For the last 6 days, we have highlighted 6 different shark species you can target with a fly rod. These included the Lemon Shark, the Leopard Shark, the Bonnethead Shark, the Mako Shark, the Bull Shark, and the Blacknose Shark. For the last day of Shark Week, we will be highlighting one of our all-time favorite shark species to target on the fly, the Blacktip Shark.
The Blacktip shark is in the requiem family and is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Swift and energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish – making them a blast to hook on a fly rod.
Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people.
These photos were provided by Stefan Dombaj, of The Fly Fishing Nation, Stefan sight fished this monster Blacktip off the beach with his 12 weight. He was scouting waters for a fishing operation in the tropical waters of Cuba.
Also check out this story from flylords contributor Jake Pose, who landed a Blacktip from the beach on the Carolina Coast:
“After three days of getting my brains beat out fishing offshore in a friend’s leaky, 26 foot, circa 1990, cuddy cabin boat that reeked of hydraulic fluid, bilge water, and Natty Lite. It was time to switch things up on a recent trip to the Carolina coast. So the next day we set our eye on trying to catch sharks on the fly. We set up up few miles from the inlet on the edge of two shoals that at low tide have barely dry sand. They form a perfect funnel for bait to get sucked in and out of the inlet during the tides. In the past, we had gotten several shots at cruising sharks here but no love. We decided to go with a chum slick today see if something would change. One throw of a net was all it took to catch enough pogies to keep a chum slick going for several hours. We staked the skiff out on the edge of one of the shoals and started lightly chumming, we instantly started seeing customers. The chum and hard falling tide had them turned up and frisky.” Continue Reading…
And that wraps up Shark week be sure to check out our other articles from earlier this week:
Shark Week On Fly: Leopard Shark
Shark Week On Fly: Bonnethead Shark
Shark Week On Fly: Blacknose Shark
Shark Week On Fly: Lemon Shark
