Going on a charter fishing trip is a fantastic way to experience the thrill of deep-sea fishing.
But things are not working out as planned on many expeditions.
And charter fishing trips keep going wrong after running into a scary problem from the ocean.
Fishermen are increasingly losing their catch to sharks
One of the constant threats that saltwater fishing poses is having an angler pay the “tax man” or the “tax collector” with their catch.
Paying the tax man happens when a shark gets all or part of their catch.
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The growing shark population in the ocean means that more fishermen are paying the tax man.
Sharks have become a nuisance for fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
Now charter fishing captains in the Gulf of Mexico are seeing sharks taking a bite out of their customers’ catches.
Captain Mike Frenette runs a charter fishing operation in Louisiana that goes out to where the Mississippi River runs into the Gulf of Mexico.
That area is home to tuna, wahoo, cobia, swordfish, and other prime gamefish.
But that also attracts sharks to the area.
Frenette told Outdoor Life that he’s seen an uptick in sharks in the area.
“Over the past 10 years I’ve seen a tremendous increase in many shark species,” Frenette said. “They’re not only in deep water at the mouth of the Mississippi River but throughout the shallow waters of the Delta.”
Bull sharks will come into shallow waters seeking prey.
Running into sharks during deep sea fishing has become a common experience.
“There are places at the mouth of the Mississippi where giant dusky, bull, and silky sharks attack maybe 80 percent of the yellowfin [tuna] we hook,” Frenette explained. “I’ve never seen the number of sharks that we now have in coastal and offshore waters around Louisiana.”
Sharks are thriving in the waters off Florida
The number of fishing boats in the Florida Keys has taught sharks to realize that a free lunch is coming soon.
Captain Joel Brandenburg is running Ana Banana Charter Fishing in Marathon, Florida.
He said that shark encounters have become a regular occurrence for charters in the area.
“The sharks roaming ledges and reefs are trained to come to fishing boats and hang there waiting for an easy meal,” Brandenburg said. “Feeding sharks with the fish we hook is an everyday occurrence for me and just about every other charter captain I know in the Florida Keys.”
Florida has a popular one-day season for Atlantic snapper with a one-fish limit because of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regulations.
Paying the tax man during Atlantic snapper season is a brutal blow for many Florida fishermen.
“I’d bet my last dollar that everyone who fished off northeast Florida during that one-day snapper season had big trouble boating their hooked snapper, triggerfish, or grouper,” veteran fisherman captain Danny Partick, who fishes in the Jacksonville area said.
Captain Daniel Delph who runs a charter fishing outfit in the Florida Keys watched a client lose a potential world record snapper to the tax man.
“Our best guess was that fish whole and intact was about 55 pounds,” Delph said. “It likely would have been an IGFA all-tackle record for red snapper, which is just over 50 pounds.”
The growing shark populations have left some fishermen wondering if it’s time to begin controlling shark populations.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
