Salmon Sharks good to eat?

Tinman · 07-07-2008, 09:14 PM

I just built a few wire leaders to keep aboard in case I run into a Salmon Shark on the tuna grounds. I presume they are good to eat like their close relatives, the Makos? Has anybody eaten Salmon Shark? Do they freeze well?

SecondSeason · 07-08-2008, 06:07 AM

i had about 60lbs that was given to me from a alasken trip. one of the best meats i have ever had. now that i know what marlin taste like it would be the closest taste.

from what i was told- you MUST blead and gut it fast. they said they pee through their skin which travels through the meat. gutting and bleading them right away is important too.

they steak out real nice.

Best of luck, i have been ready for the last couple of years myself- though i am not sure i want to deal with the shark when we get it to the boat. they are fast, aggressive and tend to jump.

be safe and good luck

havnfun2 · 07-08-2008, 06:12 AM

several guides up in AK target them and have hard them say they are great eats. after all the salmon sharks favorite food is salmon.

Fishinnut · 07-08-2008, 06:14 AM

I would think you would see blue sharks in Oregon and not Salmon sharks? I have not seen Salmon Sharks tuna fishing in Washington, just blues, swarming the boat when in a hot tuna bite. I could be wrong though. Have you seen them out there?

Bluefinn · 07-08-2008, 06:19 AM

You do see the blues more often.The salmon sharks are out there though!

Fish-a-Holic · 07-08-2008, 06:21 AM

We do see tons of blues, but we have run into some other sharks on occassion. We saw a thresher last year as well as a very large salmon shark who attacked a hooked albacore. Made us very sure we didn't want to fall in the water. We also came across several miles of small salmon sharks one day on the way in. They were incredibly spooky. Most looked between 40 and 80 pounds, but they were unmistakeable with the wavy dark line at the bottom of their bellys. It went from a dusky brown to creamy white, but the transition was very wavy.

SecondSeason · 07-08-2008, 06:50 AM

just a thought Salmon sharks got their name maybe because they eat salmon. We have salmon though not as many as we had at one time. Check out this site and notice how far these sharks range it is very impressive. for every one that is tagged there has to be tons more traveling with and around the tagged ones.

http://www.topp.org/

this is a great site and fun to check up on throughout the year.

take care

SummitOne · 07-08-2008, 07:33 AM

Great site, thanks.

wak'm&stak'm · 07-08-2008, 07:50 AM

I read a quite a bit about them.... one estimate is that there are over a million and they eat 12% of the ocean salmon each year.

I had a sight saved on my old computer of a dozen or so with transmitters on them and you could track them.

Some went back and forth from california and oregon to Valdez area. Some went 1000 miles toward Japan and then just turned around and same back.

4 years ago we had them show up in good numbers and not far from the beach... like 20 fathoms. I saw a half dozen and had friends who lost salmon the them all summer.
I had pictures of one that had to been 10 ft that was snagged with salmon gear.... if I can find the pictures i will post them.

They are and interesting shark.

Stowaway · 07-08-2008, 08:21 AM

I know Threesmuch has an excellent picture of a salmon shark.....hopefully he'll post it. Nothing like seeing a mouth full of teeth!

Threemuch · 07-08-2008, 08:26 AM

I have been on board when two were hooked, one halibut fishing at the south end of the rockpile (landed), the other salmon trolling in about 300' of water (released).

The one at the pile we landed, and released. Nobody on board really wanted their share of 250 pounds of shark meat. We did get some good pics though.

We saw one two weeks back during the coho opener off Garibaldi too.

I kinda thought the one we landed fought poorly. We got him to the boat in about 15 min on 50 pound gear, that seems kinda weak for a 250-300 pound fish (7' long off a porbeagle length/weight conversion). The one that broke off was another story alltogether. We hooked that trolling for salmon, and he came right to the boat. All 10-12 feet of him. Curious I think, because he rolled on his side and looked right at us. If I had had a harpoon, we might have gotten him, but I did not. The kid on the rod was screaming "get the gaff!" while I fumbled around looking for my camera. Before I got it out of the bag, the shark broke the leader.

Both fish hit a herring, one at 100', the other on the bottom.

These were all dirty water fish. I haven't had an encounter in blue water with a salmon shark, but have seen lots of threshers, especially in late August and September. We tail hooked a big thresher once on a CD 18 plug. He greyhounded about 400 yards before throwing the plug. It was a senator 113 HSP, and that sucker was HOT. When it cooled off the drag was completely shot.

The advice about bleeding and gutting is good, and probably should be followed for any table shark. Everything you read says salmon shark is good table fare. I know thresher is.

Joe C · 07-08-2008, 09:14 AM

I remember seeing pictures of one in Dana Point, Ca a few years back. They've got a pretty big range.

TillamookChinook · 07-08-2008, 12:12 PM

I searched the internet last summer for info about fishing from kayaks in the Queen Charlotte Islands. I found this photo of guys in southeast Alaska who targeted salmon sharks from their kayaks. Looks pretty nuts to me.

TC

Jedcraft · 07-08-2008, 01:10 PM

We caught a 150 - 200 lber last year on a clone while tuna fishing on the surface. That thing tore off 400yds of 100lb braid faster than you can believe. I couldn't believe a reel could go that fast. The Penn 114 started smoking. Anyway it was excellent eating. While it was bled quickly it was not gutted/cleaned till we got back in a couple hours later. The meat was fine - almost a sweet flavor.

wak'm&stak'm · 07-08-2008, 03:21 PM

Good catches guys... one day there was a big log floating out there and I said" watch how close I can drag the clones to it"
as we backed up to unhook all the clones off the log. My fishing buddy bent over to get a clone and there was one hiding under the log.
I was busy plug cutting my salmon and it swam off.

I have gone in circles many times dragging clones right past their noses and they seem not interested. I believe Marty caught one once.

It just hasn't been my day.