How to use the Shark Float
There are a few different reasons to use a shark float when land-based shark fishing. Here are a few:
You can see your bait drops – This is helpful because the shark fishermen next to you kayaking their baits are less likely to cross over your lines if they can see them. Boat fishermen running close to the beach on calm days are more likely to see them and understand why you are screaming and waving your arms like a psychopath. If you have a shark on the line, you know exactly where it is.
You can replace your baits without reeling in – Your bait has been sitting out there for ten hours and your pretty sure the bait needs to be replaced. You know exactly where your bait is. You can kayak out and replace your bait without reeling the line back in. Grab hold of the float and pull that leader up until you get to your bait. If you are using a Stinger Series leader, you already have the bait hooked up on the Stinger and you just loosen the connector, take off the old bite leader, add the new bite leader, drop and head back in. It’s just that easy.
Get your leader back if you break off – There are a few times a year when small crabs hitch rides in passing seaweed. That seaweed gets caught on your main line when it passes by. You know what likes to eat baby crabs? Small sharks. Especially bonnethead sharks. So, about fifteen minutes are you deploy your bait the line snaps. A few months ago, I had this happen to me and I lost thirteen leaders within twenty-four hours (I did catch two sharks though). I had to leave my fishing trip early because I wasn’t using shark floats and I lost all of the leaders I brought with me. If I was using shark floats, I could have paddled out and retrieved my broke off leaders or just retied my line to the leader swivel.
I’ve also heard stories where guys have had a shark on and the line popped mid-fight. A guy I met are Sharkathon had this happen to him. He kayaked out to float and tied on his line and then kayaked back to his rod where he reeled in the large bull shark. He did have chase the shark float around a bit before he got to it.
How to attach the Shark Float to your line – Below is a TikTok I made that may help you understand. It’s really pretty simple. The shark float comes with two attachments on it. One is a 12” line with a carabiner on it. That is used to hang it up in your garage and you can also use it to attached it to your kayak when you are deploying bait so you’re not dragging it behind you. The other attachment is a fifteen-foot-long line with a Long-line Clip at the end. Tie your leader onto the line on your rod like you normally would. Use the long-line clip and attach the float to the mono section of your leader just below the swivel.
Here is a terrible drawing for you to picture what I am talking about:
