Don’t kid yourself … this is what you’re swimming with at the NJ shore

If you like swimming at the Jersey Shore, it's best to do it during the day when lifeguards are on duty and fishing is not permitted.

Some fishermen get annoyed at the "no fishing" policy lifeguards enforce at most beaches during the daytime.

Cole Anderson of Toms River and some of his friends were fishing on the Seaside Park Beach at 23rd Street on Monday evening and demonstrated why it's not a good idea to swim where people are fishing.

The 18-year-old recent graduate of High School North was not striper fishing. That's usually done in the spring and fall here in Jersey. No, they were going for a bigger game — sharks. They were using a technique that's popular on Florida beaches and is gaining popularity here in the summer. The water is warm, which attracts more sharks closer to shore. So, they kayaked out about a hundred yards and dropped their bait to the bottom further than most people can cast with a conventional reel.

They cut up blue fish that was caught earlier, which is a perfect bait for sharks. Bluefish are oily and bloody, just what Mr. and Mrs. Shark like for dinner. Cole and his friends' efforts and persistence paid off Monday night when they caught a 200-pound sand tiger shark, also known as a brown shark, right there on the beach.

I've fished pretty close to the beach from a boat and seen whales, thresher sharks, and other scary creatures pretty close to the beach.

Cole and his buddies obviously knew what they were doing in bringing the shark in, removing the hook with pliers, and releasing the protected fish back into the water. They did a great job fishing for it, catching it, and releasing the 7-foot sea creature back into the water.

So, yeah it's still out there and so are many others. If you swim during the day, when lifeguards are present to spot these things, and fishermen aren't plunking bloody bait down on the bottom, you should be ok. You SHOULD be ok.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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