Printer Friendly Version - A Second Tagged Shark Surprises Sounders

Cabot, a great white shark measuring 9.8 feet and weighing 533 pounds, recently detoured into Long Island Sound from his migration route north. Photo illustration courtesy of Captain Morgan

It is fitting that a great white shark would visit a quaint piece of Long Island Sound along The Gold Coast right around the big Memorial Day weekend. Sound familiar? Well, Cabot, named after the famed Italian navigator and explorer John Cabot, did just that.

“I heard that sending a ping from Long Island Sound had never been done before by a white shark, so naturally, I had to visit and send one off,” the shark said on Twitter.

Cabot, a 533-pound male, was originally tagged in Nova Scotia in 2018. Recently, on his northerly migration, he was pinged in Florida, the Carolinas, and Delaware Bay, before being tracked into the Sound, where his Twitter handlers tweeted, “Hello Greenwich, how are you today?” That little comment and the news of his visit overloaded the Osearch website, which tracks the white sharks their research tag.

In September 2016, another white shark tagged by Osearch and named Montauk was pinged just south of Faulkner’s Island off the Guilford coast. At the time, the 4.6-foot, 50-pound female was the first young-of-the-year white shark tagged during Expedition New York and the first great white ever pinged in Long Island Sound. There is little doubt that others have slipped into the Sound unnoticed over the years to explore the varied habitat and grab a snack, but they were never tagged. Sorry, Cabot, you were not the first, but you can still claim to be the first male to have pinged from the Sound.

Not to worry, though. There have only been three human brushes with sharks in the past 85 years: one on the New York side and two in Connecticut. Reportedly, they were all superficial and minor, including one originating from a hand bite after a speared shark evidently reacted naturally. However, you should always err on the side of caution where schools of fish and swimmers meet in shallow water.

As far as Cabot is concerned, he was last pinged just south of Block Island after an uneventful departure. Perhaps he will slip back in when he heads south in the fall.

While enjoying the Sound’s richness this season, watch out for our visitors, many of which are protected and should be treated accordingly. A quick Internet search for protected species under the Endangered Species Act will keep you informed and help avoid unnecessary harm. Enjoy the fight, but know your sharks and, if a protected one is hooked, cut the line without removing the fish from the water. That is if you don’t get spooled first!

Memorial Day celebrations went on without a hitch as fishers scrambled to splash their vessels for the weekend. Inshore Long Island Sound water temperatures neared the high 50s as seas remained calm considering that the clashing of air temps produced rumbles of thunder and rough water conditions. Humidity levels felt more like summer, causing the air to feel heavy with reduced visibility, although things quickly settled into a more palatable pattern.

Striped bass activity responded to the recent Full Flower Moon and challenging weather, but evened off as May came to a close. Calmer seas allowed for better drifts and easier trolling along the reefs and rip lines. Live eels, jigs, and umbrella rigs did well—as did chunk baits. The tidal rivers continue to show good activity as schoolie bass take advantage of the various bait runs. Faulkner’s and several inshore reefs have seen fish in the 35- to 40-inch range during flood tides, but fishers are working for them.

Fluking is slowly picking up as the water warms. Shorts continue to dominate while intermittent catches more than seven pounds are occurring. Six Mile has been moderately productive when seas allowed, while the mouths of some of our key tidal rivers are proving reasonably productive. The spring weakfish bite continues to shine, although catches were off until seas laid down and mid-Sound routes were more fishable. Keep your eyes open for any early bluefish as some catches are being made.

The black sea bass bite has been OK if you don’t mind wading through numbers of shorts. Fishing in deeper water with squid can hook you up with some three- to four-pounders, but the real humpbacks have been eluding most fishers. Catches will improve once water temperatures reach 59 degrees and above. More porgy (scup) are being caught now that they are spreading out. Some catches have been in the hubcap size range and mostly caught with sea worms, however, squid is working on the offshore bite as it is with sea bass. Now would be the time to devote part of a tide to land a winter flounder or two.

May stocking wound down as trout rivers have moderated and are clearing up, resulting in more catches. Quality brooks, browns, and rainbows are continuing to be caught without necessarily favoring worms, artificial baits, lures, or flies. Scented baits and grubs continue to be a popular choice. The largemouth bass bite is good, smallmouths variable, some decent pike, high numbers of aggressive pickerel, quality perch, as well as sunfish. Catfish, carp, and crappie anglers should be happy, while white perch enthusiasts are quietly smiling.

Note: Email us pics of your catches to share with our USA and international fishing friends who keep up with the latest fishing news and frequent social media.

For all things fishy including rod repairs, swing by the shop (203-245-8665) open seven days located at 21 Boston Post Road, Madison. Until next time from your Connecticut shoreline’s full-service fishing outfitter, where we don’t make the fisherman, we make the fisherman better...

Vintage photo of Captain Charles Nappi (The Duke of Fluke) with his All-Tackle World Record fluke of 22 pounds, 7 inches caught near Montauk Point on Sept. 15, 1975 using a snapper blue as bait. Photo courtesy of Captain Al Ristori