A Shark Story

[the fisherman]

A few minutes ago I was searching the web for a shark picture and ran across this one which I have posted, I knew that guy looked familar, his name is Gordon Crank, at the time this picture was taken he worked on my boat. That fish, and two others were caught on a boat named the Merva W, owned by a friend of mine named Michael Henery. How do I know all this, well I was there. I had pretty much forgotten about it till I saw that picture. It was epic, Michael and a famous SF fisherman and bait supplier named MeatBall aka Jim, and myself left HalfMoon Bay to go to the Farloon Islands to catch a shark, as I remember we had 3 or 4 cows heads for bait, and so real heavy duty line with ss chain for leader, and a couple off big a%$ treble hooks. I never thought we would get a bite, but after we deployed the gear the first time we had one on in about 10 minutes, we used a commercial crab block for the reel, the kind you see on Deadlist Catch, and that baby was smokin' and groanin on that shark, the whole operation was as dangerous as it gets. Once on the deck, these things are like 1500# Pit Bulls, and out of the water or not they're going to come after you. We caught 3, from about 1300# to 1850#, it was one of the craizest things I've ever done, but, when I'm sittin in the rocking chair, on the porch thinkin' life over, I'm sure it will come to mind. Sadly, my friend MeatBall lost his life in a rollover accident,I miss you Jimmie, you were one of the craizest, toughest people I've ever met, you will never be forgotten......................I have one more good shark story, maybe I'll tell it later. I should add, I speak for myself, and for Michael and Jimmie, that we have gotten older and wiser, and better stewards of our enviorment, we would not want to harm another GreatWhite, but what a day of fishing, Jimmie and Michael, you are a couple of crazy MFers.

 

[the fisherman]

A few minutes ago I was searching the web for a shark picture and ran across this one which I have posted, I knew that guy looked familar, his name is Gordon Crank, at the time this picture was taken he worked on my boat. That fish, and two others were caught on a boat named the Merva W, owned by a friend of mine named Michael Henery. How do I know all this, well I was there. I had pretty much forgotten about it till I saw that picture. It was epic, Michael and a famous SF fisherman and bait supplier named MeatBall aka Jim, and myself left HalfMoon Bay to go to the Farloon Islands to catch a shark, as I remember we had 3 or 4 cows heads for bait, and some real heavy duty line with ss chain for leader, and a couple off big a%$ treble hooks. I never thought we would get a bite, but after we deployed the gear the first time we had on on in about 10 minutes, we used a commercial crab block for the reel, the kind you see on Deadlist Catch, and that baby was smokin' and groanin on that shark, the whole operation was as dangerous as it gets. Once on the deck, these things are like 1500# Pit Bulls, and out of the water or not they're going to come after you. We caught 3, from about 1300# to 1850#, it was one of the craizest things I've ever done, but, when I'm sittin in the rocking chair, on the porch thinkin' life over, I'm sure it will come to mind. Sadly, my friend MeatBall lost his life in a rollover accident,I miss you Jimmie, you were one of the craizest, toughest people I've ever met, you will never be forgotten......................I have one more good shark story, maybe I'll tell it later. I should add, I speak for myself, and for Michael and Jimmie, that we have gotten older and wiser, and better stewards of our enviorment, we would not want to harm another GreatWhite, but what a day of fishing, Jimmie and Michael, you are a couple of crazy MFers.
picture wouldn't post the first time

 

[the fisherman]

picture wouldn't post the first time

great now we have 2

 

[pods8]

What were you catching them for (eat, research, sport, etc.)? Once on deck did you spear gun them in the head or something?

 

[Scootr74]

Need more pictures!

Yes, do you have one with you standing next to them (for scaling purposes). And I too would like to know what you do with a 1500# shark once you get her/him on board... I'm afraid the the little bat my friends have on their boat would just piss em off.

 

[pods8]

Hey fisherman, you reread your post to see replies and questions?

 

[SunMan]

Here's a shark story for ya...

http://news.aol.com/article/shark-video-triggers-some-backlash/381492

 

[the fisherman]

This Is An Apology

First off, yes I do read my posts to see if someone asks a question. Had I not been looking for a shark picture for some stupid thing I wanted to do, I would have never brought this up, and I kind of wish I didn't. I have pictures of the shark trip that myself and two friends took, they are in 35mm format, I was suprised to say the least to see that picture. This took place before digital cameras, if I remember right about 1978 or 79. We did this too see if we could, all three of us spent everyday of our lives on or around the ocean, we all spent a lot of time around the Farallon Islands, we used the islands as an anchorage on salmon fishing trips, now and then you would see a Great White crusing the area, looking for a sea lion to eat for dinner, I've had them close enough to the boat that you could touch them, although I didn't try. Once caught, a Great White is a very unpredictable killing machine, in fact probably natures most perfect killing machine. We found ourselves overwhelmed by the power of the first shark we caught, it was pretty much chaos, keep in mind we had very heavy duty equipment, and a 55ft steel boat. I don't remember all the little details, but the first one took over an hour to get to the boat, and that's when the fun started, the only way to subdue a shark like that is a 12ga. stungun, which we didn't have, or lasoo the tail, not as easy as it sounds, but some how we got it done, remember that's a 1500# fish that can snap your arm like a twig if he hits you right. The whole dam thing was insane from start to finish. After the first shark, we all kind of looked at each other like we had just kicked Gengis Khan's ass, and somebody said "now what", and somebody else said "lets get another one". We're fisherman doing what we do. However we didn't really realize how wrong we were catching those sharks. It was an adventure I will never forget, for two reasons, 1. It was one of the most dangerous, exciting things I've ever done, and I've done a few. 2. I'm very sorry to say, it was one of the most irresponsible things I've ever done, something that none of us would do again, and I speak for my late friend MeatBall when I say so. I've taken all the sea would give me, I now must give some back.

 

[Ted]

I think what the Fisherman is trying to say is something I could say, probably most people could say, and certainly every teenager has probably said - It seemed like a good idea at the time. It is a wonder I survived some of the stupid things I did in my youth. Certainly I regret doing some of those things, like Fisherman sounds like he regrets killing these sharks. As we get older and wiser, we can't change what has happened, we can only try to live our lives in a way that makes up for the damage we've done.

 

[pods8]

Ah I see. I honestly didn't know if there was a normal reason to go shark fishing or not and was curious what you do with caught sharks.