shark stories

[blitzhunter]

Anyone with good shark catching stories?
Last year I caught a 3 foot sandshark. It put up a good fight. Disappointed it wasn't a bass.

[dogfish]

A buddy invited me to go tuna fishing with him. He was a newbie, and brought me along because he didn't have a clue. We were fishing about 40 miles off of Montauk one summer, and put out a few flats of fish, no takers. It was getting toward the end of the night, we were tired, and bummed. One of our lines got hit by a shark, he sliced it. We decided to have some fun and re-rigged with a steel leader.

Within a few minutes we had the shark again, dumping half the reel, what a strong fight. It took a while, but we finally got it close to the boat. It was about 7', maybe 200 pounds. We never got a chance to weigh it. We hit it with the flying gaff, and it decided to roll in the water. My buddy didn't know what he was doing, so I had to handle the directing and action at the same time. Sharking is one thing you need more than one pair of hands for, and a plan for landing it if not releasing it. :scared:

The rolling made the line a mess, we cut everything and let the shark go, after pulling the gaff out. We still had some bait left, so put it out again with a new wire leader. Damn if that shark didn't come back again. This time we screwed up even bigger. We got it close, but my buddy was too tired (How could you be tired when you're fighting a shark?):huh: We stuck it 2 more times, but it was too much work for just me to do, and I couldn't get a good bite with the gaff. Finally the shark slid away, bleeding like hell. I don't think he made it, or was probably eaten by other sharks, the blood was all over.

Not one of my proudest fishing moments. :embarassed:

[vpass]

I was bonefishing on a flat in Long key state park. I was scared out of the water from a 5 to 6 foot long, I think bull shark. It was about 30 to 40 feet away from me. As soon as I was on land, I started casting at it.

I been fishing the keys on the flats after that experience, but I don't have the nerve like I once did.