An incredible report from AJ Rotondella of New Jersey, whose land-based sharking excursions were featured in the August, 2015 article “Monsters of the Surf“. -ed.
Another great weekend! Friday night we had Dave back for his second Apex Anglers experience, but this time he shared this quality time with his three teenagers, David, Luke and Taylor. It seems they were all having a blast as they picked through the small sandbar (brown) sharks. After the first flurry of action, it was time to move. We packed up and headed elsewhere.
The action continued on small fish, but they were more aggressive, resulting in blistering runs. Everyone had the chance to land a few. Then, Dave noticed a slight movement in the rod tip, and picks it up. Something is there…it starts slowly swimming away as he sinks the hook…and before long he feels the signature head shakes of a giant sand tiger shark. He did great not to exhaust this fish as he had it close enough to leader fairly quickly. Then we saw it, and it was a beast! Pat, Tyler and I got in the water to land it. She had lots of energy left when she got to the beach. The hook was removed immediately, a few pics were taken, and it was time to get her back in. We stayed chest deep with her for a little extra time before she kicked off–the most rewarding part of all land-based shark fishing! Congrats to Dave, what a great fish.
Just when everybody was satisfied, the oldest teen, David, sunk the hook in another giant! Only this time, no head shakes, no blistering runs, just heavy rolling weight that did whatever it wanted while paying no mind at all to the angler. Everyone had a turn on the rod before David reclaimed what was his and landed a beast of a roughtail stingray. Beautiful fish all around, and I don’t think anyone could ask for a better night!
As always, we look forward to what the future brings us!
Until next time,
AJ Rotondella
No I’m not sure where to go. I’m around the Tom’s river New Jersey area.
Robert go to lbi fish bunker heads and chunks with a surf rod and you’ll get em
Yes I have I caught a 400lbs hammerhead shark off Daytona beach Florida
I’ve caught a couple small brown sharks on cape cod (south side) and a few years ago a buddy of mine and I each caught one very small 4’ish sandtiger shark(on the north shore of MA). The two still had spots on their sides, but even the pups had some serious teeth in them. I would LOVE to hook up to one like the one above.
Can you catch those sharks from the beaches off the South shore of Massachusetts?
Probably, I’ve caught a 4′ sand tiger in the Back River in Weymouth and a few similar Dog Fish. They’ve gotta be out there.
My dad and I used to catch the occasional sand shark while fishing for winter flounder from shore when I was a kid. It was in the early 70’s at Baileys Island Maine
Fire island inlet in July is hot .the full moon is best with out going tide .lots of small blue sharks, browns
Own a kayak and love shark fishing in NJ? Feel free to join us.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/NJkayakSurfSharkFishing/