sharks to the left of me.......

[charlie_the_tuna]

by now you've all heard about the summer of the shark off the coast of long island. we've had 5 minor "attacks" and they claim sharknado is here.
first off, the news stations have broken the story... there are sharks in the ocean. who knew?!?
we have more bunker than i've seen in a decade or more. run out one of our inlets and you can find a decent bunker pod every 50 yards or so. many of them have small blues under them, 2 to 3 pounders all day long. we were at one of the nearshore reefs last week. slow pick of fluke. decent fish. we decided to run back in and try inside. on the way out, we snagged a few bunker and tossed them in the transom well just because. so we're getting ready to run back in and hey look. there's a shark. just swimming by. brown, dusky or spinner, we're not sure which. i tell the kid to toss him a bunker to keep him here. went right for it. about 4 feet long and close to 30 pounds. we quickly rigged a bluefish hook and tossed him a chunk. 5 seconds and BOOM!!! we're on. my boy is fighting the shark on my inside fluke setup. 6.6 light with the bass pro gold cheapo levelwind loaded with 8. after about 15 minutes we bring him boatside and with the hook right in the corner of his mouth, it's an easy release.
if that was the end of the day.... AWESOME!!! great day. so we start the run back to the inlet and the kid spots a little shark smacking at one of the many bunker pods. we stop and drift a couple chunks and BOOM!!! 5 seconds and we have a double hookup. so we play with the little sharks for about an hour, releasing about a dozen and losing just as many.
about 4 foot long and 30 or so pounds, all on light fluke gear. what a phukking day!!

[Giorgio]

Now that sounded like a real fun day with your son. Too bad you don't have any pictures. My friend told me yesterday at his Marina in Jamaica Bay they found a dead Thresher, he said around 300 pounds. Now I do know, in the past and in late July, Threshers have been seen and caught all around Breezy Point and in the bay, you right who knew Sharks live in the water.

[phatdaddy]

Nice day, Charlie. That s what makes all the hassle of boating worth it.

[SkunkBoat]

They can be fun when you are tired of catching nothing.

Just be aware, to "target" sharks, even if you are releasing them-

You are required to have a HMS permit with Shark endorsement
you are required to use circle hooks

Dusky sharks and any other "ridgeback" sharks are protected, great whites are protected, Makos are now protected.

The only shark worth keeping to eat are Threshers. There a lot of them in close feeding on bunker and they get very big and are really fun to catch on a 50# class outfit


And hey, guy at my dock has been running up off Rockaway..Ambrose light area. 400# Bluefins are in that bunker. They had one on a spinning rod for 3 hours. he showed me cell phone video of them jumping clear out of the water crushing bunker schools.

[charlie_the_tuna]

yeah, there are bluefins inside 5 miles. i don't have the gear or the knowledge to go after them. as far as the sharks, we were rigged for bluefish so i think we're good. and as far as gear, 50# would have been a bit stout for the little sharks. we were using 8 pound fluke gear. they were pretty much having their way with us for about 15 minutes. when we got a hold of the leader it was all over. most every one was hooked right in the corner of the mouth. it was a quick twist of the pliers and they were gone.
G, the threshers follow the bunker along the shore every season. those are the breeders. their appearance is followed by a crapload of tiny little threshers everywhere. they babies have a habit of taking the fluke off your line and leaving half over.
yeah, threshers make excellent table fare. they slapped a moratorium on mako. honestly, i'd like to see a moratorium on most fish for a year or two.
as far as taking a fish for the grill, i rarely take anything from the ocean. i might keep a couple fluke, seabass or blackfish. i don't like to destroy fish. i take great satisfaction in watching them swim away.