The start of 2024 has been one of the sharkiest that anglers have ever experienced around the west coast of Florida.
Earlier this year, when a beached whale carcass was disposed of offshore, it brought in high numbers of great white and tiger sharks within sight of land off Sarasota County.
Now tarpon season has arrived. With it, large sharks have been behind stalking the silver kings, and not just the standard bull and hammerhead sharks that frequently chase the schools.
“Fishing has been hot fishing the edges of grass flats,” said captain Anthony Corcella. “Lot of trout and quite a few cobia have been around. Sometimes the cobia hang around sharks.”
On a trip Monday, May 6, Corcella spent the morning catching mangrove snapper in Tampa Bay near the Sunshine Skyway bridge. He then set up near the edge of a drop-off because his angler said he had a specific fish in mind.
“He booked it to catch a cobia. It was on his bucket list,” said Corcella. “After we had caught a bunch of snapper, we went to the edge of a grass flat and got a 41-inch cobia. He was ecstatic.”
But the cobia wouldn’t be what would leave the long-term impression from the trip. The big spinning rod was hit once again and they soon saw what was hooked in only 6 feet of water.
“A half hour after the cobia, the rod starts screaming. A shark started tail walking three or four times. I thought, from the distance, it was a spinner shark. It was jumping and tail walking almost like a marlin. There were a lot of people around me who saw the show,” Corcella described.
“We fought it for about an hour and got it boatside. We were able to get it calmed down, tail wrapped and unhooked. There were no black marks on his fins and it had a white belly. I took some pictures and we released it. I rarely keep sharks and didn’t want to deal with the hassle of it in the boat. I posted some pictures of it on social media then went to bed.”
Not completely sure what kind of shark he had caught, Corcella woke the next morning with 15 missed calls and messages.
“My buddy Brian Hassan said ‘Do you know what you just caught?’ He told me to look at its eye. I blew up the picture and he and others said it was a mako!”
One of the most migratory sharks, Atlantic shortfin mako sharks are found all around the east coast of the U.S. and across the Gulf of Mexico. Finding one within Tampa Bay and east of the Skyway is particularly rare.
Fishing only with 40-pound line and 80-pound leader, they needed luck on their side.
“Some people were saying it looked like a white shark. But the experts are telling me to look at the eye. If it was a blacktip, it would have been a state record because it was over 7 feet and more than 200 pounds.”
That record is 152 pounds.
Growing to over 1000 pounds, shortfin mako sharks are considered one of, if not the best, eating sharks. Considered a cousin of a great white shark, they also have a white underside and similar demeanor.
They are known to go airborne when hooked, often breaking the line as well, providing more credibility to Corcella’s catch.
Source Agencies
