NYC’s shark boss battles real-life Jaws as sightings, attacks hit record highs
nypost.com“amassing” in record-setting numbers off East Coast shores, Tom LaCognata is braving the waters like a real-life Captain Quint from “Jaws.”Captain LaCognata of Rockaway Fishing Charters took The Post fishing this week — three miles off Long Island’s Jones Beach on the Atlantic Ocean — to see if these man-eaters really live up to the deadliest catch hype.
Mates Gene Rudd and Tom Laible took turns fighting a thresher shark that weighs more than Shaquille O’Neal. Each time one of these sharkers tires out, they pass the fishing rod to the other angler, so they can sip water and towel off like Jake LaMotta between rounds.
After a backbreaking, hour-long tug of war, the team finally reels an approximately 16-foot, 400-pound sea monster close enough to the boat to harpoon.
That’s the dramatic — heart-sinking — moment when the muscular sea beast drags the line hundreds of yards back out into open water, forcing these shark bosses to begin the battle all over again.“It’s a pretty interesting, fun game,” LaCognata, who charges $1,400 for seven-hour sharking excursions, told The Post. “You get the bite, then the chaos begins.”‘People are just now starting to become aware of it because of social media.
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