Fishermen find unusual number of sharks off lower peninsula

[surferman]

I remember a video a while ago where a guy caught one of these off a kayak. No way would I ever do that.



http://homernews.com/stories/061809/news_1_004.shtml


FISHERMEN FIND UNUSUAL NUMBER OF SHARKS OFF LOWER PENINSULA (Redoubt Reporter): Lower Cook Inlet fisherman have long had occasional encounters with salmon sharks. But this summer, they say, encounters have been surprisingly common. And the sharks are trying to steal charter-caught fish.


Fisherman Gary Deiman says that, in a usual year, he would expect to hear of a couple salmon shark landings over an entire summer. But this year he estimates there have already been three salmon sharks landed and another eight to 10 instances in which people have hooked salmon sharks.

Eric Skjold of Nordic Alaska Saltwater Charters tells of playing a "game" with a salmon shark that wanted a piece of a cod caught by a client.

"We could just start to make out the fish, probably 20 feet down, and as we were reeling it in we saw a dark salmon shark come up and hit the tail end," he said. The shark shook its head, trying to tear the cod free while Skjold's client reeled the cod and the shark closer and closer to the boat. The shark spooked and let go just before reaching the boat. Skjold's client plunked the remaining cod back down and continued to play the same game with the shark until he finally hooked the shark and brought it to the boat.

Fish and Game officials say they don't know of any reason for an increase in Inlet salmon shark populations. And it's not just salmon sharks. Commercial fisherman Teague Vanek of Ninilchik says he has caught more than a dozen sleeper sharks this season.

Although sleeper sharks may be relatively abundant in Cook Inlet, less is known about them than about salmon sharks and many other species of shark. Sleeper sharks tend stay close to the ocean floor, whereas salmon sharks swim within the entire water column. Sleeper sharks can grow up to 20 feet long, whereas salmon sharks usually grow to no more than 9 feet. But salmon sharks put up a bigger fight than the lethargic sleeper sharks.


575-pound salmon shark caught by Arizona angler



By Aaron Selbig
Staff Writer

After reeling in his two-halibut limit Monday, Scottsdale, Ariz., angler Joe Pinto was feeling pretty proud of himself.
Pinto, fishing in Cook Inlet aboard the Ninilchik Charters' vessel Arctic Endurance, said he had caught a 55-pound and a 35-pound halibut and was "just sitting around doing nothing" when he decided to do a little catch-and-release fishing.

Photo provided
This 575-pound salmon shark, measuring 8 feet, 7 inches in length, was landed in Cook Inlet Monday by Joe Pinto of Scottsdale, Ariz. (left) with the help of Captain Allen Henderson of Ninilchik Charters (right).
Soon, Pinto, his five fellow fishermen and boat Capt. Allen Henderson realized they had company when two of their lines turned up with half-eaten halibut.
Sensing a salmon shark as the likely culprit, Henderson quickly put together a rig of cod on a J-hook, attached it to 50 feet of 1,500-pound cable and dropped it into the water.
With Pinto at the other end, the line suddenly took off, reeling off 200 feet before he could get control of it.
"That shark hit that thing instantaneously and the fight was on. It was fun and exciting. We didn't think it was going to happen at first, but he just kept working and reeling it in and we got it," said Henderson.
Pinto, who hadn't been fishing since moving to Arizona from New York 18 years ago, said his adrenaline was pumping as the shark got closer and closer to the boat.
"It felt great a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was an hour-long struggle with a lot of give and take," he said.
It took a harpoon, three gunshots and six people to finally get the 575-pound, 8-foot, 6-inch monster on board, said Pinto, and when they arrived back in Ninilchik, a crane was needed to unload it.
Pinto credited Henderson and his fellow fishermen for getting the shark into the boat and shared the meat with all of them. The skin was three-quarters of an inch thick, he said, and minus the blood, guts, fins and head, there was only about 125 pounds of meat left over.
"We grilled some of it right there at the charter office. We threw some butter and pepper on it and it was good kind of like a fishy halibut," said Pinto.
Salmon sharks are a fairly common in Cook Inlet waters, but this one was the first one of the year to make it into the boat, said Henderson.
Pinto, who works as an environmental planner for the Maricopa County Department of Transportation, said he was already looking forward to his next trip to Alaska. "I normally don't bring in 700 pounds of fish in a day. I may fish more than one day next time," he said.

[JakeF]

"I normally don't bring in 700 pounds of fish in a day. I may fish more than one day next time," he said.

Pop Quiz. What is wrong with this statement?

[Jackbass]

HE caught 665 pounds of fish not 700 and what is "more than a day" an additional day?

[JakeF]

He's a recreational angler. What the F is he going to do with 700 (or 665) lbs of fish? And he wants more than that next time he goes? It's that kind of BS philosophy that puts fisheries in jeopardy.

[DarkSkies]

He's a recreational angler. What the F is he going to do with 700 (or 665) lbs of fish? And he wants more than that next time he goes? It's that kind of BS philosophy that puts fisheries in jeopardy.

Jake, I gotta take the other side on this one. I agree 100% in principle with what you said here, so please understand I'm choosing my words carefully.

The way I read that article, and some of the others that talk about the salmon sharks, it seems salmon sharks are seen as upsetting the balance of nature up there. For the most part, fishermen are after salmon and halibut. The sharks follow the salmon like the seals follow the bass on Cape Cod.

These salmon sharks, the way I understand it, don't have too many natural predators, in the same way that the seal population has few natural predators to keep it in check, hence the grumbling from Cape Cod Fishermen.

665 lbs is a tremendous amount of meat, enough to feed several families. On the other hand, the guy didn't break any laws with his catches. So in his eyes, as he was following the law, he did nothing wrong.

One of the things I learned in the last year or 2 is the number of people who will listen to a point I'm making is inversely proportional to the volume/ judgemental tone of my comments.

I feel passionately about fishermen losing access, traveling 85 miles each way to Brookhaven, a place I will never be able to afford to fish because of the out of state permit fees they now have.

I try to talk to people I meet while fishin about striped bass and the future of striped bass, and can honestly say that only about 10% of all fishermen I meet actually want to be involved in any of this "fishery, future, fishermen access, C&R, etc, " stuff that we talk about. They just want to fish.

And whether I agree with it or not, if the law says they can take X number or sizes of fish, I don't think it's fair to slam them for doing so.

I think the important thing is that we educate people about how it used to be in the past, what really happened to cause certain fish stocks to decline, and give people the information and tools to make their own decisions.

Many of the laws out there I feel are unfair. For example, I think the current fluke regulations for both NY and NJ border on insanity. How can you claim to build up a fluke biomass when you're targeting the bigger breeders, females, for fishermen to catch?

So I would say this same thing about the lemon sharks, striped bass, and any species we feel might be in danger of being overfished. If we don't like the laws as written, it's up to us to rally people as to why they don't work, and try to muster support to change them.

One example for your argument is the overfishing for cod that closed the Georges banks for awhile. A lot of blame was put on the commencial fishermen, as it should have been.

Now that fishing is open to recreational anglers again, how many people do you hear of who fished for cod off Block Island this year that didn't fill the coolers with them when the bite was on? Is there something wrong with filling your cooler during a hot codfish bite? Not legally? But I think our responsibility should be to educate fishermen as to the premise that if the codfish grounds could be closed for commercial greed, then should they also be concerned about recreational greed? Good points to ponder, I don't think anyone's opinion would be absolutely right or wrong here.


If anyone can do some research about salmon sharks and whether they are overfished, or in any kind of potential danger, please post it up. We need to hear all perspectives on this site, and then make up our minds for ourselves.

[voyager35]

Well said Dark. I fish with a couple of old salts who have been through the hard times, yet they will still take their limit. The best way to educate is by teaching in a low key manner, or working to get the laws changed if you don't agree.