Picture this: It’s a warm July night, the sand is still radiating some of the day’s heat as you dig your toes in. The water temperature is a balmy 70 degrees and the gentle summer surf is barely big enough for the waves to break. You’re just about to reach for the beer which you’ve propped upright in the sand next to your folding beach chair when the baitrunner comes to life. Something out in the dark water has found your large, bloody bait and is taking it east at an alarming rate. You spring from your seat, sprint to the sand spike, and after a count of five, engage the reel and set the hook hard. The rod lunges toward the horizon and the big, pissed-off brown shark at the other end accelerates and cuts hard right, forcing you to chase him down the beach. After 10 minutes of back and forth, the shark’s fin is visible, and you lean back, digging your heels into the sand, straining your rod, line and arms to their breaking point in one final effort to get the monster of the deep onto the beach.
This morning I had the chance to talk brown sharkin’ with OTW Contributor and fishing madman Tom Pagliaroli on his weekly radio show Rack and Fin Radio.
Tommy and I discussed catching these sharks from the beach and kayak. Whether you fish in Cape May or Cape Cod, the shark surfcasting season has arrived. If you haven’t tried it yet, you really need to give it a shot, and tune into Rack and Fin Radio this Saturday between 8 and 9 am on ESPN Radio South Jersey, 97.3, or listen online here.
Picture this: It’s a warm July night, the sand is still radiating some of the day’s heat as you dig your toes in. The water temperature is a balmy 70 degrees and the gentle summer surf is barely big enough for the waves to break. You’re just about to reach for the beer which you’ve propped upright in the sand next to your folding beach chair when the baitrunner comes to life. Something out in the dark water has found your large, bloody bait and is taking it toward east at an alarming rate. You spring from your seat, sprint to the sand spike, and after a count of five, engage the reel and set the hook hard. The rod lunges toward the horizon and the big, pissed-off brown shark at the other end accelerates and cuts hard right, forcing you to chase him down the beach. After 10 minutes of back and forth, the shark’s fin is visible, and you lean back, digging your heels into the sand, straining your rod, line and arms to their breaking point in one final effort to get the monster of the deep onto the beach.
Whether you fish in Cape May or Cape Cod, the shark surfcasting season has arrived. Get out and enjoy it.
Sandbar sharks are listed as prohibited in Federal and MA and NJ state waters. Recreational catch and release with tags is one thing, but dragging them up on the beach is probably not the best interest of a shark with drastically declining numbers.
Good point Nathan. Sandbar sharks can not be harvested. Release them quickly and carefully, and consider contacting NMFS Volunteer Tagging Program for a free tagging kit.
[…] Or it might be a shark. There are many more sharks in Cape Cod waters than most people suspect. A brown shark (they can grow to 200 lbs or more) is a good candidate for a fish-and-line […]