Shark Week!

[Curmudgeon]

Yeah , the Mako is some damn good eating . Always was intrigued that the Thresher evolved such an odd tail and how the biggest of sharks , the Whale Shark ate ony plankton . Always found it appalling , the idiots like Mundis and his clients killing a huge , slow to reproduce animal to just take their picture with its carcase and then send it off to the Montauk dump . Had a fascination with sharks since childhood , probably cause the first thing I ever caught in Fire Island Inlet was a Sand/SandTiger back six decades ago . Damned thing was almost as big as my five year old self .

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Yeah , the Mako is some damn good eating . Always was intrigued that the Thresher evolved such an odd tail and how the biggest of sharks , the Whale Shark ate ony plankton . Always found it appalling , the idiots like Mundis and his clients killing a huge , slow to reproduce animal to just take their picture with its carcase and then send it off to the Montauk dump . Had a fascination with sharks since childhood , probably cause the first thing I ever caught in Fire Island Inlet was a Sand/SandTiger back six decades ago . Damned thing was almost as big as my five year old self .

You are right about Frank Mundus he was weird ran the Cricket 2 for 20 years. Then it was found out he never had a captains license and was here illegally.
We fished out of Montauk quite a bit in the 60's And I can remember the mounted head of the Great White he harpooned. Then Jaws came out and it was open season on sharks, they would just chum them up and shoot them. Drank with him a couple of times, he seemed weird. I don't know this for a fact. But I heard from a reliable source he used stray dogs and cats for bait.
BTW Threshers taste as good as any Mako.

[Curmudgeon]

Saw a video on YouTube of Mundis standing on a dead whale , basically throwng the hook into mouth of Great White for his client . One of his "records" was disallowed cause they tied up to a whale carcase . Back in '63 or '64 my old man "talked me" into skipping school one day and took me offshore where a dead whale was floating . Still remember the thrill of seeing sharks that seemed big as his 26 foot boat . Also remember how the sharks would come into your chum slick back then and put end to days fishing . Understand now , since all thyat post Jaws shark killing mania , sharks off the south shore got scarce . Also remember how my ship would anchor in 50 or 60 foot of water at Guantanimo Bay , water so clear you could count leavs of sea weed on bottom , would look over side and watch sharks swimming around ship . Super cool sight .

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Saw a video on YouTube of Mundis standing on a dead whale , basically throwng the hook into mouth of Great White for his client . One of his "records" was disallowed cause they tied up to a whale carcase . Back in '63 or '64 my old man "talked me" into skipping school one day and took me offshore where a dead whale was floating . Still remember the thrill of seeing sharks that seemed big as his 26 foot boat . Also remember how the sharks would come into your chum slick back then and put end to days fishing . Understand now , since all thyat post Jaws shark killing mania , sharks off the south shore got scarce . Also remember how my ship would anchor in 50 or 60 foot of water at Guantanimo Bay , water so clear you could count leavs of sea weed on bottom , would look over side and watch sharks swimming around ship . Super cool sight .

That big White he got was harpooned not caught on a rod. I know the guy that was with him that day. They were going to get whale blubber to use for chum. And that big one was there. At first they said they caught it with rod and reel but they didn't have any on board that day.
I've seen 3 Great Whites (in person) one was chewing up a floating dead whale (what a smell). One was on a headboat on the Coimbra wreck off Long Island. That one rocketed out of the water, and grabbed a 30 pound codfish off the gaff. The last one I saw was swimming with a 75 to 100 pound tuna sideways in its mouth. It was a legitamate 20' long.
We stopped and beat the snot out of the tuna, but didn't see the shark again

[Curmudgeon]

Only have seen Great Whites once in person , was teenager so of course they seemed bigger than they probably were but was still an experience i'll always be grateful to the Oldman for . That whole "kill sharks" mania that took off after Jaws movie I found really offensive , as I was raised to believe every creature evolved to fill a purpose in nature and indiscriminate slaughter disrupts nature's balance , usually with negative consequences .

[treessavoy]

I was 11 and went fishing in Tampa Bay (which is about 4 to 6 feet deep) with my Father and his brother in a 15 foot boat.

Uncle Jay hooked a small shark, about 3 feet, and began to haul it into the boat. My Father yelled at him not to bring it into the boat but it was too late. The shark it the bottom of the boat and started gnashing it's teeth and flopping around and I heard a splash behind me. I turned around to see my Dad standing outside the boat still yelling.

Then the problem became how to release the shark and get my Dad in the boat at the same time..... My Dad didn't think it was funny, but we did and so did the rest of the family when we told the story.

It's funny, here's a man who made two trips over France, dropping the airborne on D-Day and he's afraid of a fish and I later learned he was afraid of heights!

JimR