Cape Charles, VA Fishing Report, August 25: Baby Shark Do do do do do do

 Well, not exactly a baby....

One of the cardinal rules of wade fishing in the salt water is to keep your head on a swivel.  Down at the mouth of Plantation Creek, for example, you'll see a fair number of Rays.  They're easy to avoid, and if they get close you simply slap your rod tip in the water and they swim off.  Turns out that technique works for toothy predators as well.

I decided to break out the fly rod and get in a little casting this morning.  Conditions were excellent.  Temps in the 70s, clear skies, a light breeze, but the water was clear.

I started wading down towards the mouth of the creek, blind casting every once in a while.  The tide had been going our for an hour or so, and I was in thigh-deep water.  As I was making my way down, though, I saw thrashing in the water about 200 yards further down.  

Curt, Joe and I had seen a shark while fishing Secret Beach two weeks ago.  Figuring that there was a shark down there, I slowly made my way back to the breakwater and shallower water.  About 100 feet or so from the breakwater, more thrashing.  Couldn't tell whether it was a big Ray or the shark.  But not far from the breaker I saw what I thought was a school of Reds.  So what do you do in that case?  Well, you start casting of course.

I was standing in shin-deep water, casting to fish, and happened to look to my left, only to see Mr. Shark swimming toward me.  Even in shallow water, I wasn't going to out run it.  But I remembered a fishing video I saw some time ago where an angler slapped his rod tip at the nose of a shark to scare it off.

So that's what I did.  And the technique worked.  The fish got within 5-6 feet of me before it took off.  I hung around for awhile, and saw two wakes pushing water beyond the bar.  So I figured Mr. Shark was with a buddy and still in the area.  So called it a morning.  

In 5 years of wade-fishing this spot, it's the first time I've seen a shark up close.  My suspicion is that they were going after the Rays in the shallows.  A little Google search revealed that Sandbar and Bull Sharks feed on Rays in Virginia waters.  I couldn't tell what species was swimming my way.  Looked like it might have been 4-5 feet long, but I was more focused on scaring the fish off than close observation.

Nature, go figure.

Tight Lines,

Mikey D Fishing