Baiting Blacktips

May is when blacktip sharks arrive on the Texas coast, suddenly occupying our bays and fish passes. Back when Pass Cavallo was deep, this month would bring a surge of 40-pounders that could really bust up our tackle, jumping and spinning and chewing up our leaders. (Their teeth are made for chopping, and that’s just what they’ll do).  

Back when we were rookies with tarpon, a screaming reel and quick glimpse of something five feet long jumping and thrashing out there in the whitecaps was momentary cause for celebration. But no, it was another blacktip shark, hungry for any kind of bait bigger than shrimp.  Energetic, too; other sharks on the hook behaved more like big catfish.   

The population of these smaller, coastal sharks may actually be increasing. They’ve always seemed numerous, but today the daily bag limit is one per angler. Not many people keep them, even though they’re far more tasty than bigger sharks. Ammonia leaking from shark skin means that an Igloo with sharks inside will put out a very strong odor.

One hot, windy June day in Port O’Connor we needed fillets for a fish fry, with 20 out-of-towners expected. What to do? The bays were choppy, muddy and hot, so we headed offshore with our neighbor Capt. Jimmy Crouch, POC’s unofficial mayor. At the rigs eight miles out the water was still muddy. We tied up in 3-4 foot seas and set out popping corks with mullet underneath and soon landed eight blacktips in the three-foot range. How many more did we need? Sam Caldwell raised the big Igloo’s lid, peaked inside and reeled backwards, turning pale and sitting down abruptly. A gust of ammonia had swept over him and it was suddenly time to go. Back at the dock the sharks were cleaned and the 28-inch fillets, minus their skins, now smelled the same as redfish and trout. Sliced into fingers, coated with a mix of Tony’s and cornmeal, then fried in peanut oil. Greatly appreciated, too. Yes sir, those were mighty big trout fillets.

Today, if someone wants a blacktip shark for a fish fry, with a bag limit of one, it’s best to aim high; go for a 40- or 50-pounder. During summer, these bigger fish are caught in green water around the color change offshore, behind shrimpboats, or drifting near pogy schools off the beach where they concentrate from High Island to Sabine Pass. I suspect there are more blacktips on the upper half of the Texas coast, where the water isn’t so often green to the beach. 

Mike Spencer, an avid angler from Port Arthur, targets them for younger relatives seeking a little more…excitement while fishing. They wear rod belts and hook up with drag-burning sharks that provide plenty of action.   

“You need green water with six or so feet of visibility, not just trout green water,” advises Spencer. “Pull up behind a working shrimpboat and drag menhaden behind it. If the shrimpboat is anchored, pull up close to their stern and make a drift with several baits. Use 4/0 reels with 40-pound line, 125-pound Ande mono leader with 7/0 circle hooks. I personally use Shimano TLD-15 reels because of their smooth drags.”

After wearing out a shark, it’s best not to risk injury and keep those sharks in the water. Mike cuts the leader a foot from the hook, when possible. But be advises those sharks are quick as a snake. One day he reached out with the fillet knife and the shark waited, then reared up and bit his knife blade twice in the blink of an eye. Clink-clink! He said it was freaky, that close to his hand.

If you’re going to box one of these sharks of 25 pounds or bigger, it’s best to shoot it first. And not in the head; aim for the heart. Years ago I noticed a drawing of shark anatomy and noticed the heart is behind the middle of five gills on each side. We’d tried to tail-rope a big blacktip without success at night, figured we would drag it backwards with the boat until the shark drowned. Quick as a snake, it whipped around snapped close to wife Amy’s elbow. We dropped that idea real quick. Instead, I grabbed a 7-foot pole spear, aimed at the middle gill, and let fly. Thump! To our amazement, the powerful shark quivered and lay still. Spencer confirms the same thing; they’ve shot these same sharks in the head without much affect, but a gill-and-heart shot will do the trick. And also bleed it some, which improves the flavor.  

Care should be taken around blacktips; the late Capt. Howard Horton of Galveston gaffed a little three-footer at the jetties and brought it aboard, trying to save a 30-cent hook. By then the shark had an attitude and it waited for the right moment before grabbing Howard’s hand. The instinct to pull back is strong and Howard yanked back hard, greatly compounding the damage. Three fingers hung by threads and he spent a week in hospital, the first few days on morphine. A doctor rebuilt his mangled hand, but the finished product looked pretty rough. There’s no telling what the hospital bill for that would be, these days. Howard was a tough salt; he always fished barefoot and once had a marlin hook rammed through his foot, but that’s another story.

Blacktips carry a mean set of teeth built for cutting meat. By comparison, sand sharks have needle teeth that don’t cause real damage, leaving needle holes instead. That’s if you can remain calm and pry it’s mouth open in a timely fashion without over-reacting. (Been there, done that. When a shark clamps down, it won’t let go. My sand shark on the jetty wouldn’t, anyway, until Amy pried it’s mouth open with an oyster knife. My gold spoon was saved, and I went back to casting with mere needle holes in one finger.)  

It’s nice to remove a hook from these sharks, but not worth the risk.

In our Pass Cavallo heyday it’s a wonder someone wasn’t injured by those sharks or various other big critters we caught. We used 16/0 circle hooks and tried to save them, too. One day when anchored and the tide running, I unhooked a dozen 30- to 40-pound blacktips. When alongside the boat they actually calmed down, waiting while I jiggled the hook loose, all the while talking to them. Something like: You’re all right, mate. They couldn’t hear me, but maybe the vibes were right. None of them snapped at me.

Spencer won’t unhook his sharks, not after one chomped his knife blade. He and his family are still big fans of this one shark species,  targeting the bigger, more energetic tackle-busters. He says some will run 100 yards of 40-pound line off the reels, jumping all the while. He says starting in May, find that green, six-foot visibility water and chum with frozen pogy (menhaden) left over from the previous summer. Better yet, fresh pogy.