Tigers, Lemons and Hammers in Palm Beach County, FL (4+ miles offshore)

[soundfield]

Here's a new short video of "The Sharks" of Palm Beach County with Emerald divers. Shot on April 3-4 (4+ miles offshore Jupiter inlet). There were also numerous Bull sharks encountered, however they were not included in this video. This was a short video reconnaissance mission to see just what was out there to film. We'll be back in the fall for a more in depth look into these sharks. https://youtu.be/Jc1zh9gLAkQ

Enjoy!

 

[islanddream]

Great video....thanks for sharing!

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Here's a new short video of "The Sharks" of Palm Beach County with Emerald divers. Shot on April 3-4 (4+ miles offshore Jupiter inlet). There were also numerous Bull sharks encountered, however they were not included in this video. This was a short video reconnaissance mission to see just what was out there to film. We'll be back in the fall for a more in depth look into these sharks. https://youtu.be/Jc1zh9gLAkQ

Enjoy!

Just be aware that you will likely get a different assemblage of species in the fall, provided the sharks stick to the "schedule" they seemed to have last year. The great hammerheads dispersed from the Wreck Trek early in May and the tigers were less frequent visitors as summer went on - I think by the start of August they were largely gone, with Djenny (the untagged tiger in this clip that has an upturned hook in the left corner of her mouth) making a couple of appearances over the fall. Starting in late May and June the "Lemon Ladies" will probably return to the wreck in full and stay there until the aggregation kicks off in winter (when the males and females seem to congregate at the reefs to the south); so in the fall months you're most likely to see 10-12 lemons and an outside chance of a tiger. December through about April is the lemon shark aggregation, with tiger and hammerhead sightings trickling in until they hit their peak in March, April, and early May.

The bulls seem to disperse from the deep ledge early in June and don't come back until later in the fall; during the summer months sandbar, dusky, and silky sharks along with the occasional great or scalloped hammerhead will be sighted on the deep ledge.

Short form, March through July seems to be the "sweet stretch" for variety and harder-to-find species like tigers and hammerheads. Also, while I think Randy has some alternate feeding spots, I believe last year he at least talked about stopping feeds at the Wreck Trek for 4-6 weeks in August and September so as not to conflict with the other boats going to see the goliath grouper spawning aggregation.

 

[soundfield]

Thanks for that valuable information, I may just wait until next spring for that. It looks like I've got some more research to do. From your past experiences, when does the Grouper aggregation end? Again, thanks for the informative reply!

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Thanks for that valuable information, I may just wait until next spring for that. It looks like I've got some more research to do. From your past experiences, when does the Grouper aggregation end? Again, thanks for the informative reply!

Bear in mind that what I'm going off of is recollections of trip reports, photos, and YouTube videos. Mickey Smith and Cameron Nimmo's videos are an excellent resource for getting a general idea of what's happening when: https://www.youtube.com/user/Murfdizz21/videos

Also note that this is dependent on the sharks sticking to a "schedule" that I only have 1-2 years of mostly secondhand observations on. Part of the reason I'm keeping an eye on this is to see if the sharks start changing their routine as time goes on.

As far as the goliath aggregation, it's typically supposed to be late August through the first half of September. Judging from last year, they started piling up and showing signs of being hot to trot late in July on the Wreck Trek (pale-colored individuals and baitballs). As far as the end date, that's a good question - I know that farther south in Boynton Beach the Castor wreck was jumping well into October last year.

As an additional consideration, I find the late fall can be one of the less pleasant seasons as far as Florida weather goes - in 2013 I remember getting totally shut out for the entire month of November. Hurricane season is certainly a consideration, but sometimes the wind will just blow up and turn things rotten for an extended stretch. Early summer with our thunderboomers and freshwater releases from the St. Lucie River can be iffy as well.

 

[sportxlh]

Nice music choice: I haven't heard Dio in a long time. I like how you timed the first appearance of a Tiger shark with the lyrics 'ride the tiger'. Nice touch.