Shark fishing from the beach has a real following in southern New England, and it is a genuine thrill to fight a powerful shark from the sand. It is also, rightly, one of the most tightly regulated things you can do with a fishing rod here, because of white sharks, seals, and crowded summer beaches. Done responsibly, it is largely a catch-photograph-release fishery, and it belongs where the rules allow it: the south-facing Cape beaches, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Where to do it, and where you cannot
Location is not just about the fishing, it is about the law. Massachusetts has created a zone where heavy shark gear from shore is prohibited: from the northernmost point of Plymouth Beach, around Cape Cod Bay and the Outer Cape, including all of Chatham Harbor and Monomoy Island. That is exactly why shore sharking is directed to the south-facing beaches of the Cape (the Nantucket Sound side), Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, which sit outside that prohibited area. Even there, never fish near swimmers or seals, and never near a guarded or crowded beach.
What you will catch
The common shore-caught sharks in these waters are sandbar (“brown”) sharks, sand tigers, and smooth dogfish, with other species possible. Here is the key: most of these, sandbar and sand tiger included, are prohibited species you cannot keep. So this is a release fishery by design, get a quick photo in the wash and let it swim.
How to fish it
It is heavy work. Fish a heavy surf sharking setup, a big cut bait (bunker or mackerel) on a circle hook with a wire or heavy bite trace, fished on the bottom from a sand spike. Low light and night are prime. Because the rules limit how you can get a bait out (see below), keep baits within a reasonable cast, and be set up to handle and release a big fish fast.