Beachcomber & Times Press

By Mark Sampson

On the flat calm day it was easy to see the tall triangular fin as it approached the boat from directly astern. Behind the dorsal the top of the tail could be seen waving back and forth as it propelled the shark through our chum-line and toward our baits.

One of my charter clients asked what kind of shark it was. "Hammerhead" I told him, "a nice one too. But we’ve got a slim chance of hooking him unless we get a little bit of wind real soon."

I expected someone to ask me what "wind" had to do with catching the shark, but no one did, they were all too excited about watching the fish swim through our selection of baits we had floating behind the boat.

By its quick erratic movements the shark was obviously fired up by our chum. At this point, had this of been any other species of shark I would have made sure that one of our anglers was in the fighting chair and ready to do battle as a "bite" would be imminent. But this was a hammerhead, probably the most finicky shark that swims, and I just knew that given our present situation, our chances of getting it to eat one of our baits were slim.

The shark continued to weave in and out of our lines apparently looking for something to eat but totally ignoring our hooked offerings that hung a few feet below the surface.

"Why won’t he eat?" Someone asked me.

I replied, "because it’s a hammerhead and they like to frustrate us shark fishermen. If only we had just a little more wind we’d catch him."

Still no one asked me about the wind thing, so I didn’t say any more about it.

After about 15 minutes the shark disappeared below the surface and everyone calmed back down. When someone mentioned that the shark was "gone" I reminded him that just because we couldn’t see the fish certainly didn’t mean that it was gone.

A few minutes later, ripples on the water told me that the afternoon breeze was beginning to build. "Now maybe we can catch that hammerhead" I said as I slipped into the cabin to get one of my favorite fishing tools - a kite.

Moments later the kite was aloft. I took one of the same shark lines we had been fishing all day and snapped it to a release clip on the kite line. By letting the kite out a little bit more I was able to pull the bait away from the boat and right up on the surface of the water.

Now, with the bait on the surface, the fishing line and leader up and out of the water, I new we had a chance at catching that finicky old shark. About ten minutes went by when someone said "heezz baack" and I looked up to see our friend cutting tight circles around our kite bait.

Then with a lunge and a splash the bait was consumed and the fight was on! In true hammerhead form the battle was long and strong with plenty of fast runs, circles around the boat, and deep dives. After about 45 minutes the fish finally called it quits and we had what would later prove to be a new state record hammerhead to the boat.

Hammerheads are warm water sharks that are typically most abundant during the mid to late summer period. This means that right now is a prime time to hook one of these unique gamefish. These sharks are often seen cruising the surface on nice calm days but can be very difficult to hook. But now you know their weakness - the deadly kite bait!

For some reason hammerheads throw caution to the wind when they encounter a bait presented on the surface below a kite. Likely this is because they are not spooked by the line and leader which is suspended up in the air.

Whatever the reason, kite fishing for hammerheads works wonderfully and is an exciting and entertaining way to fish. I wonder if all those folks who go para-sailing know about this?