Shark Talk...

[swampy]

With the talk and hook-ups of sharks I'm getting curious (and a little creeped out). I netted one for a buddy last year and he said it ate well. But I felt a bit stupid bringing it on board! It this safe ? he went around 4 ft but the one that took my buddies herring the other day went maybe 5-6 feet. From what i understand , these are blues that feed on fish , squid etc but will take chunks out of dead or injured mammols. on my boat , you keep it you eat it ...So do attempt to land them and how and then what ? I just read that these are flexible critters that can swing around and bite their own tail , or the hand of someone trying to tail him . I have also read that when landed they urinate themselves ruining the flesh . Therefore you must immediately slice their belly and cut their tail off. I'm not into just slicing off a fin and throwing it back and maybe it is best to just cut the line and get on with things than to mess with these things ! I know some of "dogs" know much more than me about these creatures so thx in advance for any info . swampy

[Billfisher]

Okay, for starters, I don't like Blue Shark Meat. That having been said, if you've never tried it, you might just like it. Shark meat is about the same texture as Swordfish, and even Sturgeon. As for the flexibility and danger issue, I would offer these tips. If you are going to land a large shark, use a weighted line to tail wrap the fish, (so that the line sinks, rather than you reaching down there...) and gaff near the head. If you have a firearm on board, and can safely dispatch the shark, it would not hurt things a bit to put a round or two through its brain, straight down and between/behind the eyes. A note about this technique, dictates that you have a safe backdrop, and the good sense not to endanger other boaters (duh.) Now, you should bleed theses creatures, as what you've heard is semi-true. Use the belly, or the jugular, but remember that sharks don't always die all that quickly. Also, dragging them backwards doesn't always work. 'Nuff said. I choose to use the tail wrap and a flying gaff to secure sharks across the transom or swimstep, rather than bringing them into the boat. If you must, use extreme caution. Remember, these are fun sport fish, and pretty hardy ones at that. If you choose to release them, (as I do) use non-stainless hooks, and clip the leader at the boat.

Also, see the August edition of Sport Fishing to find good wiring techniques for Sharks. -Doug

[ANDYCOHO]

[img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img]

I'm interested in this too. I have never seen so many sharks in my life, as I did on Friday. There was not any point in time that I could not look in just one direction and see a shark :shocked: now that is a lot of sharks out there. Of course the glassy smooth conditions helped us see all of them, maybe they are allways that thick, but can never see them?

We had 2 attack the tuna, one getting a good hold of it and taking the tail off the other just took the tuna, bad shark.

Most of the sharks we saw were 3'-5' but we did see a monster that was well over 10' and closer to 12', :shocked: he was thrashing something around in his mouth.

We did hook into one, but it broke my steel halibut leader off. :depressed:

They are definately not afraid of boats, we had one nursing on the "through hull fitting" that drains my self-bailing deck, when my dad was hosing the deck down.

[Chum King]

A few items about the sharks out there. First, they are not all blues. But blues are not recognized as a particularly good tasting shark. There are others out there such as soupfin, thresher, and mako that are much better eating.

You must bleed a shark well because they transport their body waste (i.e. urea)in their blood. One way to bleed sharks that is often mentioned is to cut the sharks tail off. Keep in mind that this is not legal under the Oregon fishing regulations. You would need to make sure that the tail remains attached to the body, but you could cut through far enough to bleed the shark just as well.

I know when I was out of Newport on Friday, we saw well over a hundred sharks on the surface. Most were 3-5 foot blues, but there were also a few non-blues (not good enough at shark ID from a distance to be sure what they were). They were certainly fun to watch.

[Pete]

Thursday, out of Garibaldi, there were tons of Dahl porpoise. Porpoise normally feed on herring and will readily take a hook. If you've hooked something that lit up your reel and didn't see what it was, it could have been a porpoise. Sharks, on the other hand, have very sharp teeth. The two times I've been on a boat when I know we hooked a shark the leader was severed almost instantly, in one case it was 100 pound test steel leader that was snipped. Listening to the shouting on the VHF, it sounded like a bunch of what people thought were sharks were more likely porpoise. Just my impression.

[Miss B Haven]

Interesting that the Dahls will take dead bait. All the other Porp's almost never do. I ask a Mexican Chart Captain about this in cabo. (as we were trolling through hundered of browns. He did say that they would occasionally hook one when live baiting, but almost never on a trolled dead bait. Wonder what's up with those Dahls eating herring? :whazzup:
I too have had sharks snip a steel leader like it was cotton twine. Fishing for Halibut in the Islands out of Port Hardy. First it was a 100 lb Nylon leader, tap tap gone. Switched to a 150 lb steel, tap tap gone. Never even got a pull, it was like a pair of scissors cut the leader about have way 'tween the hook and swivel. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]
The lodge said there were some pretty "interesting" sharks in the area at times. I wasn't "interested" enough to ask for more info, we just found a new spot to fish! :shocked:

[Gun Rod Bow]

I've fished live and dead bait through porpoise dozens if not a hundred times and have NEVER hooked one or seen it hooked. Not saying it can't happen, just must be awful rare. They are very smart critters.

It is common practice down south to chase porpoise and find tuna, throw live bait on the tuna, while porpoise swim through the lines..over and over. You'd think a porpoise would grab a hooked bait, but they just don't seem to.

As for sharks, I commented to Brad yesterday that I thought there were an inordinately lot of them.

Blues don't eat well, the open ocean types do. I hooked 4 blues in my boat last year while after salmon. Last one was in the end of the pectoral fin, glad to get my gear back and cut the leader.

The darker rounded head ones (not sure of names, Whaler maybe) eat pretty good.

Tail rope, club, zipper, be darn careful.

Can cut wire leader, can also be landed on same.

The most amazing fish I've seen in my life was an esimated 350# class Mako I fought for 45 minutes on straight 40# mono, it jumped 10' high like Shamu. It was in Cabo. Hooked on a live Caballito after spotting it on the surface. No idea why it stayed on so long.

Got it up behind the boat and it's pectorals nearly matched the beam of the cruiser. It started to thrash on its side...game over.

I'd like to try for some sharks of the right variety up here on a calm day.

[crabbait]

There are Whites out there, too. Supposedly, the greatest concentration of Great White sharks other than the Great Barrier Reef area is between San Francisco and the Canadian border.

Shark story: I was stationed aboard the USS Tarawa. The Tarawa is an assault ship with a flat aircraft carrier deck (no angle deck) and a "well deck" in the rear. The well deck is an opening in the stern nearly as wide as the ship that can be flooded, even when underway, to allow landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles to launch.

One time, we were anchored off San Clemente Island practicing well deck operations. A couple of sailors were standing on the ramp leading into the flooded well deck (about ten feet of water in the well deck) when a seal swam into the ship and beached itself on the ramp, quickly walking between the sailors at the top of the ramp where it turned around and joined them, looking back out to sea.

Just then, a huge dorsal fin was seen to enter the well deck and approach the ramp. Quickly, one of the sailors grabbed a sound-powered phone and called the bridge, advising the Captain of our new visitor. "Close the stern hatch", was the order. As soon as the hatch was closed, "pump out the well deck!" The seal seemed happy enough standing on the loading ramp as the water receded, leaving an 18-20' Great White high and dry! The seal and the shark remained aboard for several hours until some sailor decided to collect some Great White teeth. The Captain decided that the shark was too much of a hazard even in its deceased state to remain, so the well deck was once again flooded and the shark was towed out the back.

It was a good half hour after the shark had been dispatched and disembarked before the seal decided to venture back into the sea.

[8knots]

There are plenty of Whites out there. The evidence is in the number of surfers who are attacked in OR. For the small percentage of surfers in OR, there are a relatively large amount of recorded attacks. Reedsport, Pacific City, Cannon Beach are just a few I have read about. Old surfers are always curious about these things.

Last year when tuna fishing out of Newport we saw an explosion of red while reeling in and all we got was the tooth marked haed of the tuna. One easy bite for the man in the grey flannel suit.

[swampy]

Thanks guys. Is this the best dang website for salty info or what !?! Swampy out.

[Martin85]

Hey this talk about the big sharks has to end or I'll quit going out, my boy and I just watched Jaws two weeks ago.

[crabbait]

Watched one of those grey flannel guys munch a sea lion north of Depoe Bay when I was a kid. EEEWWWwww..........messy!