Now is the right time for offshore anglers to go blacktippin'
PETER YOUNG

Peter Young is captain aboard the the sportfishing vessel Mo Azul. Contact him at petercoleyoung@yahoo. com.

As is often the case, the long anticipated arrival of spring brings with it strong southeast winds, 70- degree water temperatures, the ever curious ling, and the voracious blacktip shark. I have heard of several boats encountering individual ling in smaller groups, but have yet to hear of any reports of large schools being spotted.

The largest school that I have seen was a group of about five or six ling, all of which were at most a foot long. Even as juveniles the innate curiosity of these fish is a spectacle to behold. As I swam up to the small school of tiny cobia, they showed no initial fear, and actually swam over to inspect me, that is, until I tried to pet one. It will, hopefully, be a short matter of time until we begin to see the larger schools of adult fish.

In the interim, offshore anglers can quench their thirst for action by fishing for blacktip sharks around the nearshore oil rigs and wrecks this time of year. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, the blacktip shark was first described by French naturalist Achille Valenciennes in Müller and Henle (1839) as Carcharias limbatus. The original description is still evident in the current scientific name, Carcharhinus limbatus (Müller and Henle 1839). The first part, Carcharhinus, roughly translated from Greek, means sharpened nose, and limbatus, roughly translated from Latin means banded or girdled, in reference to the black tips found on most of the shark's fins. Sharpnosed girdle sharks, as they are never called, can be encountered all over the world in tropical and subtropical waters. However, their main areas of abundance are considered to be the Caribbean Sea and our very own Gulf of Mexico.

Fiesty fish COURTESY PHOTO BY PETER YOUNG This spinner shark was caught using mullet on Peter Young's Avet SX during a recent offshore excursion. The shark was released for future battle with another angler.

Blacktip sharks are commonly confused with their close cousin the spinner shark, Carcharhinus brevipinna. The spinner shark is also known to be concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico, but its worldly distributions are not as fully defined as they are often and easily mistaken as blacktips.

One of the common methods used to differentiate between the two species is by looking at the suspect shark's anal fin. Not as intrusive as it sounds, upon inspection, the anal fin of a blacktip shark is surprisingly white, while the anal fin of spinner shark has a black tip. However, this trick doesn't always work, especially when looking at older sharks or dead sharks. Shark scientists, or as I like to call them, chondrichthyologists, also differentiate between the two species by the placement of the first dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin of the adult blacktip originates at the midpoint of the pectoral fins, whereas the first dorsal fin of the adult spinner shark originates behind the tips of the pectoral fins.

Both species are known to feed on common baitfish such as herring, sardines, menhaden, mullet and anchovies, but will also eat larger fish such as grouper, jackfish, snapper and just about anything else they can catch. Both species have been observed leaping out of the water as they vertically attack schools of baitfish from below.

Incidentally, these fish are also prone to leaping out of the water when hooked on rod and reel, sometimes flipping several times in the air before hitting the water. The current Texas state record blacktip shark weighed 190 pounds, and is held by Davey Wright, while the current Texas state record spinner shark weighed 212.6 pounds, and is held by Howell Kines, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Web site.

Commonly, the two species are lumped together as blacktips back at the docks, and the act of fishing for them is sometimes referred to as "blacktippin'." There have been several nice blacktips caught by a few of the local charter boats and head boats recently.

In general, blacktips are prized for their acrobatic stunts during the fight and their reputation as one of the few edible species of sharks. They are commonly fished for with live or dead bait of various kinds, including but not limited to, mullet, squid, perch, menhaden, sardines, ribbonfish, blue runners and bonito, the last of which was used by Wright in catching his state record blacktip.

As these sharks, like most others, are prone to having many teeth, a steel leader is normally used to prevent quick bite-offs. Usually the best place to encounter blacktip sharks is around rigs, rocks, wrecks or anywhere else that a large and plentiful amount of bait or food can be found. Good luck and happy blacktippin'.