First Day of Montauk Marine Basin Shark Tourney Sees Big Catch

The first day of the 43rd annual Shark Tag competition kicked off Friday at the Montauk Marine Basin. The two-day contest, with 55 boats competing for a total $50,000 pot, has crews facing off for who can hook the biggest catch.

Participants are permitted one shark

Montauk, was in many ways the birth place of the shark fishing industry, when Frank Mundus began angling off the South Fork. Mundus was the inspiration for Robert Shaw’s character the shark hunting Quint in the film Jaws. Since that time, shark fishing has become both a business and pleasure pursuit for many boatman in and around the Montauk area. 

The Marine Basin itself will host two more large shark competitions this summer, including the Shark Eye Charity Competition on July 27 and 28. While next month, none of the sharks caught will be kept— instead they will be tagged for research purposes— participants like Capt. John Steadman of the Main Squeeze made it perfectly clear what they had in mind for their prey.

“We’re going to eat him!” Steadman said proudly upon bringing in the first shark of the day, a 160-pound mako at 12:10 p.m., caught by angler Keith Haberman.

A large crowd kept the marina bustling all day as men, women and children, sat waiting for the boats to bring in their entries. Even ABC Sports and Red Wine Productions were in attendance, boom microphones and cameras at the ready. The MC played the Jaws music on repeat in between competition updates.

By the end of the day, the leader in the competition had been established, a 295.8-pound mako brought in at about 1:3 5 p.m. by the My Mate, captained by Pete Casale and with Ray Rista as angler.

A 226.2-pound thresher shark was brought in at 1:45 by the crew of the Oh Brother, captained by Rob Aaronsen and with Joe Uglialoro as angler.

Though many were taken in by the size of the fish— on average over six feet in length— the words of one mother to her child, “That’s the Momma shark, we’re waiting for the daddy,” captured the universal anticipation.

As the announcer repeated many times through out the day, “Remember, this is just the first day of a two day competition.”