Surfers as well as beach goers have to keep a sharp look out for these fast and shallow swimming sharks. I have seen a spinner shark, in the hundred pound class, chase a school of mullet right up on the beach. When the wave returned to the sea it left a very angry, five foot spinner shark stranded high and dry on the beach. The spinner flailed wildly in the sand, at the edge of the water, until the next wave came in and took him back out. I have also witnessed schools of spinner sharks, by the hundreds, just cruising the beach in less then 6 feet of water. Pretty scarey stuff hunh?

I don't think that spinner sharks are there to attack or eat humans, they are mostly following the schools of bait fish. Hence, when the bait fish get chased right up into the shallow water by bluefish, jacks, bluerunners, tarpon, and snook, you can bet the spinner sharks will be very close behind. So this is where the swimmers or surfers don't have enough common sense to leave the water and they end up wading or surfing through the spinner sharks that are in a full on carnage feeding on bait fish. And of course this means that someone will probably be getting bit and going to the hospital with some severe lacerations!

The big spring shark run normally begins when the ocean water temperature reaches the low 70s and the bait begins to show up late. Late April is normally the time frame when shark fishermen get serious. By mid-May, Northeast Florida waters normally teeming with a wide variety of sharks. Blacktips make up the majority of the shark population. Weighing to over 100 pounds and averaging 50 to 90, blacktip sharks also have IGFA (International Gamefish Association) status, so they are world record targets, if that's your bag. Even better, they will readily take a plug or a fly. They are also great fighters, and with proper care, great on the table.

Spinner sharks are numerous and one of the gamiest sharks on light tackle. Spinners, which average 50 to 100 pounds, normally come out of the water like missiles when they are hooked. Their next tactic is a long screaming run, and believe me, the spinner shark is fast! Often the rod will bend in one direction and the shark will be running in the opposite in the blink of an eye. Be sure to have plenty of good line and a fast boat to chase them.

Hammerhead sharks are also numerous during the spring shark run, and can be found in the bait schools along the beaches and inlet mouths. Hammerheads often appear at the most inopportune moment, cutting into a prize catch just as it's about to be landed.

I used to fish for spinner sharks from the beach using either cut mullet or bluefish heads. From the shore we can beach them, get some pictures, and release them to be caught another day. I have caught so many spinners from the Juno Beach fishing pier that I have lost count on that too! We never land the spinner sharks when fishing the pier, we just play them out and then break them off, we use mostly 125 pound monofilament leader up there so it's easy to pop them off and not leave a lot of leader hanging from there mouth.

But, my all time favorite spinner shark "hot spot" is off of Macarther State Park here in Singer Island, Florida. We take the boat up near the beach, sometimes starting our drift in 8-10 feet of water. We always put out a chum bag, and we like to use fillets of king mackerel for baits. I enjoy using light tackle, a seven foot Loomis rod with an Accurate Boss Magnum reel that holds several hundred yards of thirty pound test. I always rig up with at least sixty feet of 80-100 pound monofilament wind-on leader, so that when the spinner sharks jump up and spin in the line, they're sand-paper like shark skin doesn't fray my line.