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| Photo Credit: Tom Lynch "California Tom" angryfish.tv |
NBC Philadelphia:
A once in a lifetime moment at the Jersey Shore has become the latest sensation. It's a video of sharks literally flying through the air as they devour fish. NBC10 tracked down and spoke with the man behind the camera.
"The sharks were attacking with incredible ferocity," said Tom Lynch.
Lynch says it happened Thursday just off Island Beach State Park in Ocean County. He first saw the sharks about a mile out. Only a few minutes later however, he says they were right in front of him.
"There were some that were going, I would estimate, literally 20 feet, sideways out of the water horizontally," said Lynch.
Lynch tells NBC10 there were easily dozens of sharks, if not more, feasting on menhaden, also known as mossbunker.
"They were just going ballistic on this bait," said Lynch. "These sharks came in within 50 yards of the shoreline."
"I've seen a lot of things," said Lynch. "And I've never seen a shark feeding frenzy."
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection tells NBC10 the sharks appear to be blacktip or spinner sharks, if not both. The DEP says those types of sharks are more common to southern waters but that the ocean off the Jersey Shore has been warmer than normal this year.
"It's unusual to my eyes for sure," said Dr. Richard Fernicola, author of "Twelve Days of Terror," a book investigating the New Jersey shark attacks of 1916.
"The water has been in the 70s since June," said Dr. Fernicola. "So this August, you certainly should see a very dynamic, vibrant ocean with all sorts of species."
"What I saw going on that day with those sharks was unbelievable," said Lynch. "I don't think I'm going to see it again."
Monday August 20th, 2012
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| They were right . . . HERE |
The shark frenzy hit the news and California Tom's video traveled into the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of people as the story of the shark blitz made it to the big networks. I doubt there isn't a dirt harvester in Nebraska who hasn't heard of the shark frenzy at the Jersey by now! When I started watching the footage on Saturday morning on his site, AngryFishTV , I was almost too excited. What?! I walked out of the house and looked at the rods. The wind was east, not too hard, just right at 10mph. That would make the high tide, the perfect high tide in the evening, a bit higher. This is the night!
I called the local team members and the plan was set. I arrived on the beach and California Tom himself, Rick, and Steve were casting to small blues. Scattered birds were all around, the wind was steady soft east, and the water was high. I pulled up closer and saw little blues crashing bait here and there, spraying up rain fish. The small short period east waves had cut a cliff in the berm offering an overlook setup. 'This is right' I thought. I could feel it, the energy was in the air. Awesome. I've waited all summer and here we go, it's finally going to happen. I asked California Tom a bunch of questions while small bluefish- fresh bait- hit the metals. At 7:00pm I set out the first bait.
And it did not take long. My rod had action within a few minutes. Slam slam straight. Something testing the bait. Cast again. The next hit came quick. I picked it up, but the fish ran in and dropped it. Ok. I cast again. Several minutes later I was rocked! I set back. Zzz Zzzzzz bink. Damn! It's gone, it's all gone. I proudly showed Rick my new terminal tackle. They are here. All the baits were set out, but the action slowed off. That's ok, it wasn't even dark. With the change of pace, as California Tom was leaving, him and I were saying to Rick that it's all fake- just Photoshop and tall tales. With perfect irony, not one second after we finished joking, Rick's rod was making for the sand. You're on! Go, go, go!
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| Big hits, sharks, catching swimming fishing poles. Rick was ON FIRE Saturday. |
Best night of the summer! Hot enough to melt all the former averageness (in terms of consistency) of the 2012 summer away, quickly. Gone. Over. Patience pays off and a good bite was enjoyed. I stayed after the team left at 10:00pm. I knew I would hook up again and that it would be my first night doing everything by myself. That's a good night when you know you're going to hook up again. And I got hit- four times- and connected twice. On my second one, the crew to the south was on too, I could hear the happy hollering, and I let out my own happy holler totally alone in the dark night with a shark on the line.
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| I got two by myself after the team left. An empty beach, the big black sky, and a buzzing drag. There are things that are equal, but there is nothing better! |
After the Thursday shark blitz and four sharks on the beach Saturday, there was no question as whether or not to fish on Sunday. With sharking, part of the fun is the pre-game ritual, which is catching bait. Thinking about a rod going to the ground makes casting for 1lb bluefish and kingfish a whole lot more interesting than thinking about catching 1lb bluefish and kingfish. Unlike the night before, the blues really weren't in, aside from a few on poppers before sunset. So it's a good idea to bring a few back up baits in case the bait gathering doesn't work out. Boooop! Lines in! What happened next was sweet.
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| It was a big small shark blitz at dusk. 3 out of 6 rods were down at once! |
Dave Arnold joined in, and Chris B who was in the other camp last night and who also did well was on the end of the line next to Dave. Ronnie joined in next to Rick. Six lines. It didn't take long for mine to go down. I pulled it out of the spike and didn't have to play any games, it was on and going. I tried to land my modest shark with the least disturbance to the other lines, even though it was swimming into everyone. First shark on the beach! After the standard hook removal and pictures, it was back to waiting. After sunset, but still not dark. Actually, the clouds broke near the horizon and the fading sun cast an orange glow, which made it brighter as it was getting darker.
What happened after that, I have no definitive recall. Lines were going down. Hits. This one is on, that one is on. Ah! Lost it! There's a shark in over there. Oh wait, wait, don't go you just had a hit. Who has pliers? Cut it. No way, get the hook out. Yo, yo, you're getting bumped. Fish on! Fish on! At the height of the 'blitz' three rods were down at once. You need help? No I got it. Cameras flashing over there. I need another rig! Coming down. Reel up. Should we reel up? No, you should be good. Welcome to North Carolineee. Can you send me that picture? I don't consider myself as 'one who fishes bait' but the one hour action was the best blitz action I had since the fleeting big bass events in the spring.
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| This is great fishing. Ronnie's bait placement proved you don't necessarily have to dislocate a shoulder to have a confident cast. He had two and the largest of the night which broke off in the wash before a picture. |
Okay after a few nights it bangs you up. I mean for me, between getting gear ready, preparing, looking for bait it's like a whole day, and it's a whole day before the fishing even starts. Then there's the lack of sleep and rod butt bruises on the inner thigh. But who gives a crap! When the fish are in, you go, go, go. There will always be such wonderful things as laundry and food shopping and work, so I feel it's okay to spite those activities once in a while when there is something out of the ordinary.
So Monday night was no question. I asked Rick if lightning can strike three times. Well I'd sure like to find out. What a scene it was, everyone there! There was like 15 rods in the a line! Sal said it was like 'Hollywood'. There was the celebrity, California Tom, who was telling of the stream of news vans to his house. Shell E and crew were there, Dave Arnold and Joe, Donald, who else? Rick, Steve, RV Jerry related the awesome story of the tuna that were mixed in the with the blitz, Chris B and a larger crew, Jeff Z, Vinny, and Mike were in for the shark.
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| Thumbs up! |
But you know how it goes by now. When everyone shows up . . . but at least there were a few caught! The line covered so much area it took a few minutes for the team on the end to figure out what was going on upstream. Hey, are they on over there? I don't know, yo, they hooked up down there? Yeah. Cool, I'm going to check it out. While the bite wasn't as good, and there was no bite for most, I noticed three or four hits or hook ups were all in the same spot. Rick mentioned the same thing, how his rod was getting bit Saturday, but Steve's was not, sorry Steve, at least the pictures are right on. I told the story of how in 2009, the great shark year, how the one night Tom and I had them, Tom's rod was getting all the fish and my rod, only 15 feet away, was getting nothing.
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| How the heck do you hold this thing? |
People filtered out since the bite was slow, but I hung around nearly to the end. I learned a bait fishing trick from Dave Arnold that I will permanently use, but the fish just weren't there to test it out all the way. Jeff Z, Vinny, and Mike outlasted me, which is rare, after they missed a nice hit just as they were about to leave. I heard the drag and saw the bending rod from 150ft away, but no one got there in time. You really have to earn these things. The big hit was enough for me to cast another bait, but with no more action I was done by midnight. Three nights of full on sharking is my limit!
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| The de-hooker is sometimes a tool for the overly cautious, but it is really good for getting deep hooks back. |
So for me I'm taking a rest night- clean the vehicle, straighten up, put some rigs together, etc. Plus I need to get ready for the force that is coming, a force that can make head high waves from nothing, or a great night of fishing from a less than stellar anything. The drought to flood was epic. The comatose state to national attention was mind bogglingly rejuvenating. The tag of 2012 is no longer yeah it's ok, it is 2012 SHARK FEEDING FRENZY. Awesome.
