Now that I'm on a keyboard instead of my phone I can give you more detail.
Shark will eat anything bloody and if it's alive that's even better. I surf fish for fun, food and shark bait. Fun and shark bait generally are the same fish, hardtails, baby jacks, lady fish have all produced for me. The biggest shark I've caught, a 10' hammer, was on a speck carcus that I filleted. I keep a 5 gallon bucket on the beach with frozen water bottles and throw anything in that I think I want to eat or a would make good bait. If I have a buddy with me I go ahead and just paddle out bait and drop it if there isn't anyone around swimming.
I've done two types of leader, piano wire and 49 strand. I prefer the 49 strand because it seems to be more supple. I usually do about 5-8' of wire leader and another 8' of weed eater line. Use the round stuff because the fancy line is hard to get through the crimps.
You want to get your bait out past the 2nd set of breakers if possible, especially during daylight hours. If you're more man than me you can swim them out, but I use my kayak. I usually go out to the point where the water calms a bit past the 2nd set, usually 50 yards or so. Depending on the beach, that's going to be 150 to 300 yards out. Lots of guys go further, but with a 6/0 you don't have that much line. Rule of thumb seems to be that you need a minimum of 300 yard of line after the drop. My 6/0 has about 500 yards of 60# mono on top of 300 yards of 100# braid.
If you are casting baits you should try for about 20-40 yards past the breakers or in the first gut and you'll probably have better luck after dark. Casting a big bait is dang near impossible and casting a long leader is too. For this you'll want a long stiff poll, but remember, the longer the poll is the more advantage the fish has on you. I opt for a short stiff poll and just cast into the first gut. Honestly though I've not caught any sharks like this. I only do it about 3 days a year though. Plenty of guys do catch them in the gut. For this, you have to compromise your leader length. I make my bite leaders (the metal part) about 2' long and my shock leader (weedeater line) about 5'. With a 6' pole and a short man body that's as long as I can cast. Your bait obviously has to be smaller too. This will have to be trial and error. I can cast 1/2 of a baby jack pretty easy and that's what I caught me 2nd largest fish with, an 8.5' hammer.
I'm thinking of trying something new this year after shark fishing from a boat last year, a big live ladyfish kayaked out and anchored with a brick or large rock. I've read articles on it and after hooking up with 3 fish that broke my 60# line like this, I've got to try this from the beach now. With dead bait a 3-4oz pyramid weight is usually plenty, but it's no match for a big lady fish. If I recall correctly you tie the brick to the same spot on your leader that you would attach you weight, but you do it with about 3' of 10-15# line. When the fish bites, the line on the brick breaks and you're just fighting the fish. Before it breaks you have a big thrashing bait near the bottom. :thumbup:
I'll be out there about 2 weeks after you. Don't catch them all. :thumbsup:
