Shark week is here people! Which get’s us excited about sharing Shark on fly stories every single day for the next week. Yesterday we highlighted the Lemon Shark, and today we will be talking about the Blacknose Shark.
The Blacknose shark calls the subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic home. They love coastal grass, sand, and rubble, and you will often find the Juvenile sharks closer inshore – making them a perfect target for a fly rod. This species can grow to be around 4.5 feet and 27 pounds, making them a relatively small shark species.
Flylords contributor and photographer Erick Dent talks about landing his first Blacknose shark on fly:
“I had spent the whole summer up in Rhode Island and just got back to FL in early September last year and wanted to get back to the Beach. The first day I was back I saw tons of baby sharks heading east all day but I didn’t have a rod with me.”
“They were coming in as close as 2 feet from shore so I was really anxious to put something in front of them. So I set out the next morning with a slight north wind that slicked out the water giving me great visibility.”
“I brought a spinning rod with a spoon to catch skipjack so I could chum up the sharks and get them hungry. Once I had their attention it was a blast when they ate the fly. I was throwing a 10wt in these pictures and then went back out for sunset with a 5wt that was even more fun.”
“Sometimes small pods of dolphin would cruise by and chase them way up onto shore and that was a sight to see. I’ve lived there for almost 22 years and have never seen a shark migration like that.”
Shark Attacks?? The Blacknose shark has never been implicated in an attack on humans. However, caution should be exercised if it begins to perform a threat display.
Be sure to check out more of Erick’s content on @erickdent
Photos also contributed by @jacobtrue
Check out the rest of our Shark Week On Fly Features:
Shark Week On Fly: Lemon Shark
[…] Shark Week On Fly: Blacknose Shark […]