Spotted Gully Shark (Triakis megalopterus) Information And Pictures (Sharptooth Houndshark)
What You Need To Know About South Africa's Spotted Gully Shark
The Spotted Gully Shark is a common South African Shark species and is often caught by rock and surf and beach anglers during day and night. The Spotted Gully Shark is not renowned for its fighting ability but without a doubt it is one of the more interesting and beautiful shark species to catch. The Spotted Gully Shark has a few names... Sharptooth Houndshark and Sweet William; this Gully Shark is also affectionately known by many anglers as simply a Spotty. This shark can often be confused with the Smoothound Shark, but an easy way to distinguish between the 2 species is that the Spotted Gully Shark has a lot more black spots and these cover their entire body. They look like large ink spots...
The Spotted Gully Shark can be found from around about East London all the way around the coast to Walvis bay. They occur in various different habitats, from sandy beaches to deep gullies, rocky areas, reefs, tidal pools and shallow bays. The Spotted Gully Shark is a fun fish to catch and they are quite aggressive. Their preferred prey includes crustaceans, crabs, small bony fish and the bigger Houndshark will eat other smaller sharks. In the summer months the Spotted Gully Shark congregates into shoals. The record is for this strong fish is over 40 kilograms but this record changes on a yearly basis.
How To Catch The South African Spotted Gully Shark
The Spotted Gully Shark should mainly be targeted from the shore along sandy beaches with a bit of rocky structure and a gully or 2. They can also be caught on sandbanks with deep gullies either side. Depending on what size Spotted Gully Shark you want to target I would recommend a minimum of a 10 foot fishing rod, 15-18 pound line and a short piece of bite trace (Thin steel wire), however this is not essential.
Almost any bait you throw will be taken by the Spotted Gully Shark. You will often catch these fish when targeting Kob or bigger sharks like a Ragged Tooth Shark. Squid (Chokka), sardine, crayfish, crab, prawn and a variety of small live baits such as Blacktail, Sand Steenbras and Pinky may be used.
