Shark Fishing

I'll be doing a talk on fly fishing for Gulf of Maine sharks this Wednesday at the Charlotte Harbor Fly Fishers' monthly meeting. The meeting is open to all who enjoy fly fishing. There is a $3.00 fee that goes to support club activities. 

I'll have PowerPoint presentation full of cool photos and videos describing this niche fishery that takes place from late July, through early September 10-20 miles offshore. We target; Blue, Mako, Thresher and Porebeagle sharks ranging from 50-400 pounds on fly and conventional stand up gear. The fly fishing action consists of sight casting to blue sharks and the occasional Mako with 10-15wt fly rods. 

The meeting is this Wednesday, February 10th, 6:30pm at Charlotte Park Civic Association Bldg 
420 Pompano Terrace 
Punta Gorda, FL

This 3 minute video captures some pretty intense action of a 15 minutes fight with a 150-200 pound mako shark. Several jumps and long runs ending with the shark leadered. We had hoped for a few boatside pictures but the mako wrapped himself in the outboard and broke off. We caught several blue sharks on spinning gear and fly rods during this trip also. Thank you to Erin and Jeremy Libby and Sumner Crawford for the camera work and colorful commentary!  

Great day sharking yesterday With Jeremy and Eran Libby and Sumner Crawford. 11 Blue sharks (5 on flyrod) up to 140 pounds. One small Porebeagle and a 5'-6' Mako that went airborne 4 times on light tackle stand up gear. Videos and pics coming soon. Water temp offshore has finally reached 67*. We'll have great fishing through September. Get out there!

A short video of an early August shark fishing charter in the Gulf of Maine on board the Obsession. It includes pretty cool underwater shots of a 9 foot 150 pound female blue shark chewing on the propeller and of 5 ½ foot mail blue shark boat side prior to release. We caught sharks on 50 pound class spinning gear and 30# class stand up gear on this trip. While fishing we saw porpoise, ocean sunfish, seals, many different seabirds and a 30 foot basking shark.

Conditions: The striped bass have moved upriver into their summer haunts. Water quality is good and the flow rate will subside this week due to the waning moon. The offshore shark and tuna fishing remains slow... Not sure why but it will turn on any day.

Bait the fish are feeding on: Atlantic herring, sand eel, river herring, eel, pollack

Species to fish for this week: Inshore - Striped Bass, Atlantic Mackerel, Offshore - Porebeagle, Mako, Thresher and Blue sharks

Fishing Tactics: August means focusing on deeper water. With surface temps upriver reaching the mid to high 70s the striped bass are holding deep on ledges and along the mud banks.

My fly fishing tip of the week: Two word: Go Early                

My spin fishing tip of the week: Your fishfinder is your best friend. Look for schools of stripers in 15-30 feet of water. Use bucktails and metal jigs to reach them. Carolina rigged cut bait and live eels are producing.

7 day outlook: Hot and humid this coming week watch out for those afternoon thunderstorms. 

Effective August 1st the cost of my offshore shark and tuna trips will go up $50. This increase is due to the jump in chum and bait expenses. Chum Master chum now costs me $42 per bucket.  I use 2 or 3 on each trip... I will honor the old price on those charters that are booked.

Capt. Dave Pecci

Conditions: The River is a bit muddy due to some heavy rain last week and big tides. Water temps are from the high 50s to high 60s.

Bait the fish are feeding on: Juvenile Atlantic herring, sand eel, river herring, eel

Species to fish for this week: Striped Bass, Atlantic Mackerel, some sharks offshore

Fishing Tactics: Big bulky flies and bright colored lures up river, more life-like offerings downriver in the cleaner water are working best. The striped bass are hanging on structure with sporadic surface feeds happening early and late day.

My fly fishing tip of the week: Sinking lines and medium sized flies fished around structure and banks are producing great right now.

My spin fishing tip of the week: Switch to bait during mid-day when the striped bass go deep. Worms and cut bait are working in many spots on the river.

7 day outlook: great weather and warmer temps will increase the water temps. Post full moon tides will slow the current in the river.

Brad Osborn, Teunis VanDeGraf and Ron Hamel saw some incredible blue shark action on this picture perfect day offshore in the gulf of Maine. 23 hook ups on fly, 30 pound stand up and heavy spinning gear in 5 hours! We boated around a dozen of them with the largest being a 10' total length big female weighing an estimated 180 -200 pounds!

Charlotte Harbor / Pine Island Sound Fishing Conditions: Though we had a dry week, the wind and clouds were challenging.  Visibility on the beaches was not good. The tarpon and snook were on us before we could get set up in many cases. Fishing in the Sounds was much easier though blind casting rather than sightfishing was the best tactic.

Other Species Fished for This Week: Redfish, Snook, Trout, Shark

Fly Fishing Technics: Use sink tips or sinking intermediate lines along edges and in holes. Present your fly in the lower half of the water column when blind casting.

Spin fishing Technics: Suspended twitch baits are working great right now on reds, snook and trout. Yes, even tarpon like twitch baits but make sure you change out the hooks to ones that can take the abuse.

Tarpon Fishing Tip of the Week: Start early and blind cast edges and depressions in areas where tarpon are rolling. 6-10’ of water is best. You may jump your first tarpon before the lights come on!

Charlotte Harbor / Pine Island Sound Fishing Outlook: The persistent South quadrant winds will be subsiding. The water clarity on the beaches and in the Sounds will improve. Tarpon fishing will get better daily. Snook will be active on the beaches and around the docks in the ICW. Afternoon  redfishing should be productive.

We were working a couple rolling tarpon in a portion of upper Pine Island Sound one morning this week when this brown shark (sandbar shark) decided to take one of our baits. Robert did a great job keeping the shark out from under the boat and from getting tangled in the outboard. It bit it's way through the leader just as we were going to take a couple pictures. Way to go Robert! Safe travels home and I hope to see you again next year. Capt. Dave

Justin Pecar (eleven) from Colorado lands this 100 pound plus blue shark with a little help from his dad and Capt. Dave.

The Ishee family had a great day shark fishing on the Obsession. This one was caught on a whole mackerel using 30# stand up gear.

Justin Pecar (eleven) from Colorado lands this 100 pound plus blue shark with a little help from his dad and Capt. Dave

Spring is coming. I'm guiding in Charlotte Harbor currently and making plans for the upcoming Maine guiding season. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in June! Capt. Dave Pecci

Offshore shark fishing was a bit slow but Reagan (10) his grandpa Steve and Donna all got to land A blue shark. Reagan by the way, is a bait catching machine keeping us in fresh mackerel and pollock the entire trip. Videos coming but for now check out the poses this ocean sunfish (Mola Mola) gave us on the ride out through Eastern Casco Bay! Both profile and vertical shots. At one point it was scratching its back on the bottom of the Obsession. We also saw a small pod of Porpoise but they were not as willing to be photographed as the sunfish. Nope, no great white sightings, sorry.

07-28-13 Kennebec River /Casco Bay Fishing Report - We’re closing in on August and the fly fishing and light tackle fishing continues as if it were early July! Tons of bait and active striped bass are throughout the lower Kennebec. We’re catching fish from 18” – 36” each charter. Fly fishing is good early. As the sun gets bright changing to fishing deep with bait on spinning rods is working great. Gulf of Maine Shark fishing trips start this coming week. Stand by for reports and picture… I have 9 open mornings in August and many afternoons as well. Let’s go fishing!

Very good striped bass fishing continued this week on both flies and light tackle. Lots of stripers from 14” to 36” are spread throughout the lower Kennebec River. Water flow is still very high and the river is muddy so the incoming tide is fishing best right now. The first bunches of menhaden arrived and hopefully the bluefish are not far behind. Offshore in the gulf of Maine the water temps are a bit below where they normally are but this week’s heat will fix that. There are blue sharks to catch but plan on running a bit farther than usual for good action. As the water warms the runs will shorten to the usual 6-10 miles and the threshers and makos will be easier to find. School Bluefin tuna are spotty but hopefully the rising temps will settle down the offshore bait and the tuna will start feeding. Still having a bit of a problem with website updates so check our Facebook page for photos, videos and more frequent fishing reports. We’re seeing the best light tackle and fly fishing in many years. I have openings from mid-month on, give me a call or message me and we’ll go catch em!

One more full day of make ready and the Obsession will be launched for the 2013 season. New 150 four stroke Yamaha, new porta potti, key switch, new stern light... Safety gear - check, electronics - check, pumps - check, Through hull fittings - check. Striped bass, bluefish, sharks and tuna here we come!