I've been in the fishing media business for decades and I have never seen so many sharks close to the beach in our waters. There was a confirmed bull shark caught off of Fire Island beach and a confirmed white shark, which grabbed a fluke, less than 1/2 mile off the beach. I personally have seen numerous sharks while fluking off the south shore.
I also have never seen so many shark bite offs on everything from striped bass to tuna. Most tuna anglers are seeing this on the majority of trips. I have never heard of beaches being closed or swimmers being told to go no more than ankle-deep because of a fear of a shark attack. These people are watching too much Shark Fest on TV. These sharks have always been close to the beach
Sure we have more bait in our waters than any state on the coast, as we're the only state that keeps the bunker reduction fleet out of our waters. We now have all year classes of bunker that are paying off for anglers big time. Those sharks were always near, they were just further offshore. The continued growth of the sharking from the beach, like the bull shark that was taken, as well as many protected sharks, are bringing attention to a fact all anglers are well aware of - we have a lot of sharks here. We always have. The difference is we now have a lot of anglers targeting them from shore combined with social media, and it's causing hysteria.
Any other opinions?
Below is a video of sharks attacking bait just off of the beach.
View attachment 22888
I also have never seen so many shark bite offs on everything from striped bass to tuna. Most tuna anglers are seeing this on the majority of trips. I have never heard of beaches being closed or swimmers being told to go no more than ankle-deep because of a fear of a shark attack. These people are watching too much Shark Fest on TV. These sharks have always been close to the beach
Sure we have more bait in our waters than any state on the coast, as we're the only state that keeps the bunker reduction fleet out of our waters. We now have all year classes of bunker that are paying off for anglers big time. Those sharks were always near, they were just further offshore. The continued growth of the sharking from the beach, like the bull shark that was taken, as well as many protected sharks, are bringing attention to a fact all anglers are well aware of - we have a lot of sharks here. We always have. The difference is we now have a lot of anglers targeting them from shore combined with social media, and it's causing hysteria.
Any other opinions?
Below is a video of sharks attacking bait just off of the beach.
View attachment 22888
