“Just a few more casts” I thought to myself as I ripped off another 90 yard cast with four ounces of lead and a nice chunk of mackerel. It was now 9:20 and too dark to see much of anything. I could still make out the individual rocks of the jetty so I knew I’d be ok to get back to the beach but there was one thing I hadn’t considered…what if I caught something??? Well, just as the thought crossed my mind I felt three sharp strikes and set the hook with a rather aggressive pull of the rod. The next thing I know I’ve got something, the drag clicked as a few yards of braid spun off the reel. I knew it was small because it wasn’t much of a fight but at least I had caught something. I spun on a bit more drag now that I was confident that what I had caught wasn’t going to snap my rod or line and began to reel. Once I got it to the jetty I knew I was in trouble; I couldn’t see what I had caught. I could see a slight outline and knew that it was skinny and long; I guesses about 14 inches and half a pound. I made the decision that it was time to pack it in so I dropped my catch into the cooler and unclipped the leader…I’d deal with it when I got home. I figured if I was lucky I’d probably caught an eel or something else I could use for bait.
I gathered my stuff, packed it into the car, and headed home. When I got there I carried my stuff up to the porch and decided to examine my catch. As soon as I opened the cooler I was taken aback, what I thought was an eel or bait was actually a shark! I had caught a smooth dogfish or a mud shark as they are also known. It turns out that they are one of the most prevalent shark species in the near shore waters where I fish and as they are opportunistic feeders had taken a liking to my cut mackerel. It also explains the bait I had pulled back with just skin and bones left since they don’t have sharp teeth to cut the skin. They do have teeth but they are for crushing shell fish rather than for cutting as other sharks do. I quickly looked up the regulations and found that it was permissible to take and relaxed for a few pictures. I had broken my streak. Turns out that all it took was bait. I had picked up some frozen mackerel and some surf clams to try as I really wanted to catch fish for a change. The mackerel worked on the first cast, I started fishing two poles but couldn’t keep up with the bites! After catching the dogfish it made more sense as I’m quite sure there were a ton of small fish working the outgoing current and that’s why I hadn’t hooked up on more of them. I was fishing 6/O circle hooks and had half a mackerel taken from me before my first hook-up. I guess I should add some smaller hooks to my tackle box…you never know.
The next morning I headed back down to the beach armed with my now unfrozen clams and the rest of the mackerel to try my luck when I could see what I was doing. I had a similar experience with bites coming on most of my casts. This time I was better prepared and set the hook better. All said and done I had landed a keeper fluke! It was fifteen inches long and a little over a pound. I broke out the filet knife and went to work but it turned out to be just practice as there wasn’t much meat on him and no one was interested in two bites…I will mention that the only reason that I brought this guy home is because he was gut hooked; I am fishing primarily for sport, unless I get a keeper striper that is, and plan to release whenever possible. I couldn’t believe the size of the mouth on that alien looking fish, he had swallowed the entire 6/O hook with a one and a half inch diameter hunk of mackerel on it! I was shocked when I pulled him up with only the fluorocarbon coming out of his mouth. I did my best to open his toothy mouth with my pliers and inspect the damage, but it was clearly deep down inside and he was certainly not going back.
Overall I had my most successful weekend of fishing ever for the cost of a few frozen mackerel, which I may add is generally less than what I spend on one lure…I also managed not to lose a single piece of gear which was nice. I might just be tipping the scales back in my favor! You may be wondering about the clams, well that didn’t work well at all. I didn’t get a single bite on a clam at all. I bought a quart, the smallest quantity you can buy, and was assured by the B&T man that he had caught a keeper striper on a clam earlier that morning. I didn’t have the same luck; in fact all I attracted with clams were birds. I think I’ll skip straight to the mackerel. It seemed to be a favorite of just about everything in the spot where I was and truly, how can you beat universal bait? I’m just waiting for the fall when the stripers really turn on! I’ll be ready for them, I hope.
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