Sander’s Shark Identification Guide

Trying to identify sharks for those that do not see sharks on a regular basis is difficult.  Even people who know sharks have difficulties with the less common catches. So if you don’t know the species or the rules too well for Delaware. Then you pull the shark out of the water and take the picture to send to someone to get an identification and it ends up being a protected shark.  You can get in trouble.  
 I tell people constantly not to post the picture, put the shark back and learn how to identify sharks.  Surf anglers can’t help catching sharks, because when you are surf fishing, everything bites eventually. We have caught tiger sharks, hammerheads, scalloped, bonnet heads, great whites (juvenile), and angel sharks in the surf for example.

However unless you can ID these in the water and be on point in under a minute.  You have to take them out of the water to  identify the shark. Even with the awesome Sander’s shark identification guide I use.  So therein lies the rub, how do you identify a shark without taking it out of the water, a lot of sharks have similar features and are hard to identify.  Bull sharks are constantly mistaken for sandbar and dusky sharks which is weird because they actually look different, if you know what to look for.  Great whites are easy, you just listen for the theme music to Jaws.  Seriously, a lot of sharks get misidentified all of the time.

I ran into a friend in DNREC enforcement one day, no, there weren’t any flashing lights involved … this time.  He showed me the Sander’s Shark Identification Guide he uses.  “It is very detailed and makes it easy to identify the shark with no question, you should get these for your website or at least let your readers know, it costs less than ten bucks.”  This is the absolute best shark guide you can use to Identify a shark.  Hands down.  

You start at the tail with the three shapes; normal, crescent, or elongated.  Then check for a dorsal ridge.  Once you have determined that, you go from there to the dorsal fin size and on to  pectoral and anal fin placement and alignment.  You can skip the previous steps if you look for a dorsal ridge.  As a rule of thumb, two of the prohibited species in Delaware have a dorsal ridge.  The sandbar and the dusky shark.  Ninety nine percent of the time you are catching sharks in the surf, it is one of these two, if it has a dorsal ridge.  Dogfish also have a dorsal ridge but they are easy to spot, they have nearly equally sized dorsal fins.  The two other sharks in the guide with a dorsal ridge are tiger and silky sharks.  We see tigers in the surf on occasion when it is really warm.

After you get beyond the dorsal ridge and dorsal fin details then there are other distinct features for all sharks.  The easiest way to tell the other shark we catch in the surf that is prohibited is the sand tiger shark.  Just look at the teeth, those crazy looking, pointing in every direction, meat shredding, teeth.  Sand tigers don’t have a dorsal ridge, but do have nearly equally sized dorsal fins, but are definitely not a dogfish.  The size will be the giveaway on that detail.  So some of the guide is based on common fishing sense or knowledge.
Such as the fact we know dogfish don’t get ten feet long.  Man, wouldn’t that suck!  They are annoying at three feet long during striper season. Could you imagine a ten foot dogfish being that annoying.  
Sander’s Shark Guide is a really great tool to help you learn how to identify a shark.  My guide has the sharks you are most likely to encounter in our waters for the east coast. Guides can be requested for the area or state you are fishing.  The smaller tackle box guide is a laminated quick reference card Common Sharks of Delaware, that is very helpful.  The Sander’s Shark Identification Guide is much more detailed, and has Delaware’s regulations on it as well.

When it comes to these smaller sharks everyone is catching under three feet long.  Personally as far as the law goes I think these smaller sharks can and should be handled so they can be released safer.  Let’s face it NO ONE is leaving a two to four-foot shark in the water to take out the hook, they are picking them up, removing the hook, and putting it back in the water. Quickly for the most part, because they are barefoot and it is a shark after all.  They usually take a picture while doing it.  I know because I get them all day long sent to the Delaware Surf Fishing Facebook page, text, or email.

 At that sizer it is no harm, no foul to the shark, but it is still breaking the “no prohibited sharks out of the water law“.  There should be a size limit to what you can and can’t handle out of the water.  No way boats are releasing small sharks in the water, you have to handle them.  You can’t reach that far to even get to the hook.  Better for the shark to have the hook removed than a lot of punk rock looking sharks in our waters.  
 I think baby sharks are like kids, they fall down the stairs, get up, and laugh it off, the kid not a shark. Sharks coming down the stairs would be a whole new issue.
An adult would be in the hospital.
Know your sharks before you handle them.

Fish On!!
Rich King