What's your preferred shark rig?

[biggiesmalls]

Jeri - I will look around for some other of those sinker types. Perhaps I can find something a little bit cheaper to use. I am not really sure if I'd like to use conventional or spinning tackle for this application - good-sized sharks up to 7 feet or so are regularly brought to the beach on both. The Avet MXL is a common surf reel that has handled many a shark in the 6 foot class or larger, anglers generally load it with 300 yards of 40# hollow core and the rest a quality 40# mono, which you can get about 120 yards of for a total of 420 yards (385 meters) of line. Pair this up with an 11' rod rated for up to 8 ounces of weight or so, and you've got a pretty standard-issue setup (at least that I've seen). As far as the drag on this reel, you can get 20 pounds out of it - which is more than enough, and might break 40# line with a large enough fish on.
For spinners, I've seen two types of setup. One is a setup that the guys in FL are using, involving a rod in the 8-9' range that can cast about 6 ounces of weight. Paired with a reel that's about the equivalent of a Saragosa 10000 or 20000 and filled with 50-65 pound braid, this is a setup used more for casting lures to sharks (they rig them with cable and J-hooks). For throwing bait, reels like a Fin-Nor OFS or Penn Spinfisher in the 9500 size come into the picture, loaded with 65 pound braid. These are paired with rods up to 13' that can cast 8 ounces or so, and bring sharks up to 150 or 200 pounds to the shore.

I've been trying to get my head out of the "strength" category and into the "catching" category. It's tough when you've been taught to use the heaviest stuff possible for the past 3 or 4 years, but I'm coming around

Daron - that's rough, with the weather. At least you got some rest and spent some time with family, though. How long do you have to fish? I plan on buying all my stuff in bulk, so I don't have to feel as bad when I replace them. I'm not super worried about replacing/losing stuff, but being a broke student it's kinda hard to dump tons of money into it - I have picked up two other jobs over the past few weeks though (Chick Fil A and vinyl sticker cutting), so hopefully I'll have a little more disposable income. My plan is to replace any component of a rig that I don't feel comfortable with. I'm guessing after a week of straight fishing, I'll get a pretty good idea of when a rig is OK to throw back out, and when it's a good idea to replace it. That learning curve might suck though!

Fred - thank you very much for the kind offer. The only thing I am thinking about, is what you said - it wouldn't be able to compare to a Spinfisher or something similar, even if it was completely rebuilt. I also have to decide, spinner or conventional, as well. Certainly both have their positives and negatives, and that is one thing that does really seem to boil down to personal preference. I'll also have to find a rod for this reel as well (unless I just borrow a setup for Bald Head, but either way I will need a rod after that).

[Shark Hunter]

Drew,
I buy the bulk of my Terminal Tackle from a company called SNL Corp.
They are in Sebastian Florida and very good to deal with.
You can only place your order my phone with a credit card.
They have no prices on their website, but it only takes an email to get prices on what you want.
They sell a brand of monofilament called Exsum. It is very high quality and the prices are great.
I keep my 14/0 spooled with the 130 lb.
Any other bits I need, I get from Catch All Tackle.
They sell some nice hooks and crimps, as well as sliding trace material I use for my rigs if I get in a pinch.

[biggiesmalls]

Awesome, thanks for those sources! Looking at Exsum - seems like from another vendor, a 4,200 yard of 60 pound mono is like $66 - I'd imagine SNL's prices are similar, and that's a pretty good price. Do their lines generally test over what they are rated for? The other line I am looking at is Momoi Diamond, which, for spinning reels and trolling, wouldn't be a good line since it's kinda stiff - but for LBSF I'm sure it would be great. Their 60 pound breaks at 92 pounds, although I get less than a quarter of the amount of line for over $80, compared to Exsum.

How would you suggest spooling the reel? Or rather, what line? I know you don't like braid too much fro LBSF, so I doubt you'll end up recommending any of those. Straight mono options I have seen include:
-Straight 50 pound mono (825 yards of line)
-Straight 60 pound mono (720 yards of line)
-Straight 80 pound mono (530 yards of line)
-Straight 100 pound mono (425 yards of line)
-50 pound mono with a 100-yard topshot of 80 pound mono (770 yards of line)
-60 pound mono with a 100-yard topshot of 80 pound mono (685 yards of line)

As far as braid goes, there are too many options to list here. However, I scoured Pier and Surf, Sharks on the Sand, Texas Shark Fishing, and South Florida Shark Club forums for ways that people have spooled their 9/0's with braid, and compiled them in this spreadsheet here. I may actually do this for all the Penn Senators, and post it here, just as a resource for people. Check it out for the 9/0 below:
http://bit.ly/2rbpRqQ

[Shark Hunter]

The last time I bought Exsum, their price on a 5lb spool of 200lb and 130 was 60 bucks each.
I think those reel capacity numbers are misleading. Todays modern mono is much smaller in Diameter and stronger.
I currently have all my 9/0's spooled with 80lb mono. Sufix mainly.
I have made 200 yard drops with it and still had 3/4 spool left.
The best way to spool a reel for Land based Sharking is JB Hollow core on first and then the mono for best capacity.
That is what all the serious shark fisherman use.
I just choose straight mono for the time being.

[biggiesmalls]

The last time I bought Exsum, their price on a 5lb spool of 200lb and 130 was 60 bucks each.
I think those reel capacity numbers are misleading. Todays modern mono is much smaller in Diameter and stronger.
I currently have all my 9/0's spooled with 80lb mono. Sufix mainly.
I have made 200 yard drops with it and still had 3/4 spool left.
The best way to spool a reel for Land based Sharking is JB Hollow core on first and then the mono for best capacity.
That is what all the serious shark fisherman use.
I just choose straight mono for the time being.

That's a pretty great price, they're great. Were you the one on the document a few minutes ago? Sorry for that, didn't finish typing the message - I meant to say that you could stay on while I changed stuff up, but I scared you off to quick I guess 
The figures on there are done with Berkley Big Game and PowerPro Solid, I will list different mono and braid choices on the document and determine whether they are larger or smaller. This way, you can have an idea of whether you will have more or less line on your reel. Many mono lines are thinner than BBG so figures should be higher for those lines.

[biggiesmalls]

Okay, here's something for the 12/0.
http://bit.ly/2pvXAPm

On each of these, you'll see a note saying to "check this page" for different line diameters. I have not finished up yet, but I will link that page into each of the sheets when I am finished.

[biggiesmalls]

I've got the 14/0 and the 16/0 finished, that I will post soon. Aside from that, I will be doing:
4/0
4/0 wide
6/0
6/0 wide
10/0

[Tightlines667]

As Daron says, some of these capacities seem a bit short.  Having the diameter of the line (in this case PowerPro and Big Game) would be useful.  I believe there is a conversion tool (given line diameters) somewhere on the forum.

[biggiesmalls]

I use one from a fishing company in Thailand, there are a bunch of them floating around.

The capacities are based off of Berkley Big Game and Powerpro Solid (Hi-Seas mono for 150 and 200 pound mono). If one used Jerry Brown hollow core, you could likely fill it with much more braid than stated. I might expand this a bit to an interactive program where you can select your line of choice, reel of choice, and then it will give you spooling options for the reel. That might be a lot of work though!

[David Hall]

The ones that sharkman sent me!  I hope to test them out very soon.

[Bryan Young]

I know a bunch of boats in the NorEast using Exsum lines on their commercial and charter reels. For the price, it can't be beat I'm told.  I want to give it a try but only need a couple of hundred yards as I do fish with spectra and the Exsum would only be top shots.

[biggiesmalls]

Bryan, let me know what size you need. If I end up buying it in the same size, I'll spool some up onto an old leader roll and send it to you.

[biggiesmalls]

Here is a pic of my casted rig, or what it will look like when completed. I'm using a crappy camera still, but you should at least be able to see the general idea of what it will look like. Specs:
-8' of 100-150 pound mono
-Swivel no heavier than 150 pounds or so
-Sinker assembly will be a crimp, bead, lighter swivel, 3-4' of mono, and a grapnel sinker
-Bite leader will be 4-5' of 135 pound nylon-coated wire
-Hooks will be dual 7/0 Eagle Claw circle sea hooks
       -End hook will be fixed in place and crimped, other one will be free-sliding

[biggiesmalls]

As far as the kayaked baits - what if I were to just keep the same as the casted rigs, with slightly heavier components. 270 lbs wire, 200-300 pound mono (12' rather than 8'), heavier swivel, bigger hooks, same wire length. Let me know what you think about this one.

Also, Jeri - what strength nylon/mono do you use on the sinker drop line?
If you don't mind (I know I've been asking a lot of questions of you, feel free to say no if you don't want to) - could you post a sample packing list for a beach trip? I know I'll have to modify mine a little bit since we'll have kayaked baits, but yours would be a great starting point.

[Jeri]

Drew,

I think you perhaps missed a point about cast leaders/traces when using mono as your reel main line. The swivel that carries the sinker dropper, runs on the mono rubbing section, not the wire. This allows your wire section to be isolated, and whatever length is easy to cast. Alos the sinker now has a much longer running capability, to allow for shy sharks to not reel the weight of the sinker.

I presume you are going with 40-50lb mono as main line, and in the case of 100lb mono leader, the join/knot between the main line and leader is reasonably small, and doesn't impinge too much on the rings/guides on the rod during the cast. When you move up to 150lb leader, the knot starts to get quite big, and can have serious effect on the rings/guides at the upper end of the rod. One solution is to change out the rings/guides to size 16 - a drastic solution. The other is to change the leader to a wind-on with a dacron loop at the end. Now a doubled main line can be joined to the wind-on by loop to loop method, and is a much smaller join - and no problems with casting this joint through the rings/guides on the rod. The wind-on in this case would end in a snap swivel of some robust design, to clip on the wire trace section and hooks. The sinker dropper swivel and associated beads would run on the wind-on.

Hope that makes sense.

On the sinker drop line, we use a length slightly longer than the hook/wire length, and hang the sinker clip on the outside of the bottom hook. Now the sinker and bait are in one unit to allow for reasonable aerodynamics in the cast, and then once it hits the water, the sinker clip releases from the hook, and the two components seperate, and do their respective jobs. So, with a 4' steel trace length, a 5' weak nylon sinker dropper - say 40-50lbs.

Sample Packing List for a Beach Trip?? That is almost impossible to do, how long are you going? What would you want on the list, all the equipment for the day, or just 'casting tackle'?

A typical day of competition fishing, I would take 2 rods, 1 as a spare. 2 reels, both loaded with appropriate line. Focussing purely on sharks, I would take about 5 sinkers and 3-4 complete traces. A very spare hooks, wire, crimps and swivels to make up traces on the beach if things went bad, and I was getting cut off a lot. Most folks take way too much on trips - 'just in case', and 99% of the time all that spare gear comes home un-used. A little bit of everything is not too bad an idea, but not the whole tackle shop.
Hope that helps.

Cheers from sunny Africa.

Jeri