'08 Alabama sharkin' in the surf PIX

Bill D.

Bill D.

Crazy Old RO
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Here are a couple of pix of some blacktips we just caught.

My fishin' buddy Harlan and his first blacktip of '08.
hshark.jpg


Harlan with my #9 of the '08 season. I caught a few before he was able to get down to the gulf.
myshark.jpg


The fishing slowed this last week. We had strong winds from the SW which brought cooler water from the Mississippi. A few more weeks and the water to the west will be a lot warmer and this won't be a probablem the rest of the summer.

Bait was chunk bluefish and ladyfish on a 10/0 circle hook, 7' of 135lb 7strn steel leader, penn 950SS spooled with 300 yrds+ of 30 lb mono, and a 15' heavy action surf rod. I caught on shark that took a measured 45min. to wear down and land (timing by a beach visitor). Also, had a 1st time ever event. A family vacationing brought me dinner & drink on the beach one evening. "We have enjoyed watch you fish so much this week we wanted to bring you dinner!" I was "speechless", but manged to say thanks before letting out a growl and wolfing the meal down. <grin> Looks like a good year ahead....
 
Did ya ever hear about how to tell if a shark is dead?
I see those feet so close to the shark and remember a tournament where folks were standing around this dead shark until he got pissed and swiveled to bite some dude on the ankle.
PS, dead sharks smell.
 
They are not dead, in fact, the bottom pictured one made a fast turn back toward me after I released her back into the surf. The sand has a lot of give son they don't "flop" around as fast as they can on a deck. We watch the "business end" real close. However, one night caught shark put a slight scare into me. The person holding the light took the beam off the shark right as I waded in to grab the tail. As I lost sight of the shark I felt it "rub" by my leg. I was just waiting to feel the sting of the teeth when they got the light back on her. To my great relief it was the tail section that rubbed me wrong. The "light" person caught a few well aimed barbs from me.
 
Bill you need some intense amotional observation a lot more than you realize!

Do you eat them? That is to say, can you get to their meat before they get to yours?
Taste like Chicken? eh?
 
We did keep one for Harlan. It was the night caught one that had rubbed me. All the rest were released alive. I've still got enough vac-packed to last through June & into July before I will kill one. As to needing "observation".....I've heard that before. <grin>
 
Shark is good meat.
I have fried it, ground it up with onions, green onions and potatoes, made into a patty,
then rolled in flour and fried. Makes great patties. I do the same with garfish.
 
Try cutting into 1" square chunks and boil with your shrimp or in a low country boil. It's great right out of the boil or chilled.
 
Sounds good. It is firm enough to boil and not fall apart like most fish.
 
Back in England, where I came from, a very popular fish in "fish and chips" is what is called "Huss" so people will not know it is shark.
This is the spiney dogfish which is a small shark that is very prolific and is found in the lower Chesapeake as well as up and down a lot of the east coast. I do not know of many people who eat it over here in the US and I think most of the commercial fisherman treat is as a junk catch.
For fish and chips the fish is gutted and skinned (the normal way to skin it is to separate a bit of the skin at the head end and then use pliers to peel the skin down) and then cut into about 6 inch joints. The sections are rolled in flour, coated in batter and deep fried. Very easy to handle and there is just the cartilige backbone in the center of the piece of fish. This is very much finger food and is very sweet meat and delicious served the English way with fries with salt and malt vinegar as the only seasonings.
 
Hmmmmm, I bet that would good. Back before my little heart cuttin' I used to deep fry shark chunks and they were great. Makes my mouth water just thinkin' about fried foods. I haven't had any since chest splitting.
 
I love the Fish patties, and the first trip to the south (Cameron LA) I was introduced to Gator and Catfish.
ummmmgoood. By that time I had confidence in eating anything fixed by my family. I would have tried Sharks, I'm certain.
It does not take long to get used to Southern Cookin'
 
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