July 15 2015

Sand Tigers In The Surf!

22  comments

Ryan Franklin

I pulled into the beach parking lot a little after 7:30 pm, which is earlier than I typically start surfcasting for sharks.

I had heard from a friend that there had recently been a good bite at dusk, so there I was ready to go nice and early.

The beach which I have been recently fishing is a pretty popular spot, and even at 7:30 pm there still a buzz of activity along the shoreline.

I was ahead of my fishing partner Brendan, who would be joining me shortly.

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Focus On Fishing Points

I drove until I found a little stretch of beach that wasn’t so crowded and jumped out of my Nissan Xterra, excited for the night of shark surfcasting which lay ahead.

When targeting sharks from shore, before I do anything, I walk down to the water’s edge. On this night the tide had just turned and was now receding. The warm water of the sound crashed over my feet and washed around my ankles.

Sea conditions were picture perfect, plus there was a light south west breeze-just enough to keep the bugs away!

I scanned the beach to my left and to my right, observing the shoreline. About 200ft to my right I a small point where the waves were rolling a little differently there.

Here's a Google Earth image of the type of point I am referring to. Keep your eyes peeled for spots like these!

Please login or start a $1 trail to viewpoint blurred

The spot looked so fishy I decided to jump back into my car, move down the shoreline, and set up shop for the night at this point.

Fish On!

Now that I had my spot all worked out I began setting up my lines. I had my first line in the water just before 8pm.

I start setting up my second rod when my Penn 6500 (which I just put out) starts singing ZzzzzZzzzzZzzzz! I turned to see my rod bouncing frantically in its pole holder and sprinted down the beach towards the commotion.

I quickly removed the rod from its holder and drop the tip towards the water, putting slack in the line which allowed myself to tighten up my drag. Once the fish had taken all the slack I leaned back and set the hook Fish on!

Immediately after getting hooked this shark came to the surface and thrashed its tail in the surf. The shark then broke to the right and started swimming parallel to the beach.

I gave chase, slowly gaining on the shark as we both moved down the shoreline. Luckily for me Brendan showed up right at this moment, and he was able to assist me in landing what would be the first of four sand tiger sharks taken during the night.

This first shark wasn’t a fish to write home about (they get much bigger), but it was a good sign of things to come.

surfcasting cape cod for sand tiger sharks

The safest method I have found thus far for removing the hook is to have one person sit on the shark's back to pin the fish down, and then hold the shark's mouth open for the other person to cautiously remove the hook with a long pair of pliers.

sand tiger shark fishing cape cod

Brendan snapped a few photos of the sand tiger and back into the water the shark went.

These sharks are federally protected so it is catch and release only.

The Night Bite

I put on another chunk of bait and cast my offering back out into the Sound. Another 20 or so minutes goes by and the sky begins to get dark. I break out the glow sticks, and attach them to the end of my poles so I can see the hits at night.

After about another 10 minutes one of the rods doubles over, violently sending my green glow stick spinning into the night. This was Brendan’s first shark fishing trip so I let him take this one.

Once he set the hook I could tell this fish was bigger than the last-especially after hearing the shark splash on the surface, somewhere out in the darkness.

After a great battle I grab the big sand tiger by the tail and drag it onto the beach. Woo hoo!

sand tiger shark surfcasting cape cod

Again, we snap a few photos and release the shark back into the darkness.

Now that it’s pitch black, and we just released a shark back into the water, I am a little weary about wading in the water barefoot! Nevertheless Brendan and I fished for another two hours and managed to land two more sand tiger sharks.

bent rod ryan franklin sand tiger shark fishing cape cod
unhooking cape cod sand tiger shark caught from shore
unhooking cape cod sand tiger shark caught from shore

At about 11 the bite seemed to have died off so we packed up our gear, called the trip a success, and headed home to bed.

Looking ahead, I think I am going to branch out next week and make a move a little further up Cape, in hopes of landing myself an elusive brown shark.​

Tight lines,

Ryan Franklin

Member Downloads

Information on the beach and areas fished

Information on the bait and techniques used

What do you think? Let me know by commenting below.

  • Great Article. You have my shark senses tingling with excitement.

    I will be on the beach chasing cape cod apex predators at the end of the month!

  • Hey Ryan! I was lucky enuf to get that night shark trip you put in the MFCC breakfast raffle! 1) thanks for donation that went to charity, 2) too bad you couldn’t make it for a great bfast and we meet 3) looking forward to a night out on the beach with the sharks!
    Lets talk soon!
    Ryan Krapp

  • On the bait set up – does the sliding weight holder go ahead of the barrel swivel (i.e., not on the leader)?

  • Hey Ryan thanks for the info. Definitely looking to do some more beach sharking this year. I have a few spots but the ones i land are few and far between. Very helpful article thanks man. My only question is what is your leader preference?

  • I have fished the Cape for 20+ years and have never caught a shark from the shore. I had no idea it was even an option. Definately put it on my fishing bucket list. Thanks for a great report!

  • This article got me excited about going out for them again. My friend and I took our kayaks out to a remote beach between Falmouth and Osterville where he has caught brown sharks in the past. On that night we pulled in about a dozen sand sharks up to approx. 3ft. Tons of fun!

    • Hey Ryan, I primarily fish out of the western Long Island sound and Montauk but I came across your article last summer when I first got the bug to try land based sharking. My family has a place in wellfleet so I am happy to say I will be able to put the time in this summer to land some sharks on the beach. (Hopefully some bass for the table as well) I’m planning on fishing the south shore and would love to connect if your still active.

      Appreciate all the helpful info you provide!

      Best,
      Richie

  • I just read the information about the gear you are using. I may try sooner than I thought that I would. Thanks for the detailed report and good luck on getting the brown shark.

  • Had an epic battle with a sand tiger in Yarmouth. Those fish are solid muscle, stripped line on me at will, and snapped my 8’rod when I landed him.A truly majestic fish, proud to release him back.

  • At the beach I go for a walk with my wife which is a little more than a mile I see ones in awhile people fishing for sand sharks. I wonder if you are there sometimes. I will look for your car next time. By the way about a month ago I caught 3 Bluefish in that area. I would like to go for the sand sharks but I don’t think that I have the proper gear yet. Is the same gear that you use when targeting stripers in the Canal?

    • There’s a good chance I’ve been down there. My Xterra is white, come up and say hi if you ever see it down there.

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