so_ill

Howdy all. I noticed something that struck me as odd this summer, and was wondering if anyone knows what is happening. I made a couple trips down and concentrated on sharks in the afternoon/evenings, and ended up catching 9 and hooking up with a few others that broke me off. On at least 4 or 5 of these hookups, a sleek, 30-40" fish would jump out of the water in the vicinity of the shark immediately after it hit. A few times I actually thought that it was on the end of my line, but a shark would always be waiting on the other side. Going on appearance I'd have to guess a King, but I'm not sure. Generally half/three-quarters between the sandbars is where they were taking flight. My best hypothesis is that the shark freaks out and starts swimming erratic which in turn freaks out all the fish in the area, but that's just a guess. Anyone ever witnessed this, know what's going on, or have any guesses?

Kenton

Remora maybe?

osborne311

Remora makes sense but I have never witnessed a Remora jump. Between the sandbars - I am assuming you are catching from the beach? Is this during the summer or early fall? If so, could just be a ladyfish responding to the sharks initial run on hook up. I have witnessed those things jump due to a stingray swim by.

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Chris V

I've had rays, mullet and mackeral jump when a hooked shark or tarpon gets near them. Could it have been one of them maybe?

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Kenton

30-40" though? I have never seen a spanish, mullet, or ladyfish that big.

MrFish

+1

The way it jumps immediately after hook up, sounds like a remora. I've seen them jump next to a boat when they're hooked, so why wouldn't they jump when the shark goes crazy over his new piercing?

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PBTH

Large needlefish or a houndfish. They school thick in the surf at times and houndfish easily reach the length mentioned. Both of these fish swim at the surface and are easily startled by splashing/commotion and jump readily.

osborne311

ack, did not even pay attention to the size in that post. Yeah, forget what I said about ladyfish. I have caught some big ladyfish in the surf but not that big. lol

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Chris V

You also have to remember it is a size estimate given. Not saying it isn't as long as he stated but......

I'm gonna ditto with PBTH on this. Didn't even think of Houndfish. On the flats in the Keys, if you hook a big shark or cuda, you'll usually see at least a couple go flying at some point during the fight. Hounds are a lot more comon here than most realize too. I've caught 4 off the beach so far while fishing for kings and spanish. Of course thats over the course of quite a few years.

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Kenton

Houndfish...interesting.