Cape Cod Massachusetts: 9/3-6/2024:

[AndyS]

Casual trip up to the Cape to see relatives. Whale watching trip out of Provincetown up to Race Point Lighthouse. Right out past the breakwater the water turned very clear. Humpback whales all over the place when we got there, just over an hour ride. Not only humpbacks but quite a small fleet of boats fishing. Didn't see anyone hook up but what were they fishing for 5 miles off the coast, Bluefin ??? The place was loaded with lobster pots also.
Took a ride over to historic Chatham to watch the commercial boats unload. Here I was thinking it would be Cod, Pollock and Haddock, NOPE !!! Has the ground fishing gone to crap up there, seasons?, I dunno but watched boat after boat unload SAND SHARKS and SKATES !!!!
The entire coastline up there is magnificently beautiful, the ocean looked very blue and smelled great, lots of seals all over.
Didn't see any party boats, only private boats and commercial boats.

[Broad Bill]

That's a shitload of sand sharks! I thought they were endangered and not harvestable!

[AndyS]

I know at one point the commercial interests up there wiped out the Georges Banks of all Cod, Pollock and Haddock, then cried to the government that their were no more fish to catch and they needed money handouts. They even started to wipe out the herring since everything else was gone. Now recently the CodFather was doing the same thing.

[NoLimit]

That's a shitload of sand sharks! I thought they were endangered and not harvestable!

What food product is made with sand shark and skate? Or is it sent to China.

[jigmup]

Skates are great crab bait

[Broad Bill]

What food product is made with sand shark and skate? Or is it sent to China.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/sports/columns/2017/08/03/fishing-around-dogfish-skate-definitely/20028649007/

Interesting article about the use of dogfish and skates for table fare in Cape Cod. Equally interesting is the technique used to harvest dog fish commercially.

[foggy notion]

When I visited the Cape a few years ago, I watched them offload a boatload of skates at Chatham. I asked the dock staff where these fish were headed and they said "To England for FISH and CHIPS".....hmmmmm.

[Broad Bill]

If there tolerable or good table fare, harvest all you can. They're killing all other juvenile fish in the ocean and the problem is compounded by the fact they don't have many if any predators.

[Jigman13]

Cape Shark is what they call it on the menu. Still tastes like piss no matter what you do to it or how well you gut, bleed and ice.

[Broad Bill]

Was wondering how they got around the uric acid most sharks give off when they die if not cleaned immediately. Guess the answer is they don't!

[Jigman13]

Friend of mine is a graduate of CIA and was convinced he could make it edible. He expertly dispatched, bled, gutted, iced, skinned and brined a whole dogfish in an apple cider brine. He then properly dried and refrigerated in, then prepped it for a beer batter deep fry. Sounds good, right?

The texture and color of the flesh was very appealing, but the 2nd or 3rd chew is when it hit me. While I've never consumed piss, I can only assume what I ate that day was piss-laden. The exhale through my nose while chewing emphasized the pleasure-less pissiness of that god forsaken chunk of fried urinal cake.

If someone eats it and doesn't taste piss, you might be having a stroke, or had covid and it destroyed your ability to taste, or suffered some other kind of traumatic brain injury which altered your taste buds.

It's awful...

[AndyS]

https://myfishingcapecod.com/cape-shark/

[Duffman]

Interesting to read. To each his own I guess.

Seeing all the tourist pix of coolers filled with chub macks I always wondered where the fish went after being brought home. After reading this article I'm guessing people are actually eating these things along with other fish most call "trash"

Couple years ago I gave "Cape Shark" a legit shot. Caught on the ling grounds in cool spring water. Gutted and iced right away. Deep fried it the same day. Lets just say I'd rather deep fry bunker and eat it than do that again!

[Dclark2]

I heard somewhere that they taste like CHICKEN.. LOL

[Billfish715]

The lobster fishermen in Pt Judith. RI use skates for bait for their traps. They sew them together with rope and hang them inside the traps. I have also seen skate on the menu at several restaurants. When done right, they are tasty. Restaurants that specialize in French cooking cuisine offer it as an entree’.