Posted on 01/23/2003 2:05:48 PM PST by cogitator
Because of their speed and temperment you wouldn't have any chance against a mako. What helps is they rarely come into shalow water, and their eye sight is so good that targeting people is a rarity. A lot differnt when you have them on the line. They do attack boats and jump into cockpits.
The most dangerous for swimmers and bathers are the bulls tigers and whites. They come into shallow water and are aggresive.
Mako, thresher, porbeagle, and blacktips are big shark meat sellers.
When we tag sharks the instructions are to cut off close to the hook but don't remove the hook because a jaw hooked shark survives, no problem. Trying to remove the hook may do more damage. Tagged sharks released with hooks in the jaw are recovered years later with no adverse effects. A gut hooked shark is another matter and they more than likely have trouble after release. - Tom
How big?
(That gull looks like it's making an abrupt STOP! ;-)
This past summer Thresher pups were being caught in Ambrose Channel right at the mouth of Raritan Bay by fluke fishermen. Unfortunately I didn't get any of them or any of the 50 lb rays that came throught either. :(
The hook will eventually rust out; but in my opinion not in a few days or weeks as is commonly stated.
One time we had a shark to the boat with 3 other hooks in his mouth;probably from tuna fishermen or longliners. We made an exception to just cutting him loose, and kept him alongside and removed all four hooks, and he swam off no problem. - Tom
No, Bush's Baked Beans do not have anything to do with this particular trend.
It depends on the species. The worst is the mako that has excellent eyesight and can snap at you unexpectedly as your hand comes down the wire.
The problem isn't just the bite it is infection.
A friend cut a shark loose went to the other side of the boat to cut another loose. The first angler put the rod in the holder and left the cut wire hanging into the water. The second shark went around the boat to where the first shark was cut loose. When my friend reached down to cut it loose, it wrapped the wire that was hanging in the water, and unexpectedly pulled his hand down with the wire. He got 27 stitches from the upper teeth of the shark. When I talked to him he had his arm in a sling and had been shot with just about every antibiotic the hospital.
If you get your cutting hand caught between the shark and the wire when t rolls, and the shark turns to bite your arm or shoulder, you have to take your free hand and put it between the sharks upper jaw and snout to hold it off until you get your other hand free.
Usualy it is not a problem except the more you do it the closer to the hook you get. I have cut loose over 700 big blue sharks in one season. Now because of so many cod trips I cut loose 100-300 sharks a season.
But like a baseball player, if you play the game long enough, you will get hit with a pitched ball. I always have that in the back of my mind. - Tom
Normally we just cut the wire close to the hook. - Tom
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