Jens was here for his yearly shark fishing vacation in Florida. He is from Sweden. Exploring Florida and it’s great fishing locations. Tampa, The Keys, and of course a stop in Boca Grande! We started out playing with some blacktip sharks near shore. Jens hooked the first on lighter tackle, a spinning rod set up. These make these 6 foot blacktips feel like Giants. The second one he caught on the maxel 16.
Two tagged sharks in less that 45 mins. Not a bad start to the day. Jens was still wanting more, he wanted something bigger. We were hand feeding the blacktip sharks at this point. Pulling the bait up closer towards the surface watching the blacktip sharks fight and chase it towards the surface. As we were doing this we saw a larger shark come in and pick up the bait!
TIGER Shark! These sharks became protected in Florida waters in 2011. Since their protection their numbers have increased. They are caught the most in spring summer months. This shark was on Jens line for about 20 mins before breaking the 400lb leader. We got a snapshot with the gopole under water. Watching this shark swim in and pick up his bait was so exciting. Jens caught and tagged one last blacktip shark before heading in. That’s a total of three tagged sharks for NOAA’s Apex Predator Program. We stopped along the way in to play with some barracuda. Filling up the fish box and the bait freezer for the remainder of Jens stay in Florida. A great day of catching.