Shark Is On the Menu
Well, I didn't catch it but, I will be trying some slabs of Black-tip Shark this evening -- courtesy of a group of fishermen at the end of the fishing pier. I arrived near the end of the fishing pier, shortly after noon or just before and noticed 3 or 4 guys hauling a shark onto the pier -- couldn't resist going to check it out as it thrashed around and they struggled to somehow untangle and remove the hook from its lower jaw. Not a task I would have wanted to tackle anytime. It was about seven foot long.
The group of guys on the end of the pier seemed to be there strictly for the purpose of catching shark as they had a small skid/half kayak thing to motor their huge chunks of baited hooks out to the deeper waters off the end. Only a few other fishermen or women were intermingled with them and attempting to cast lures and small torpedo minnows in hopes of catching some other species of fish like King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel or Red Fish. I decided to keep some distance between me and their position at the end of the pier and fished the west side of the pier -- trying to keep the breeze at my back or off my right shoulder and the sun in my face for warmth.
I had hopes of it warming up again like the day before but, the breeze continued all afternoon from the east, then the northeast with some storm clouds rolling in and bringing chillier temps. I gave up fishing a little after 4:00 p.m. but, earlier in the afternoon one of the shark fishermen came offering some chunks of the shark to those that wanted some. It looked like a huge bone-in ham with a black skin instead of the red like a ham.
Shortly thereafter, I hooked and landed an 18-inch Remora -- first one I have ever caught. It looked like a small shark with black stripes along its body and this weird thing on the top of its body that looked like half of a black sole of a tennis shoe -- huge eyes too (about the size of a nickel or larger). Didn't keep that fish and later heard they were really not good tasting and most sharks don't even eat them. A little later (after getting the chunk of shark meat and putting it on ice in my cooler), something big grabbed onto my small mullet being floated deep on my small fishing rod and I set the hook and began to chase along the rail toward the end of the pier with my rod nearly doubling over. Then the fish headed directly under the pier and broke my line on the concrete edges of the pier. My guess is that it was a huge Red fish, though I never got a look at it.
Most fishermen that came by on their way off the pier shared the same thought about the big one that got away -- made for a good story at the bar afterwards. A few Yuengling drafts helped eased the loss and the big space heater at the bar helped to warm my cold hands.
The group of guys on the end of the pier seemed to be there strictly for the purpose of catching shark as they had a small skid/half kayak thing to motor their huge chunks of baited hooks out to the deeper waters off the end. Only a few other fishermen or women were intermingled with them and attempting to cast lures and small torpedo minnows in hopes of catching some other species of fish like King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel or Red Fish. I decided to keep some distance between me and their position at the end of the pier and fished the west side of the pier -- trying to keep the breeze at my back or off my right shoulder and the sun in my face for warmth.
I had hopes of it warming up again like the day before but, the breeze continued all afternoon from the east, then the northeast with some storm clouds rolling in and bringing chillier temps. I gave up fishing a little after 4:00 p.m. but, earlier in the afternoon one of the shark fishermen came offering some chunks of the shark to those that wanted some. It looked like a huge bone-in ham with a black skin instead of the red like a ham.
Shortly thereafter, I hooked and landed an 18-inch Remora -- first one I have ever caught. It looked like a small shark with black stripes along its body and this weird thing on the top of its body that looked like half of a black sole of a tennis shoe -- huge eyes too (about the size of a nickel or larger). Didn't keep that fish and later heard they were really not good tasting and most sharks don't even eat them. A little later (after getting the chunk of shark meat and putting it on ice in my cooler), something big grabbed onto my small mullet being floated deep on my small fishing rod and I set the hook and began to chase along the rail toward the end of the pier with my rod nearly doubling over. Then the fish headed directly under the pier and broke my line on the concrete edges of the pier. My guess is that it was a huge Red fish, though I never got a look at it.
Most fishermen that came by on their way off the pier shared the same thought about the big one that got away -- made for a good story at the bar afterwards. A few Yuengling drafts helped eased the loss and the big space heater at the bar helped to warm my cold hands.
posted by Ray at
5:56 AM
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