(Originally published January/February 2020)
By Capt. Craig Angelini
After eating a healthy dose of humble pie on a recent fall mako shark fishing trip, I realized there are really five factors that seem to make the most difference between success and failure when chasing sharks. Although I knew these observations to be true prior to that trip, striking out has a way of making you reprioritize what you “know.”
Often, our decisions make the difference between success and failure on the water. During this particular trip, I had it in my mind that water temperature and location were the keys to our success. As I waited through September and early October for our weather window, I spent my efforts watching the sea surface temperature shots. I figured once the water temp fell to the mid-60s, anywhere around the Monster Ledge (a traditionally good shark fishing spot in New Jersey) would produce. Around Oct. 16 the stars aligned; we had our weather window with a 66- to 64-degree break right on the area I wanted to fish.
While running out to the grounds we came across some bird life and surface activity a few miles offshore. We slowed down briefly to check it out, but we decided to stick to the plan and head another 20 miles offshore.
When we arrived at our spot, time was taken to figure out the drift and properly position the boat. Our intention was to drift from the east side flat over the drop-off then back up onto the west side flat, then over a known wreck that has produced well in the past.
