Current Waters: Nantucket Fishing Report

Wind, wind, wind, and a bit more wind. This week’s fishing report is postponed until the weather settles and we can get a read on things again.

Earlier this week, before the storms and wind, we had an amazing encounter with a shark while fishing with clients. It’s not all that uncommon to have your striper taken by a shark. It happens, not daily, but a handful of charter boats throughout the season experience it.

Typically, the shark gives good chase, and we might get a few glimpses, but more often we end up reeling in half a fish with bite marks – no predator to be seen.

On this trip, everything fell into place for a cool experience. First of all, everyone on the boat happened to be looking to the water, watching the angler reel in the last striper of the day. Also by chance, another client was filming the whole thing, trying to get some video of the striper trip with his buddies. That’s when it all came together.

About 10 yards from the boat, with everyone looking, an eight-foot shark busts out of the water with the striper (still on the line) in its mouth. Well, you can hear the gasps and cheers of everyone on the boat in the video. The shark then lazily follows what remains of the striper back to the Topspin.

The adults aboard were just as excited as the kids to see that shark leap into the air and then ultimately come so close to the boat. It was only when it got close following the remains of the striper that we got a good enough look at it to see that it was a porbeagle shark. This behavior is way less common for this species. Porbeagle are usually not all that near shore and prefer deeper, cooler water. We more typically see them when tuna fishing, not going for stripers near shore.

We later found out from @ma_sharks that a few other boats along the Massachusetts coast had similar experiences over the weekend with porbeagle taking stripers.

Porbeagles are sometimes underappreciated, mostly by those who are annoyed while focusing on big tuna, but they can be a fun fighting fish on the line. From a tuna fisherman’s perspective, they can be a nuisance, breaking off leaders and hooks. But it can be awesome for a charter to have that experience. It’s always fun with clients to see a decent-sized shark, especially if it’s their first time seeing one up close.

The porbeagle is a species of mackerel shark distributed widely in the cold and temperate marine waters of the North Atlantic. Gray above and white below, the porbeagle has a very stout midsection that tapers towards the long, pointed snout and the narrow base of the tail growing up to about eight feet on average (12 feet max).

The porbeagle is fast and highly active. Like other members of the mackerel shark family, the porbeagle can maintain its body temperature above ambient water temperature by up to 10℃. This is an unusual trait among fish, possessed by only a few other fast-swimming species, such as tunas. This ability is an important adaptation to the cold waters that porbeagles prefer and allows them to be a very fast-swimming predator.

Of course, lots of clients immediately think it’s a great white and yell “shark!” The great whites are related, but much bigger predators. The porbeagle doesn’t target marine mammals, tending to go for other, smaller fish, squid, bony fishes, and smaller sharks. And, in case you’re wondering, because of its fish diet, shark attacks on humans are extremely rare.

They are considered vulnerable in some areas, but porbeagle are locally more abundant, and sometimes a nuisance. A federal Highly Migratory Species fishing permit is required for this species and always check any updates to regulations.

Until next tide…