Inside the Dangerous, Secretive World of Extreme Fishing

Wetsuiting is a form of saltwater fishing that involves wearing a wetsuit and wading or swimming out to offshore rocks—almost exclusively at night, often during storms—to access deeper water or faster currents than can be reached in traditional waders. The quarry are striped bass, a fish that migrates every spring, mostly from the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, to as far north as Maine, and back down again in the fall.

Although “stripers”—one of the most popular game fish in America—can be caught during normal waking hours, the largest members of the species, some more than four feet long, usually come close to shore at night. Stripers prefer inclement weather and rough water, which make ambushing their prey easier, but also make conditions more dangerous for the men—wetsuiters are nearly all men—who chase them.

Inside the Dangerous, Secretive World of Extreme Fishing

A bit of synchronicity today after that Martinique beach post. I saw this good article in one of the leading U.S. mags today, appropriately called The Atlantic, and it was a flashback to the days I did wetsuiting. I was pumped to see it covered in a magazine with the reach and rep that The Atlantic has.

I always wanted to bass fish the shore here after my experience in the states. The coastline here is spectacular. Martinique beach was high on the list. I did fish very briefly here decades ago. There were fish in the 60 lb class taken here then but that faded after the age class died out. They were almost certainly American fish at that time. Since then native bass pops have exploded to the point that trout and salmon guys are up in arms.

I fished bass from Maine to Montauk for about a decade. I tried a lot of methods from fly fishing to live eels but the most fun was wetsuiting to rocks in the night. It was more productive and it was so much more fun to be in the water. I only got into wetsuiting the last 2-3  years I was there and wish I had started with it. If I was still there I would likely still be at it.

I just heard last month that sharks are a problem now like they say in the article. I had no idea. I haven’t been keeping up on bass fishing. The water and conditions were the biggest threat when I was doing it and likely still are. I had a rock I swam to that was a tricky spot. Being a lousy swimmer I was always worried about getting to it. It wasn’t far off the closer, easier rock but when the tide was running missing it would put you in Africa. I used to swim vertically using a dust pan for a paddle. I didn’t use swim fins like many used. I would let the tide drop until I could see the rock to guide me. One night the water was calm and I wanted to start early so I tried for the rock when it was covered. The water was moving and in a 7mm wetsuit you are a cork and the tide pushes you hard. I missed the landing spot on the rock. I was down tide where the rock was vertical and the wetsuit being like a strait jacket makes it very hard to lift yourself up. There was a tiny bit of swell that would wash over the top of the rock and push me back when I tried. This was tiring me fast and I began to see how much trouble I was in. Finally panic and adrenaline made me slam my rod down on the rock and heave with all I had to get on the rock. I cracked a guide but I was on the rock and that was a huge relief. I didn’t forget it and didn’t try it again. The pros in the article would laugh at my adventure but at that stage I had too little experience to be proud.

He mentioned an acquaintance who had washed up lifeless in the surf on Cuttyhunk Island.

Mention of this made me wonder. Back when I was following wetsuiting online there was a guy that was extreme as any but I can’t remember who he was. Once he talked about swimming between the Elizabeth Islands to get to good spots partly because access was restricted. Some of the islands are private and the super rich discourage visitors. He was doing it at night miles from the mainland. Great whites patrolled the islands and I couldn’t believe the guts it took to do that. I wonder if it was him that washed up.

The article mentioned sleep deprivation as one  of the dangers. He is right. I was driving 60 miles to fish and driving back after being tired and wet all night was bad. I fell asleep more than once driving and that was likely the biggest danger.

By Sausele’s estimate and that of other Montauk fishermen I talked with, only about five or six hard-core wetsuiters fish The End regularly today, down from dozens in the ’90s and 2000s. (Many local fishermen still wear a wetsuit, but vanishingly few swim out to Montauk’s far-flung reefs at night.)

I had no idea it dropped off like this. As he says, however, no fish, sharks and access issues have changed much. I guess my timing was good. I got to see some of the Montauk scene before the crash.

Wetsuiters have a mantra: “Boat fish don’t count.”

Amen to that.

The last fish I caught in the states was about this size and my personal best.

​I was surprised there was no mention of Paul Melnyk or Skishing aka fishing while floating in a wetsuit. When I was into wetsuiting he was the primary name associated with it. Maybe it fell out of favor. Like the article says, having your feet on a rock helps. I never tried Skishing but some of the UK and Irish guys I fished with went out with Melnyk. After Mike tried it he said it was quite the experience. On looking, Melnyk appears to have moved away from Montauk and the fishing. He came to see us once and we may have eaten dinner at the Shagwong as mentioned in the article but the details are fuzzy now. Melnyk wrote a book about the fishing and Montauk. I have it but there wasn’t much in it to do with the fishing surprisingly. 

10 years ago, catching a brown shark in Long Island Sound happened but not on a regular basis. Over the past three years the number of brown sharks in Long Island Sound exploded at a frightening pace. This season we have reached a point where the striped bass fishing is extremely difficult due to the number of sharks. The stripers are afraid to bite and if you do hook one they are getting bit in half by the sharks. In a five hour fishing trip we are having as many as 10 shark encounters whether it’s a shark eating our bait, biting a striper in half or circling our boats. This is happening every trip and every day. These sharks are 5 to 8 feet long and can weigh over 200lbs. At this point I’m guessing there are thousands if not tens of thousands of sharks in LIS based on the numbers that we are encountering on a daily basis all summer long. These sharks do not have a natural predator in this area so there is nothing to keep the population under control. I believe they are detrimental to the striper population. The sharks have been protected for decades, and I believe it’s time that we need to control these predators as their population is spiraling out of control. Reel Cast Charters

I had seen this earlier in August that sharks were becoming a problem.

@cbc

Mi’kmaw canoe builders share traditional knowledge for fending off sharks. 🦈🌿🛶 Great white sharks live off Canada’s East Coast, and some filmmakers went on a mission to find them. Read more about them at the link in bio 👆 Watch Jawsome: Canada’s Great White Sharks free on @CBC Gem 📺

♬ original sound – CBC

I don’t know what to make of this. How often would they run into sharks that they needed to come up with this? I have tons of doubts and would not want to test it in a shark frenzy.

 

THE CULT OF THE STRIPER

​A great piece by C.J. Chivers. He had some very memorable phrases like referring to bass as “proletariat salmon.” Behind a paywall, unfortunately.

On a Fishing Trip, Casting for Striped Bass, and Reeling in a Tautog

Another piece by Chivers that is readable, at least.

His book, The Gun, a work of history published under the Simon & Schuster imprint, was released in October 2010. Chivers is considered one of the most important war correspondents of his generation, noted for his expertise on weapons.

I read the book and it was good.