Nick Cheskey is the host of Saltwater Underground, now in its

sixth season on ESPN2, Discovery Channel, Sportsman's Channel,

and Waypoint TV. He's one of the most versatile anglers in the

country — a guy who grew up fishing, surfing, and ice skating

on frozen Jersey swamps, and who pioneered surf shark fishing

on the Northeast coast before anyone else was even trying.

In this conversation, Nick and I catch up after three years and

cover a lot of ground — from saltwater rivers freezing over in

central Jersey to thresher sharks hunting with their tails to

prehistoric megalodon teeth in freshwater streams. This one goes

everywhere, and I loved every minute of it.

Some of the moments I found most meaningful in this conversation:

- Nick describing the first night he ever tried surf shark fishing

in 1998 — paddling bunker bait out on a surfboard in the dark,

alone, and having a thresher tail come whipping out of the water

right next to him

- How thresher sharks actually hunt — corralling bait with that

massive tail and using it like a weapon, which is unlike anything

else in the ocean

- The species showing up in Jersey waters that have no business

being there — tarpon off Cape Cod, cobia inshore, pompano in

the surf, and Spanish mackerel everywhere

- Nick's obsession with fossil hunting in New Jersey freshwater

streams and finding a Hell Pig tooth that nobody had ever

pulled out of Jersey before — 15 to 30 million years old

- A real conversation about the future of fishing media, social

media's effect on spot burning and content quality, and why

both of us think the pendulum is starting to swing back toward

expertise

00:00 Introduction

01:30 Three Years Since the Last Episode — What Nick's Been Up To

04:00 Ice Fishing Saltwater Rivers in Central Jersey

08:30 Growing Up Ice Fishing and Hockey in Frozen Jersey Swamps

13:00 Saltwater Underground Season 6 — ESPN2, Discovery, Waypoint TV

17:00 Filming Five Episodes in the Florida Keys

21:30 Sheepshead, Redfish, and Species Recolonizing the Northeast

27:00 Tarpon in New Jersey — Cape Cod Catches and the State Record

31:00 Surf Shark Fishing: How Nick Pioneered It in 1998

38:00 Thresher Sharks — How They Hunt and Why That Tail Is Deadly

44:00 The Great White Situation Up and Down the Coast

50:00 Fossil Hunting in Jersey Freshwater Streams

58:00 Finding a Hell Pig Tooth — 15 to 30 Million Years Old

1:04:00 Blood Worms, Sand Worms, and $35 a Dozen

1:09:00 The Saltwater Sportsman Seminar Series with George Poveromo

1:13:00 Social Media, In-Person Events, and the Future of Fishing Media

🔗 Watch Saltwater Underground:

YouTube → Saltwater Underground with Nick Cheskey

🔗 Connect With Nick Cheskey:

Instagram → @NickCheskey

YouTube → Saltwater Underground with Nick Cheskey

📘 Free Resources:

🎁 Saltwater Knot Guide → https://bit.ly/3UnAeIP

🎙️ Tom Rowland Podcast → https://bit.ly/3O4lgn0

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