simon on this great catch and respect his action to release this shark.

Stingray was the bait of choice for this expedition, and a solid one too at over 40lbs in weight. Arriving on the beach mid morning we wasted little time in rigging the wing sections on seperate traces, and deploying them strategically over the colour change. This venue was fairly new to us and as such required some careful attention when considering target zones. Be aware that this is serious water we’re talking about, endless miles of open pacific ocean, powerful, unrelenting and not something to be taken lightly. The afternoon krept up on us quite quickly, before we knew it the baits had been soaking for a few hours and the heat was gradually fading out of the sun.

Things changed quickly when the first ray bait got nailed, a burley whaler shark of some 120lbs hit hard, leapt free of the water and then quickly succumb to the grunt behind a Penn international 80stw. Released unharmed the rod was rigged again and quickly deployed in fading light. Not an hour later and again it was smashed. This time a Great Hammerhead of some 7 feet in length, and plenty of power in its tail, gave us a short work out before beaching itself and allowing us to remove the hooks which had lodged in its anal fin. Again, the Penn International did the damage, accounting for this fish in little time at all. Our foe was intended to be much larger, we wanted something that would strip line to the hub!

With the night set in and a howling wind creating a significant swell it was decided that the zodiac be retired and the international bait be walked out at low tide and positioned for the incoming tide. 8 hours passed before we were disturbed. Again, it was the International called into action. A large eel bait had been swallowed by a 200lb pound whaler looking for a quick meal before darting for the open sea. This girl gave us quite a bit of stick for about 10 minutes, running both sides of the rod and trying a few things to get away. Within 15 minutes she was in and released. Checking our watches, it was 4:30am and time to retire the International outfit. The lonely Tiagra 80 would remain our last hope for the rising sun.

This bait had been in the water since 1pm the previous day, almost 17 hours straight. Being a stingray, we had absolutely no concerns that the bait would be damaged in any way, and there was an eerie feeling around the fact that the other rod had been going gang busters and this one had sat there lifeless. WHY? We lay down and pondered that question before closing our eyes for a little more sleep.

Simon woke me just on day break, calling me to grab my harness and gimbal. He held the rod in his hands and it was obvious that something very significant was on the other end. He explained to me how the reel had ticked over a few times during the course of the previous half hour and how he had sat watching it waiting for a moment to pounce.

He had done a lot of work in securing this fish and there was no way I was taking the rod away from him. What came next was 60 minutes of intense rod work, action both sides and pulling power reserved for semi trailers and massive tiger sharks. We didn’t get a glimpse of the fish within 50 minutes, it kept low and just punished us through every inch of mono.

Eventually we wore this big girl down enough for her to flick her tail, and holy shit what a tail. Unbelievable, a magnificant sight and something that has to be seen to be truly appreciated. With the sun rising rapidly, the fish was now shallow enough to get an indication of its size, truely scary.

I ventured out and grabbed the leader, managing to use the surging waves to manouvre it across a couple of sand bars into water where we could manage her. With the trace cut free and a few pics taken it was time to try and release this huge mother.

Ever tried pulling the tail of a 13 foot shark? forget that! This was a roll job. A couple of onlookers helped Simon and I actually rool this beast back into the deeper gutter other side of the bar we were in. 20 minutes of confusion and disorientation saw this fish eventually regain composure and use that massive tail to motor off into deeper water. To be honest, it was pretty emotional seeing this dinosaur swim away to terrorize a few more fish.

Unbelievable, we are wrapped with this catch!! Absolute credit goes to Simon, who’s knowledge, commitment and application to detail are the key ingredients in managing this success. This is the culmination of 5 years work for us, and something that we will never ever forget. Great work Simo, you deserve it!!!

Regards, James and Simon Harmon

This story is copyrighted to WWW.TX-SHARKFISHING.COM and the owner of the site, Christopher Deaver. No part of this story or pictures will be released for distribution and all property rights are reserved. If you are interested in learning more about shark fishing see the eleven chapter online SHARK FISHING HANDBOOK.

We have several interesting discussion forums on this shark fishing website. Our forums are a friendly place to participate in fishing conversation with all sorts of anglers with all sorts of backgrounds. The forums are free, but you have to sign up for an account on the message board, before you can post a message. Registration takes about 60 seconds and is free. Please pick out a fishing related handle for your name and sign up.  

Our primary forum is the INTERNATIONAL LAND BASED SHARK FISHING forum. This is where the majority of the fishing discussions happen. We have fishing reports from around the world, and many discussions of shark fishing from places like Florida, what is happening in South Carolina, the beaches Australia. Also discussions like how to make shark leaders, what are the best times to fish for sharks and much more. Most of the sharks we catch on the site are five to seven feet long, but occasionally we catch some monsters.

We also have a SURF FISHING FORUM. Whether you want to talk about fishing for bull reds, throwing lures for speckled trout, trolley rigs or slide lines for kingfish and cobia, this is where the discussions take place. Interested in Long Distance Casting? Want to learn how to throw the pendulum cast 150+ yards? Off the ground cast? Interested in catching jackfish? Want to learn to catch bull reds in Galveston, Surfside, Matagorda, Cape Hatteras, or Panama City? Want to learn to catch black drum off blue crab off a jetty or ship channel? We have weekly surf fishing reports and information on the major fishing events like the bull red run, mullet migration, the season for tarpon, what spots to fish and what baits to use. How do you catch pompano on the padre island national seashore? How do you target tarpon of a pier in Destin or Pensacola Florida? What is the cobia run? When do the spanish mackerel show up at Port Aransas, Texas?

We have an OFFSHORE FORUM. Are you going on your first offshore trip? What gear should a new angler bring? Where is the offshore bite? What is a butterfly jig? How do you fish for snapper? What is the best braided line for a spinning reel? Targeting wahoo, giant yellowfin tuna, or just catching dorado and kingfish, this is a place to learn. Are you interested in getting in on a trip with others? Looking for others to shark expenses? Meet other offshore anglers here and get connected to the community.

We have a REEL AND TACKLE MAINTENANCE FORUM. Alan Tani has contributed many outstanding reel rebuilds. Alan’s tutorials break a reel down step by step, with detailed descriptions, parts labeling, and commentary on how a reel works, strengths and weaknesses. These tutorials are the best we know of in the world. Penn International Reels, Shimano Tiagra, Newell Reels, Penn Jigmaster, Okuma Titus, Diawa SHA 30, and many more. Picking out the best drag washers, modifying handles, installing magnets for casting, and general maintenance are covered step by step.

We have a ROD BUILDING AND ROD REPAIR FORUM. We have a wonderful evolving rod building forum. Our lead forum members are true shark fisherman. You will not have people trying to impress you with their knowledge, instead people willing to help and share knowledge.  

Our FISHING VIDEO FORUM,  is an archives of almost a hundred saltwater fishing videos prepared by our members. We have surf fishing videos from North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana. Video of catching bull reds at the Surfside Jetty, or leadering an 11 foot hammerhead shark on Palm Beach, or catching kingfish at Bob Hall Pier, we have lots of exciting footage. You can see video anglers catching of lemons sharks, bull sharks, and a few videos of catching tiger sharks.