Fighting with sharks, anglers battle the apex predator for mackerel, cobia. Who's winning?

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Captain Marc Pincus doesn’t think sharks get enough credit.

“They are smart,” Pincus said. “They adapt.”

The owner of Reelin Charters spends his days taking tourists out shark fishing on the waters around Hilton Head Island, where the currents, water temperatures, bait and other factors add up to an area highly conducive for sizable shark populations.

But when Pincus has been fishing for king mackerel during tournaments in recent years, the sharks have made it difficult for him and other fishermen to bring their catch into the boat. They often watch helplessly as a shark eats the fish right off the hook.

Pincus isn’t the only one who noticed the pattern. “Depredation” by sharks, where a shark partially or completely removes a fish off the end of an angler’s hook, has been catching the attention of fishermen in Hilton Head and across the coast in recent years.

Shark populations are rebounding

In short, it appears that shark populations are increasing in the area, according to South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist Bryan Frazier.

A declining commercial shark fishery, the industry built around catching and selling sharks for profit, and decades of successful conservation efforts have allowed shark populations to begin a rebound. The conservation win combined with the shark’s intellectual prowess has caught the attention of local fishermen. The changes have put their fishing skills to the test and, in some cases, changed how they approach their craft.

Often mistaken for bull sharks, sandbar sharks are the main species that is snapping fish off the end of fishing lines, Chip Michalove, a local charter captain and shark expert, said. They’re one of the largest shark species in the area. Sandbar sharks in particular are aggressive, he said, often hunting in packs.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken note. One recent study indicates that depredation by sharks is a growing concern for recreational anglers. There are a number of possible reasons, including the recovery of certain shark species following protections from overfishing, an increase in the number of fishermen and sharks learning to associate boats with quick, easy meals.

The shark fishing industry is changing, adapting

In recent years, the commercial shark fishery has declined due to new regulations that banned the sale of shark fins, which were one of the most profitable parts of the fish. The changes have made it difficult for the industry to remain profitable and the decrease in harvest has led to a larger than expected bump in the general shark population, Frazier said.

Hilton Head officials have reported two likely shark bites off the island’s coastline in the summer of 2025, a number similar to recent years. Frazier said that while data points to an increase in the number of sharks in the area, there is no indication that there is an increase in the number of shark bites.

Sandbar sharks were long targeted by the fin fishery due to their relatively large fins, causing the population in the southeast Atlantic to drop by about two thirds by the early 1990s. After research found that sandbar sharks are subject to overfishing, NOAA banned fishing for the species outside of specific research purposes in 2008.

As a species, Sandbar shark numbers are increasing relatively slowly. They don’t reproduce quickly, taking around 13 years to reach maturity. They then only produce around 6 pups every few years, Frazier said.

Even so, while the populations are increasing, they’ve not exactly bounced back to their baseline numbers. Generally observed in South Carolina from April to late November, sandbar sharks are arriving earlier in the year and staying later due to warming waters, Frazier said.

Sharks have evolved to take advantage of weak and struggling fish, especially those at the end of a fishing line. But while there are more sharks out in the water, they’re also smart enough to learn to recognize boats as the source of an easy meal.

“It’s really a difficult thing to study, right?” Frazier said. “You have to have a lot of baseline information, which you don’t necessarily get when you’re trying to follow animals in the water and you can’t see them.”

The art and science of shark fishing

Hilton Head has consistently been a notable spot for shark fishing since Pincus started working on the island in the ‘90s. But he, along with other fishermen in the area, have noticed a number of specific species on the rise.

“(Sandbar sharks) are one of them … they can swarm a place,” Pincus said. “You just have to pick up and leave, because you know you’re just gonna keep donating your fish.”

His charter business is largely based on sharks. Though, as a tournament fisherman, he catches king mackerel. While fishing for that species, Pincus has seen sharks learn to swindle fishermen in real time. When they’re trolling and hook a fish, they pull the boat motors back and sandbar sharks will pop up behind the boat. Then the sharks wait until the fish is getting reeled in to eat it.

In response to the new challenge, Pincus has changed the equipment and techniques he uses to get the fish into the boat. He now has a rule — 5 minutes or less. If he can’t bring a fish in within that amount of time, then it is very likely to be eaten by a waiting shark.

On the other hand, charter fishing is a tough industry where captains feel intense pressure to produce results for their customers. So for many charter captains on Hilton Head, they become shark fishermen for at least part of the year, Michalove said.

The change has led other charter captains to embrace the sharks. Michalove, known by researchers and locals as a skilled shark fisherman, has watched as shark species numbers fluctuate in the area. Hammerhead sharks and sandbar sharks have grown while he sees less tiger sharks than he used to 15 years ago.

Michalove said he doesn’t fish for cobia, a popular sport fish in the area, and king mackerel much anymore due to the sharks. He’s started to push shark fishing in his business more in recent years.

“Instead of saying, ‘OK, we’re going cobia fishing,’ ” Michalove said. “I say, ‘All right, we’re going shark fishing and hoping for cobia.’ ”

Chris Prince, who runs Cool Cat Charters, said he’s started to focus his business more on the activity of shark fishing instead of focusing on catching fish his clients can eat. Even so, when he was cobia fishing on Thursday, sharks ate two out of the three fish he caught.

The shift to shark fishing has in many ways worked out well for Michalove, who sees most of his repeat customers from sharks. Everyone wants a picture of a shark for their vacation Instagram post. After all, he points out that there is no such thing as mackerel or tarpon week on the Discovery Channel.

“You’ve got to produce every single day,” Michalove said. “There’s no such thing as a bad day.”