Sharkfest in Atlantic Highlands!!!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Frank and Hunter - Didn't know we were is the presence of some NJF Shark royalty on the board here.

A few stories about your experiences would go a long way to help warm us up as we get through the last of this cold weather.

I've got a few quick ones ....

Huge Tiger

We were out Tuna Fishing in the Canyon with Dave Bender and crew on the Jenny Lee, anchored up on the chunk at night... We had a pretty consistent Tuna bite going most of the night and all of a sudden it shut off like a light switch.

We were are all scratching our heads wondering what happened to the bite and then all of a sudden we got our answer. A huge 10 foot plus Tiger Shark came into our slick and he wasn't leaving. What to do now?? If he hangs around you can be sure nothing else will so we pitch him a bait. He picks it up and it's game on....

The fight lasted at least 2 hours with everyone taking their turns fighting the beast. The pole, as Dave would say, "Was getting passed around like a Spliff at a Dead concert". He went up to the bow a few times and I think it was Jimmy Gahms who took the pole up with him so we wouldn't get tangled in our anchor line.... This fish was so big it's like he didn't even know we had him hooked. We had him on a 50 and he was taking line at will... The only time we'd gain line is when he decided to swim towards the boat.

Most of us had long given up on this Shark after an hour and a half with no line gained, but not Jimmy..... He was determined and 1/2 hour later he had the beast along side the boat long enough for us all to get a good look at him, Jimmy cut the line and we parted ways.

The Alure of Sharks

Bobby Konz and crew took us out to film a Shark Episode on the Alure for the New Jersey Fishing show. We were fishing during the daylight hours and had a few Blue Sharks but not the ones we wanted. It was a fairly uneventful day and then it happened..... Probably one of my most awesome 15 minutes I've ever experienced out on the water... A group of four or five 1000 pound plus Basking Sharks decided to come check us out....

I was in the cockpit when I first saw them so I called Tina Cervasio our host to come out on the deck to check them out.... I will never forget the look on her face when she leaned over the stern and saw them. Her jaw dropped and out of sheer fear, she turned away and headed right back into the cabin to collect herself. I think she might have needed a warbrobe change too

These sharks were larger then the 14 foot beam of the Allure. They hung out with us and would pass by our stern like buses coming to pick up kids at the curb. After about 15 minutes or so they must have lost interest in us but not before they'd give us one last thrill.... One of them breached, slapped it's tail as if to say, "nothing to see here" and left as quickly as they came.

We all took a deep breath and were practically speechless for a few minutes while we proccessed what had just happened. Luckily the carmera guy John kept his wits about him and we caught it all on film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV6fOP9UTR0