By the first week of April, the bonnethead sharks were all over the flats. Why not throw a fly at them? As the old saying goes, easier said than done.

Bonnethead sharks are very easy to find here in Beaufort. They are a smaller shark species that likes to stay near the flats and feed on crabs, shrimp, and small fish. The best time to find them for sight fishing is when they are finning at the low tide switch. I found a few locations where there would be 5-6 at a time, making sight casting fun.

Check out this video taken on April 4th, 2025. A size 2 redfish fly was thrown by my friend at this bonnet head on a mud flat. You can see the shark wants to eat it. However, it is having trouble getting it in his mouth. It could be getting pushed out of the way by the wake his head is making. After this incident we came up with a theory. Perhaps something with more weight would not get pushed out of its own way. It would be easier for them to eat it.

After this I went home. I made some larger clousers, I suspected these were suitable for launching at a hungry bonnet head.

With a lot of trial and error my favorite fly to throw at bonnetheads turned out to be a classic seaducer in all yellow. It included a few strands of gold flash. I tied these on a 1/0 tarpon hook. I like this fly because it’s easy to target them at low tide and this fly hovers just right in a foot or two of water. I tie this on a leader with a heavier section of bite tippet and good to go.

I love it when a plan comes together. This video shows a bonnethead eating the fly!

I tied a lot of larger flies for bigger game this season. I had the chance to throw these at black tips, lemons, a hammer, and a bull shark. So far, I feel the bonnethead is the easiest to target and catch on the fly here. However, that observation may change with more shots.

What are your thoughts on catch-and-release fly fishing of sharks? Feel free to leave a comment or a question.

Tight lines, Capt. Randy.