Bull shark sighted off Fire Island

[Dug]

Anyone know if this is true? I heard a rumor. 15' fish. Close to shore! Whooeeee...

[TailhookTom]

Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

[PeterPalmieri]

First I'm hearing this. Was out yesterday. No chatter on the radio.

[Pete Fallon]

We are going to need a bigger boat.

[In Memory Walter K]

Bull Sharks go anywhere, even into fresh water. They were the actual killers that Whites got blamed for on the Jersey shore many years ago. Took kids in 4' of water up a river. I have seen them come up on a beach with their backs out of the water, taking Tuna Carcasses thrown in the shallow waters by a launching ramp on Cayman Brac. Grow very big and do a lot of the damage often blamed on the Great White. In my opinion, Great Whites are more selective.

[Stephan]

Quint: [seeing Hooper's equipment] What are you? Some kind of half-assed astronaut?
[examining the shark cage]
Quint: Jesus H Christ, when I was a boy, every little squirt wanted to be a harpooner or a sword fisherman. What d'ya have there - a portable shower or a monkey cage?
Hooper: Anti-Shark cage.
Quint: Anti-shark cage. You go inside the cage?
[Hooper nods]
Quint: Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark.
[sings]
Quint: Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again.

[Carl]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Sho ... ks_of_1916

Those attacks were in 1916, right in my backyard. Raritan Bay.

Every couple years we get a few big sharks make there way in here close to shore.

Then again the Mud Hole starts 20 miles from homeport...I start sharken just a tad past that and we've seen some big Makos and Great Whites... so not a stretch to hear one off the beach not too far from there.

Heard some un-verified reports we had Great Whites and Threshers right off Rockaway this season.

[randall]

surfing alone in pinas bay, panama i have to admit that after an hour it was merely the idea of bull sharks that drove me from the water. hank said he caught a huge one from the tropic star dock when he was a kid. very aggressive.

[In Memory Walter K]

This year has been somewhat unusual. People caught big Threshers inshore when Bass fishing with Bunkers. My theory is they have less baitfish to eat so they're coming inshore to find food. Take everything with the big nets and the predators have to adapt to survive.

[TailhookTom]

Back in the late 60s and early 70s it wasn't unusual to have a shot at trolling up a swordfish withhin sight of Block Island. In addition, you could troll umbrellas and catch all the pollock and cod you wanted in The Race! Butterfish Hole was the spot for Giants -- and all could be had from a 23 Seacraft, a 25 or 31 Bertram, or if someone was rich - a Huckins Fairform Flyer!

[In Memory Walter K]

Tom-I lived some of it with a 25 Pacemaker. Bought my 31 because of it. NEVER had to go more than 12-20 miles for anything. All this before Loran C, fancy chartplotters and good depth recorders. We didn't appreciate how good it was. Incompetents hooked fish (didn't necessarily land them), and you NEVER came home skunked. An offshore run was a Natural History lesson. Whales, sharks, turtles and all kinds of jumping baitfish. Thank God I started taking my seven year old son out then and they are memories he'll never forget. Somewhere there is an 8 MM film of him hand feeding Blue Sharks that gave my wife a stroke when she saw it. "Walter, are you out of your mind?". Same day we caught a Mako and a White Marlin. That Monday when we sat down to dinner I asked my son if he told his class about what he did on the weekend, he said "no". When I asked him why not, he coolly responded with "they wouldn't believe me". He's 48 now and tells his son all about those days.

[TailhookTom]

Walter:

Paper charts, stopwatch, compass and dividers -- I still have all my paper charts with Time, Speed and Distance on them -- headings with times and bearings via various aids to navigation in magic marker -- inshore courses, offshore courses, etc.

Of course there were no shiney gold reels in my budget back then either -- Penn 4/0 and 6/0 and they took a lot of fish.

I was commenting to my best friend and fishing buddy the other night when he noted that his youngest was just turning 27 -- I said, so, how old was Jon when we first took him offshore, and his father proudly said 6 1/2 -- "an my wife still hasn't forgiven me."

Tom

[Tony Meola]

They are up here. Water is probably getting a little cool for them. There was a 6 footer early in the season hanging out in the lagoons for a short while behind Long Beach Island, just south of Barnegat Light.

Made you a little hesitant to go swimming in Barnegat Bay.

[randall]

a few years ago the same great white was caught twice in the pound traps in gardiner's bay......if its connected to the ocean there is always the chance.

[Charlie J]

a bull shark was caught in the pound nets this year in orient harbor

[Bob H.]

Heres to swimmin with bow legged women...cant stay down with three barrells...BH