Lemon Shark fishing in Florida

Lemon sharks are the stocky, yellow-brown sharks that cruise Florida's beaches, flats and mangrove edges, with young ones growing up in sheltered nurseries from the Keys to the southeast coast and big adults gathering off the Atlantic beaches in winter. From shore they hunt the troughs and flats on a rising tide and most actively at dusk and through the night. Anglers use heavy conventional tackle, 50–80 lb line, a long wire or heavy mono bite leader, 10/0–14/0 non-offset circle hooks and a sand spike or pyramid sinker of 4–8 oz to hold a chunk of oily fish in the surf. Lemon sharks are a prohibited species in Florida waters, so every one goes back: keep it in the water, cut the leader close if the hook is deep, and never drag it up the dry beach. Shore-based shark fishing also needs FWC's free permit and has handling requirements — check current FWC rules before you fish, and keep swimmers well clear of your lines.