On a quiet morning that was supposed to be all about tarpon, longtime eastern North Carolina angler Michael Starkie ended up in a half-hour standoff with what he says was the biggest bull shark he has ever seen on the Neuse River.
Starkie was fishing near Green Springs in Craven County when his line suddenly got a lot heavier. Instead of the rolling silver flash of a tarpon, he found himself tied to an estimated 8-foot bull shark that he and a friend pegged at roughly 300 pounds. After about 30 minutes of hard fighting, Starkie cut the line and let the shark go.
Starkie, who told reporters he has fished these waters for more than 30 years, said the encounter was unlike anything he has dealt with on the river.
According to WITN, Starkie had been anchored on that particular spot for only about 15 minutes when the shark hit. The station reports that Starkie was fishing with a friend, described as a commercial fisherman, who estimated the shark at about 8 feet long and in the 300-pound range. After the roughly 30-minute tug-of-war, Starkie cut the line and the pair went back to their tarpon trip.
Neuse River no stranger to big sharks
As dramatic as it sounds, a bull shark in the Neuse is not exactly a UFO sighting. Bull sharks are known to cruise coastal rivers and estuaries, especially in warm weather, and the Neuse has produced more than a few eyebrow-raising reports over the years.
Researchers with Duke University's Read Lab have documented tagging work and field observations showing bull sharks moving into upriver, brackish stretches of the river during the warmer months. Those findings line up with what local anglers occasionally experience when a “mystery bite” suddenly feels a lot less like a gamefish and a lot more like a freight train.
Tarpon season means crowded feeding grounds
Summer on the Neuse is prime time for tarpon, and when the big silver fish show up, people follow. Local guides typically work tarpon trips from mid-June into September, often running boats into estuarine channels where baitfish and large predators stack up.
Spec Fever Guide Service notes that the river can produce trophy-size tarpon and other large species in those months. All that action in one place can also attract sharks, which end up sharing the same feeding lanes as the fish anglers are targeting.
Rules on shark gear and releasing the catch
Encounters like Starkie’s also highlight the fine print of shark regulations. North Carolina requires anglers who are using natural bait to target sharks in state coastal waters to fish with non-offset, non-stainless circle hooks, a measure aimed at reducing injuries to sharks that are released.
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries lays out those gear requirements in its proclamation, while federal guidance from NOAA Fisheries recommends circle hooks and quick dehooking to improve a shark’s odds of surviving after release.
Starkie told WITN the moment will stick with him, calling the animal the biggest bull shark he has ever come across. After cutting the line at around the 30-minute mark, he simply reset and carried on chasing tarpon, a reminder that even for a veteran with three decades on the Neuse, the river can still throw in a surprise guest star.
