Author: BD STAFF

Mark Zona is a professional bass fisherman, TV fishing personality, and the host of Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show on the Outdoor Channel. He enjoys a Keys trip each year and often chases sharks. Check out this shark frenzy on video as Mark feeds a pack of hungry sharks by hand. Here are his thoughts on these amazing fish. Q: How was your recent trip to the Florida Keys, does any of this experience relate to bass fishing? A: It was like every trip I take down there, just awesome!! I chase bass all year, and the Keys are my decompression…

Shark Encounter Jason Mathias Born in Florida, loves the water, fishing, surfing and has made a career as an amazing marine artist, Jason Mathias has spent a lifetime around the ocean and as a result has had some pretty crazy shark encounters of his own. You can see more of his work on his web studio. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: I personally haven’t caught many sharks as I try not to target any shark species. I know their numbers are in decline and they’re a big part of the oceans food chain and need protecting. The…

Shark Encounter Capt. Carter Andrews Capt. Carter Andrews is obsessed with fishing, and his adventures around the world are chronicled in his fishing show, The Obsession of Carter Andrews. He chases everything from mountain stream trout to giant sharks in the Madfin Shark Tournament series. Capt. Carter shared a few moments focused on his shark experiences and we appreciate it. Here is an excerpt of Capt. Carter hand-lining sharks in the Florida Keys. This is just the tip of the iceberg so check out his show! Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A:Well really not that big as far…

Capt. Jim Sharpe has run the charter boat Sea Boots out of the Florida Keys since 1988 and with over fifty years of offshore fishing experience, the stories he can tell will amaze you. Here are just a few that he shared with us at BD about memorable shark encounters. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: While fishing off Looe Key in the lower Florida Keys, my son and I were with a charter when we spotted a 40-foot whale shark. We eased in front of the shark to see if he had cobia on him. Sure enough,…

Shark Encounter Paul McPhee Artist Paul McPhee is no stranger to sharks and his love of them permeates much of his artwork. A fisherman as well, Paul had a few great stories that he shared with BD. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: I used to fish in Southern California in the shipping channel between Long Beach and Catalina Island with a friend Jack Russell, the singer of Great White who was a hell of a shark fisherman. We would catch and release a good number of blue sharks and every so often get a nice mako to…

Congratulations go out to Capt. Carter Andrews and his wife Heidi who competed in the 2014 Madfin Shark Tournament and won. Capt. Carter is the well-known host of the new fishing show, The Obsession of Carter Andrews. He is travelling the world and fishing with old friends to bring to you the spirit of fishing adventure and sharing his obsession of fishing. The Madfin shark series, now in its 8th year, is a one of a kind, shark-only release tournament where teams compete for the most points after three days of fishing the tropical waters of the Florida Keys. Teams,…

Big Hammerhead Released From The Beach A Tuesday night earlier this year, started like many others for this group of anglers who share a passion for shark fishing from the beach. They prep their gear, set out their baits and then wait for a stirring in the dark. Viktor Hluben told BD, “We have caught just about every type of shark there is to catch in Florida from the beach. We have been dedicating our efforts to this fishery for about four years”. The team of friends, who have taken the name, Landshark Fishing on Facebook, consist of Viktor Hluben,…

Mako Shark Makes Epic Journey I’m continually amazed as we learn more about the epic journeys that many tagged fish are taking across the oceans. A prime example is this recently reported trip that a satellite tagged mako shark is making as we speak. The Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation has been working with the Nova Southeastern University’s Guy Harvey Research Institute to tag and track many sharks of different species. The shark’s travels can then be tracked each time the shark comes to the surface and the tag can transmit its current location. GHOF1 was the name given to one…

Marine artist K.C. Scott spends much of his time fishing and diving, which fuels his visions for his breathtaking natural renditions of the marine environment. K.C. operates his studio in Jupiter, Florida, but travels the world chasing fish and inspiration for his amazing underwater art. Check out this awesome video of K.C. and friends spearfishing around a pack of sharks. Q: What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: The largest shark I have ever caught is probably a 10-foot tiger under the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon. Q: What’s the biggest you’ve seen? A: The biggest shark I have…

Shark Encounter Hayden Staley Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: I haven’t caught too many sharks! Most of the time I am just doing research on them or training them! Q: What’s the biggest you’ve seen? A: When I was working in the Bahamas this summer I saw three tiger sharks feasting on whale blubber. They were at least 15-feet long and swimming around our 25-foot center console. Q:Where have you seen the most sharks? A:In Eleuthera, Bahamas, I was doing an internship there, researching nurse sharks. The time of research was during their sexual aggregations, so we…

According to an article recently published on Yahoo.com, researchers in Australia have apparently discovered the world’s first hybrid sharks. The Australian blacktip shark apparently mated with its global counterpart, the common blacktip. The scientists say this could be a sign of the sharks adapting to climate change. “It’s very surprising because no one’s ever seen shark hybrids before, this is not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination,” Jess Morgan, from the University of Queensland, told AFP, an Australian news agency. This is evolution in action. The scientists made the find while working off Australia’s east coast. Genetic…

A dead whale carcass floating offshore of the Port of Ventura, California, became a feast for several great white sharks and blue sharks. The passengers aboard the Island Packers, a high speed ferry that shuttles visitors to and from the Channel Islands National Park. The footage was captured by Andrea Mills, who works for Island Packers and is on their Facebook page. This video shows the blue sharks. The water is very clear and calm, perfect for filming.

Shark Encounter Capt. Andy Mezirow Capt. Andy Mezirow is the captain and owner of Crackerjack Sportfishing Charters in Seward, Alaska. He runs trips for halibut, lingcod, salmon, and rockfish. His specialty is big halibut and he and his crews have won the Seward Halibut Jackpot three of the last four years. This year’s fish weighed 312-pounds. The BD team has fished with Capt. Andy multiple times and it is always a trip of a lifetime. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: We caught a 1250-pound mako shark on the Grand Banks in 1995 on a longline. Q:What’s the…

BDs TEN DAYS SHARKS “ Ya’ll know me, know how I earn a livin. I’ll catch that bird for ya, but it ain’t going to be easy!” Welcome to BD’s Ten Days of Sharks, our tribute to these powerful, toothy predators. We are going to bring you ten days of all things shark. Feast your eyes on our interviews, amazing videos, rigging tips, Fishing Chicks and much more. We have reached out to a wide array of professional fishing captains, TV fishing show personalities, Fishin Chicks, marine artists, BD members and the BD team itself. They will all tell us…

Capt. Kyle Larson runs charter boats out of Port Canaveral, Florida. Shark fishing trips are just one of the many types of trips he offers. He has also traveled the Bahamas where shark encounters happen daily. We spoke with Kyle to get his thoughts about sharks. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A: The biggest shark that I’ve ever caught would be a giant hammerhead shark about 10 to 12-feet in length. This hammerhead wasn’t the biggest shark out there but nevertheless an impressive catch on rod and reel! Q:What’s the biggest you’ve seen? A: It would have to…

The 2014 Make-A-Wish Tuna Challenge will be angling for a good cause in San Diego for its annual three-day Tuna Challenge tournament and event benefiting Make-A-Wish® San Diego again this year. This event is the largest tuna fishing tournament in the continental U.S., raising over $3 million to date for granting wishes in San Diego. Anglers will compete for awards such as multi-day fishing trips to Alaska and Mexico, fishing gear, boat equipment, and more. The awards will be presented at the event’s culmination banquet at the newly remodeled Silver Gate Yacht Club on Sunday, August 24 from 10 a.m.-4…

This footage was captured off of Ocean City, MD by the crew of the Pumpin Hard. The video was taken using a GoPro mounted inside a PelagicView Dredge, which is a streamlined dredge with a built in GoPro mount. Awesome idea and the resulting clip is nothing short of epic. Photo Credit: Pelagic View Video; Youtube video capture

Capt. Greg Rapp owns the Sea Leveler fleet in Port Canaveral, FL, and stays busy chasing everything that swims. He and his dedicated group of captains, spend many evenings chasing sharks along the Space Coast. Greg has a great sense of humor and was kind enough to share some of his more bloody moments. Q:What’s the biggest shark you’ve ever caught? A:A 13 to 14-foot hammerhead. I Caught him in about six feet of water just 100 yards or so off of Cocoa Beach while running one of our evening shark fishing trips. I thought we snagged into a manta…

The place was Vilano Beach, Florida, and the angler was 19-year-old Matt Sechrist. Born without legs, but plenty of drive to succeed , Matt and his friends set out to catch him a shark from the beach. Family friend Ed Parrish helped plan the trip, and was the volunteer who kayaked the bait of fish heads out a couple hundred feet. Matt’s father, David Sechrist took the first round to help wear the shark down a little, but there was plenty left for Matt who battled the shark with the help of a fighting harness around his chair. After an…

Diver and shark expert Jim Abernathy was taking part in a Guy Harvey Expedition off Cat Island in the Bahamas when he experienced the shock of a lifetime. Cat Island is known for it’s substantial shark population. Abernathy was diving and filming a blue marlin when a mako shark estimated at 10-feet long and 600 pounds came out of nowhere and shot past him like a torpedo.

One July, Capt. Ryan Logan of Cheerio Charters in Key West Florida was yellowtail snapper fishing with a father and son charter. They were finishing up catching their yellowtails on a reef in fifty feet of water when a buddy in a near-by boat called. His buddy told them they had a great white shark circling their boat. Capt. Ryan thought they were kidding until he looked over and could see a large dorsal fin behind their boat. They pulled the anchor and drove over to check it out. Upon their arrival, the great white swam over to check them…

The Goblin shark is crazy in many ways, crazy looking and crazy rare. Especially in the Gulf of Mexico, where Florida Keys shrimp fisherman, Carle Moore was dragging in 2000 feet of water for royal red shrimp. This eighteen-foot long shark came up alive and the crew managed to get a rope on its tail and get it back in the water. NOAA reports that this is only the second known goblin shark in the Gulf of Mexico. Though seldom seen, these sharks are normally found in the Indian Ocean and off South Africa and Japan. Mr. Moore said it…

Screaming in your regulator is not normally a good thing, but in this case, I think he is happy. With a giant great white jamming its head in your shark cage and you survive, whats not to scream about. Anti-shark cage… You go inside the cage? Cage goes in water? Sharks in water? Our shark? Fairwell and Adieu….. Viewing tip: play both videos at the same time. lol (repeat the top one) Photo Credit: YouTube video capture

Check out this quick fishing video showing an amazing strike on a bait by a marlin. Offshore trolling can be slow at times, but shots like this make it all worth while. Post by Kelly Dalling Fallon.