I'm a newbie so please forgive asking a question I'm sure has been discussed before.

Looking for suggestions on the best line to use for sharks around barnacle encrusted piers and bridges.

All recommendations and experiences appreaciated!

Thanks

Dave

im the opposite of an expert on shark fishing, but me and buddy caught a few blacktips on I think 30 or 40lb mono, with wire leader....I would not use it again, but all we had at the time was those stupid 6-8" premade metal leaders....everyone on here would tell you they suck, and they do...however, that did work out for us

it just depends on the size of the sharks you will be targeting?? if your looking for the big ones you should use the heaveist mono you can fit on your reel.. or at least a long very heavy leader..300-500lb mono is what i fish in heavy strucsure

Avoid Braid! Even Mono won't last long against the barnacles. Lighter the line, the less time you have. A short wire is not real popular among the sharker's I know. The skin on a shark is very abrasive, it can cut your line given time. Thus the 6 to 8 foot wire. Rick / xpierat came up with a great way to releise them from the pier. It involves a split ring at the hook. Once the Shark is up and down, you hand line it till the ring fail's. Shark swim's away with only a hook.

A bit of background info. We've lost a number of large sharks fishing from our 16 foot center console under long key bridge. They've bitten through the heaviest pre-made leaders I could find, or bitten, tail cut, or bridge rubbed through the 80# mono behind the wire.

I've made up some 180# 6' single wire leaders tied to 80# mono. Haven't tried that yet.

THe 80# mono is tied to 20 or 30# mono. Using Penn 320 GT1 and Shimano 6500 reels.

I'm looking for something that can survive long enough for the start the motor, pull the anchor, dodge the piling fire drill with my wife to begin a chase. Hasn't happened yet.

So far the fish have just headed for Havana and kept going 'til cutting the line. Only one brought to boat was 6 1/2 foot nurse.

We've been using frozen mullet for bait

Ok that put's a little different spin on it.
Anchor a bouy and loop off to it. All you have to do is untie one end of the loop line and your free. You're not gonna stop or really slow a fresh Shark no matter what gear or rig you use unless it's a small one. So rather than try to slow the Shark, cut your unhook time. You can use the same technique for Tarpon, Permit, really any fish you have to chase. your gear is fine.

Tie that 6' of wire to 10' of 200+ lb mono.

lol i guess i just enjoy small blacktips on super light shark tackle hahaah

I use a 22 foot 300# test red wind-on (mono, not weed eater line) and then 5 feet of #19 wire. I use a 14/0 and a 12/0 Penn Senator reel with no less than 125 pound test Ande monster mono filament line. That's how I land my sharks in the bridges.

No playing around with 6/0's or 9/0's, Penn 320 GT, and Shimano 6500 reels, those size reels are just for play. if you want to really land a big one then you will need the right gear or just prepare to run around for hours exhausting the shark like I did once with a 300 pound bull and a 6/0 from my old boat.

Again just adding my $0.02

What happened to the boat??

It was a big hole in my pocket where the money just kept falling out of and I had to sell it when I finished college. To pay for college.