Blacktip Shark

SIZE

Common from 5-30 pounds; seldom reaches 100 pounds, but reported to 200 or more. World record 270 pounds, 9 ounces; Florida record 152 pounds.

FOOD VALUE

Very good.

GAME QUALITIES

Pound for pound, probably the scrappiest of sharks.Wages a wild battle on light tack- le, marked by long runs and frantic jumps, especially in shallow water.

TACKLE AND BAITS

Spinning and baitcasting outfits; also fly outfits.Takes shrimp and any sort of fresh cut bait.With good presentation (Sharks have poor eye- sight, and you have to put the lure very close to them), they will also hit a variety of artificial lures, especially topwater plugs and flyrod poppers; large (for purposes of visibility) streamer flies; slow-swim- ming jigs and underwater plugs.

FISHING SYSTEMS

Casting; Drifting; Still Fishing.

OTHER NAMES

Small Blacktip

RANGE

All Florida coasts, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. 

HABITAT

Occurs from the open sea to the coast. One of the most familiar sharks in Florida, where it is often seen on shallow flats and along beaches and shorelines.Also plentiful around passes and inlets.

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