Thanks to the movie “Jaws,” which was released 50 years ago, there has been a huge and lingering fascination with sharks in our collective imagination.
Last week was Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. The yearly celebration of all things sharks has been on the air since 1988. That’s a very long time. In 2024, the channel reached over 25 million viewers, including yours truly. Shark Week is one of the most anticipated annual events on cable television. With this on my mind, while perusing Facebook the other day, I saw a posting by Capt. Rich Jensen, who keeps his stout charter boat, Nancy Ann IV, at Orient by the Sea marina at the easternmost tip of the North Fork.
Jensen, for those not in the know, is a legend on the local fishing front. The seasoned captain is the third generation of full-time fishermen in his family.
I still fondly recall him anchored up in front of our house on North Haven in the 1970s fishing for flounder in the spring. Few are finer or more hard-working than him.
To top it off, he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever come across. Among other tips, he’s always been so helpful in guiding me on where the blackfish are biting, and even offered me his GPS numbers on his best blackfish haunts. I always politely decline. My view is that he worked hard over many decades to locate the best bottom and locations for his paying fares. I’d rather be skunked than fish his hard-earned fishing drops.
Still, his postings and pictures on Facebook always catch my attention, no pun intended. The man always finds the fish.
But last week, Jensen did something different. He had an open date and took some friends and family out on the water to catch and release sharks. It was a nice plan on a calm day.
I assumed he traveled well beyond Montauk to the south, but I was totally wrong.
Jensen that early morning was actually on the drift in The Race, about 10 miles north of Montauk, at the entrance to Long Island Sound and not very far from where I set my lobster traps. I was surprised, but I should not have been.
At sunrise, Jensen was already hooked up with a hefty brown shark. The fight was intense and the shark was immediately released to fight another day. Others followed.
Captains out of Montauk also report numerous brown and dusky sharks taking huge chomps of striped bass that are being reeled up by their fares in local waters not far from the Lighthouse. Great whites, threshers, and mako sharks also lurk about, looking for an easy meal.
Such battles with sharks in local waters have become a more daily occurrence for many who bait a hook and line. The sharks are here, and, while a few may complain, it’s nice that such amazing denizens of the deep have appeared over the past few years.
Beyond the local action on sharks, fishing has been productive in the warming waters of summer for more benign fin fish.
“There are plenty of small bluefish at Jessup’s Neck, especially on the incoming tide,” reported Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor and Southampton. Morse recommends slinging small diamond jigs into the turbulent rip to entice the tasty blues.
“Porgies, many big, are also in all of the bays, and weakfish can be had in Noyac Bay in the deep water at buoy 16,” he added. Note that angers can only retain one weakfish per day over 16 inches.
Out at Montauk, the fluke bite remains a bit inconsistent, as does the sea bass action. Bluefin tuna are still running well, but anglers are traveling farther offshore to find consistent action.
“Fishing has been good for many species,” said Will Cornacchia at the Montauk Anglers Club on East Lake Drive. “Fluke, sea bass, and porgies remain plentiful, and the offshore fishing has begun for yellowfin tuna. As for
bluefin tuna, they remain plentiful on the troll offshore.”
Over at Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton, the owner Sebastian Gorgone said that porgies can be had in many of the usual local haunts. “Porgies continue to please and some fluke are around Gardiner’s Island, Napeague, and the Accabonac area.”
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