Has the water temp gone down any in the past few days?

tYes in some places as low as 76 Deg. This SW blow will warm it back up.

Guys,

I was at the CBBT on Sunday and had 77-79 degree's. This week should warm things up again.




Sinclair

I was in the mobjack bay around the mouth to the ches bay on sunday (catching sharks all afternoon i might add...what a blast!!) and the water temps where between 81 and 84.

i wouldnt mind trying to mess with the shark thing any suggestions i launch out of back river locations bait ect?

We were fishing with ultralight tackle using schrimp, some cut bait but they really seemed to like the squid the best, just make sure that you pick up some hooks with steel leaders I was nowhere prepared for the sharks lost almost every hook I had in the boat between my wife and kids but it was well worth it they had a blast.

The sharks we were catching werent real big I would say between a foot and a half and 3 foot but they fight like mad and had a mouth full of teeth a lot of fun for the kids. I figured I would try to post a pic.

I have had lots of success with sharks around Thimble Shoals Light, Blue Fish Rock and areas up around Cape Charles cobia fishing.

Just read that all this week the wind is going to be coming from the norteast until Friday night switching to the east. Then back to northeast Saturday switching to the south Sunday.

Does anyone know the regulations on those sharks? I'd love to have some shark steaks!

You know my brother in law asked me the same question when we were catching them.... does anyone eat these things?

[quote=Chilli04,Aug 16 2006, 08:40 PM][quote=bullhog,Aug 16 2006, 08:28 PM]Does anyone know the regulations on those sharks? I'd love to have some shark steaks!
[/quote]


You know my brother in law asked me the same question when we were catching them.... does anyone eat these things?

[/quote]
Chilli,

In my answer to you in your post "Kind of new to the bay" I posted the limit on shark and what they are. These are limited/regulated by the federal government and I think it's one per boat per day, but may be one per angler per day. I take only one or two per year so it's not a problem on a daily bag limit. Smooth and spiny dog fish don't come under this ruling.

Although they are good eating, you must handle them correctly starting at the point of putting them in the boat. If not handled and perpared correctly they become bad tasting as they are very rich in nitrogen and end up smelling like ammonia.

Would the answer be to clean the shark as soon as you catch it to avoid the bad taste?

Opps! Sorry about that..... yes, kill and gut the shark as soon as possible after getting it on the boat and pack it in ice - lots of ice and keep it that way unitl you get home.

Once at the house, I tke it out and fin it, cut off the head and tail. I then cut it cross-wise into about 1-1/2 steaks and then I skin each steak individually (your choice on how to skin). Once skinned, take the steaks and place them in a glass baking dish (or dishes) and make a mixture of water and vinegar. One tablespoon of vinegar to approximately each pound of fish and mix the water and vinegar together well. Then pour the mixture on the fish until the steaks are covered. I put plastic wrap over the baking dishes and place them in the refrigerator for 8 to 10 hours and let it soak.

Take out of the fridge and either cook or greeze the steaks for future use. Hope this helps.

Again to make the point, make sure that the fish is killed and gutted as soon as possible in the boat and then pack in ice and keep it packed well to retard the process of the meat turning from the nitrogen.

We broil most of our fish or bake it. Fish on the grill is also good. don't over cook. Just cook it until the meat starts to flake easily using a fork. You can marinate it in your favorite whatever before cooking also.

Wow! Lots of 411...thanks!

No kidding on the 411 I had found some info on the web about cleaning them but it said nothing about gutting them as soon as possible.

Thanks agian
Chilli

My only other question would be, do you gut these just like any other fish?

You guys eat the sand sharks out of the bay?

I don't know exactly what kind of shark it was, looked like any other shark, but it didn't have any teeth....my son caught it and wanted to eat it, so we did, and it was delicious! Grilled it...tasted like swordfish....

I didn't keep any the first year I fished but was told how to handle them and usually keep 2 or 3 a year if big enough. Here is what the guy at the (Old Point Comfort) told me to do:

a. Gut them as soon as possible. I just run a knife right down thier middle (gill to tail) and pull/rinse guts out.
b. Ice them down completely.
c. Filet them out like you would do a Rockfish.
d. Cook to taste. I actually like breading them and deep frying them like you would do wings.

They guy did tell me that a shark urinates through its skin so it is important to wash your hands alot as you are cutting the filets off.

Not sure on that part but I do it and they are great.

Hope this helps.

I agree with all on the this one. The "sharks" that you guys are catching are probably a smooth dogfish or spiny dogfish. That's what I have always heard of them referred to. They are, however, still sharks and need to be handled with care. Watch out for the spine sticking out by the anal fin...if they stick you with that, you wont soon forget. If you have ever been over to England and had fish and chips...chances are you have already eaten said sharks. Prep is important. If you don't want the mess in the boat, you can slit the throat and tail tie overboard to bleed out. Then, cut the stomach out and remove entrails (save the stomach for cut bait) and pack in ice for the ride home. Clean and prepare according to preference.

--Brett

The shark in the picture has teeth which SmoothDogfish do not have. Actually they have teeth but more like those found in skates, small rough pavement like teeth for crushing crabs, etc. The teeth in the picture are pointed and more typical shark like. This would lead me to guess that you were catching juvenile Sandbar (AKA Brown) sharks, Carcharhinus plumbeus. Common in the bay. If you have ever been to the Virginia Aqaurium (Marine Science Museum) then you have seen these swimming in the large tank. They grow to around 10 ft but the largest I have ever seen is around 6'. Very slow growing and only have 1-2 young at a time. For many shark species it can take 5-10 years to reach sexual maturity so conservation is the key with these guys. Populations of these sharks were decimated in recent years for shark fin soup.

For most sharks recreational regs are 1 shark per boat per day length must be 54 inches in fork length or 30 inches in carcass length. There are also prohibtions on which species can be kept. Here is the link to the VMRC website with the regs.

http://www.mrc.state.va.us/regulations/fr490.shtm

If you plan on keeping sharks it is probably a good idea to buy a field guide or print one out so that you can properly id them and not get a fine.

As for the bleeding/gutting purpose. Sharks have high amounts of Urea in their blood to help with osmoregulation, that is to keep the water in their bodies from rushing out into the surrronding seawater. This is why they need to be cleaned immediately after death or the urea in the blood will seep into their flesh.

Sharks have always been an interest of mine and I actually did some research on them in grad school and worked with them at Baltimore Aquarium and New Jersey State Aquarium. Interesting animals.

Wow talk about a wealth of knowledge this is the place to go for a newbie such as myself, I not being very knowledgable about this stuff as of yet thought that these were in fact sandbar sharks I looked at some pics on the web and the pics that I have and the sandbar most closely resembled what we caught. These sharks indeed had a mouth full of teeth that I was somewhat nervous about handling but in the end the sharks were not all that bad as far as handling went once they were in the boat, I think they just wanted to get back in the water which is exactly what we did with them but like I said earelier my kids and I had a blast had some really good laughs when these things started hiting cause they fought pretty good and considering we didnt have any steel leaders and we had mono lined hooks just to get them in the boat was a task, everytime they ran if you didnt feed em line they were biting right through the lines I was none to happy about leaving them out there with hooks in there mouths and since have bought the proper steel leader type hooks so I wont do that in the future. Speaking of hooks what is everyones take on the circle hooks? I am hearing pro's and conns on the circle hooks myself I dont think I will ever be able to use them as I yank the heck out of a pole when setting a hook ( I am actually waiting for the day I reel in a pair of fish lips on my hook lol)been a bad habbit for years and just cant break myself of it but my daughter for one I think would really benifit from using the circle hooks and I would like to get some feedback on them.

Thanks agian for all the great info keep it up, im starting to take notes about all of this hehehe.

Chilli

I think circle hooks are good when doing catch and release. They seem to me to be designed to set in the corner of the lips. You have to make sure to keep a steady tension on the line, as they come out quite easily if there is slack in the line.

circle hooks for big red and black drum

Gus are you saying that circle hooks should only be used for certain types of fish?

Yes, but only a couple a year. I do not know what you mean by 'sand shark' as it seems that depending on who you talk to you get a different description of a "sand shark".

Smooth dog fish are good to eat as are the spiney dog fish. The Brits serve them with fries and call it fish and chips. The spiney dog fish has a spike ahead if its dorsal fin and one ahead the other fin on its back, but the smooth dog fish does not have these spines.

The little gray sharks with teeth are either baby dusky shark or baby brown sharks that were born recently in the bay. They are good to eat.

Treat and clean any shark like I described above and it will be okay if you do it correctly. Just don't take many as the shark populations as you probably know are down.

Last I heard the dog fish limits were not like the shark limits and you could take several. This is the link to the saltwater fishing regulations here in Virginia.

http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/sw...shingrules.shtm

Here is the shark regulations. They are governed by the federal rules even though the rules are in the VMRC written regulations. Note in section 4 VAC 20-490-40 it states one shark per boat per day with the actual wording being (emphasis is mine);

"The taking, catching, or possessing aboard a vessel of more than one shark, from either the large coastal, small coastal, or pelagic group, per day, or the possession of more than one Atlantic sharpnose shark and one bonnethead shark per person, per day, shall constitute a violation of this regulation." (Note regs change with the sharpnose and bonnethead.)

The next line in the regs summarily says NO PROHIBITED SHARKS, so know what you are catching otherwise you might get a ticket........

http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/fr490.shtm