SHARK RIVER REEF, NJ

Shark River Reef (4006.672 7341.492 at the center of the four-mile span) is an artificial reef just over 15 miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet. The site contains all sorts of rock, dredged shale bedrock and an abundance of shipwrecks. It even has quite a few subway cars like the Caputi’s Train Wreck, the Muir’s Submarine Express and the Dive Council Mountain that, courtesy of the NY Transit Authority, were also sent to Davey Jones’ locker.

It is the deepest of all of New Jersey’s artificial reefs, having an average bottom depth of approximately 125 feet and it started with a natural wreck. Back in 1964, the tanker Stolt Dagali was rammed and sunk by the SS Shalom, in an accident that resulted in the deaths of 19 Stolt Dagali crew members.

The site contains at least nine vessels now, including five tankers. This reef got off to a big start, with three tankers sunk in one day – the Coney Island and the “twin wrecks” of the Sam Berman and Alan Martin. We often call the Shark River Reef the "parking lot" and it is a common fish-producer for charter and party boats. Other wrecks sunk and donated include the Captain Bart, the APL-31, the Algol, and the HRFA, which was sunk about eight years ago, according to Hudson River Fishermen’s Association Director Carl Hartman. The last two wrecks that make up the expanse are the Mako Mania and the Bill D.

This past summer, I sailed to the Shark River Reef numerous times and not always for the same species. We caught everything from blues to false albacore on the chunk and on jigs above the structure as well as big ling and sea bass tight to the bottom. On a recent night bluefishing trip aboard the Gambler, deckhand Kevin Pavone even had a jigging rod nearly stripped of all its line in a matter of seconds. We believe the culprit to be a bluefin tuna.

Huge winter flounder reside there all year long and must be released, but in the coming months look for cod and pollock to school up around the wrecks and debris to hit heavy Vike and diamond jigs as well as clam baits on hi-lo rigs. The summer parking lot will be gone and the fish will still have the feed bags on.