There are days on the water that leave you talking about the fishing, and then there are days that leave you thinking about the choices we make as anglers.
Recently, I headed out of Montauk with one goal in mind: catch-and-release shark fishing. Sharks have become one of the highlights of summer along Long Island, providing incredible battles on spinning tackle before swimming away to fight another day. It didn’t take long to find them.
As I approached one area, I came upon a fleet of roughly a dozen boats targeting striped bass. The fish were obviously there, with rods bending around the fleet as bass were hooked one after another. The fish finder looked like what boat angler dreams about, marking pile after pile of stripers. But there was another predator in the mix.
I set out one fresh mackerel bait, and within a minute it disappeared; a large brown shark found the hook. After releasing it, I reset another bait. Again, it was eaten in less than a minute by another brown shark. It quickly became clear the sharks weren’t just passing through—they had completely taken over the area.
As I watched the surrounding fleet continue fishing for striped bass, an unfortunate pattern emerged. Boat after boat hooked bass, only to have sharks intercept them before they reached the net. Over the next hour, I watched roughly two-dozen striped bass get hooked. Only one actually made it into a boat. The rest were bitten in half, stripped down, or simply lost to the sharks before they could be landed. Watching it unfold was beyond frustrating.
The sharks weren’t the problem. They’re simply doing what nature designed them to do. If an injured or exhausted fish is struggling toward the surface, it’s an easy meal. The issue, in my opinion, was continuing to target striped bass after it became painfully obvious what the outcome was going to be.
Every angler faces decisions on the water. Sometimes conditions change. Sometimes another species moves into the area. And sometimes the responsible decision is simply to change your game plan. On this particular day, there were plenty of alternatives. Sea bass fishing was excellent. Porgies were chewing. Fluke were available. If the goal was to bring home fresh fish for dinner, there were several productive options that didn’t involve repeatedly hooking striped bass only to have them become shark food.
So that’s exactly what I did. I picked up, ran about a mile away, and dropped down on some structure. Three drifts later, I had my sea bass limit and was headed home with plenty of fillets for the table. The decision wasn’t difficult.
As anglers, we often talk about conservation in terms of regulations, seasons, and size limits. Those rules are essential, but conservation also comes down to the choices we make when nobody tells us what to do. It means recognizing when circumstances have changed and adjusting accordingly, even if that means abandoning the original plan.
No law required anyone in that fleet to stop targeting striped bass. They were fishing legally. But legality and ethics aren’t always the same thing. Regulations establish the minimum standard. As sportsmen and women, we should strive for something higher.
Striped bass continue to face challenges throughout their range, and every fish matters. Watching bass repeatedly hooked only to be eaten before reaching the boat didn’t sit right with me, especially when so many other quality fisheries were available just a short run away.
There will always be another tide and another chance to chase striped bass. On that day, though, the better decision was to leave them alone and take advantage of the outstanding sea bass fishing nearby to bring home some fillets.
Sometimes the best fishing decision isn’t about catching a certain species of fish. Sometimes it’s simply about knowing when to move because as anglers, we owe it to the resource to use our ethics to make the right decision.
