Not wanting to miss the opportunity for a double hookup, both Chris and I dropped baits into the melee, and were rewarded with instant takes. No doubt it was another pair of blacktips, as both hooked sharks sped away the instant they felt the hook. Although we tried hard to keep them both under control, I lost mine to the anchor line. Chris, however, was successful in bringing his shark, about a 30-pounder, to boatside for another release. So fast and furious was the feeding under the shrimpboat that we only had time for one more try before the deployed bycatch was all gone and the sharks began to disperse. Luckily, we did manage another hookup, but the hook pulled almost immediately, and the shark was lost.

Angler monitors the baits behind a shrimpboat.

As things began to settle down, Chris explained how the sharks don’t disappear right after the bycatch has been consumed. Most of them hang around the shrimpboat in hopes of finding additional morsels. That’s when chumming becomes important to keep any interested sharks within striking distance. Just as he said that, he replenished the chum cage and dropped it overboard again. But instead of pitching baits toward the shrimpboat, this time he elected to float them behind our transom with the aid of balloons.

Chunks of bonito and kingfish, which broadcast oil throughout the water, are particularly good for luring sharks.

Once again, it didn’t take long for a shark to home in on the baits. Now it was Chris’ turn to jump into action, so he pulled the rod out of the holder, and struck hard to drive the hook home. His shark went ballistic, jumping clear out of the water as blacktips often do, and then doubling back toward the front of the boat in a fraction of a second. The jump gave us a clear look at a mature blacktip pushing 100 pounds.

Amazingly, the big blacktip earned its freedom by biting through 80-pound steel cable before coming close enough for a snapshot.

When I turned around I was treated to a very cool sight: a juvenile tiger shark on the surface swimming right toward our boat. Somewhere between six and seven feet in length and perhaps 80 or 90 pounds in weight, the shark looked very slick, with the classic stripes of a tiger clearly visible along its body. All attempts to bait the tiger were unsuccessful, however, as the wary animal swam around the baits a couple of times, and chose to keep on swimming for parts unknown.

My next taker would be the the largest shark of the day, an 8-foot hammerhead that took a bait suspended with a balloon right from the back of the boat. “Big baits for big sharks,” Carter had said as he’d floated out the fillet on a 50-pound outfit.

Having grown accustomed to the speedy blacktips, I found the fight with the hammer very different. Instead of speed, hammerheads use their brute power, and the one at the end of my line sure had plenty of it. Estimated at somewhere between 180 and 200 pounds, the hooked shark made clear who was boss the moment the line came tight. It shifted sides constantly, sounding every so often as if to say “take that!” But the drag on my reel did what it’s supposed to, and after 20 minutes of huffing and puffing, I brought the hefty hammerhead boatside, where Chris began his first attempt to wire the tired, but still thrashing shark. Chris got a good hold on the leader on his third try, and pulled the big hammer close to the boat, but as I was reaching for my camera, the shark made a sudden run and broke free.

After pulling on that big shark, we broke out the light spinning gear in hopes of having some fun with the blacktips. Fun was definitely the operative word as we pulled on 30- to 60-pounders for the next hour before calling it quits and returning to port.