A little close for comfort - and why the kids don't swim in the canal

[JeremyD]

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/04/Southpinellas/Bull_shark_caught_off.shtml

The night was black. The moon full. Live music from Vinoy Park floated in the salty air. But Ed Maloney was not at peace. Ed Maloney was thinking: I need a hand. I don't want to screw this up. Ed had been invited to his cousin Frank Maloney's Venetian Isles home Saturday for some backyard shark fishing. Ed's a novice angler, so when he felt what seemed to be a block of lead yank at his line, he knew it was time to call in reinforcements. "So I sit in the chair, " the more experienced Frank recalled Saturday, "and I said, 'Holy s---!' This is just the strongest thing I've ever felt!"
Frank Maloney, a real estate developer, had hooked bull sharks from the sea wall behind his home before. But smaller ones, as in only 200 to 300 pounds.
This was on another scale, so he called his neighbor, Chuck "Tuna" Meyer. He was in bed and his wife wasn't keen on him getting up, but Frank seemed urgent. "So I got over there in about 10 minutes, " Meyer said. "I couldn't believe it. This thing was incredible."
Bull sharks are in bays and inland waters this time of year to give birth to their "pups." After the effort they are hungry. Maloney's massive shark took a 6-pound bonita on 80-pound test-line, and a three-hour battle was joined.
Though populations of some sharks are dwindling, the bull is common in area waters. They are dangerous animals, pugnacious and aggressive. In 2000, a bull took the life of 69-year-old Thadeus Kubinski, when he jumped from a dock into Boca Ciega Bay.
The Maloneys' shark was too powerful for just one man, so every 20 minutes the Maloney cousins and Meyer, each 45 years old, would take turns in the chair, forearms aching, sweating through their clothes.
The sound of the reel's drag was so loud it woke up Frank Maloney's wife. They threw ice on the reel to keep it from overheating.
"I never thought we were going to get it in, " Frank said. "I thought we were going to break the line several times."
Finally the exhausted men got the exhausted animal to the sea wall, where they managed to sink a treble hook in its flesh. They lashed the shark in place and tried to get some rest. In the morning, friends came by to help them lift the animal to land.
They measured it at 8 feet 10 inches. The men didn't have a scale, but they estimated its weight at 650 to 700 pounds.
Frank said he called around to local fish markets, but no one was interested. He plans to mount the jaws and return the carcass to the sea.

[Tim Hancock]

Your pictures coupled with my watching Jaws at a young impressionable age, have me thinking I never want to dip a toe in the ocean again (this coming from a past "fearless" adrenaline junkey).

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Tim Hancock
Your pictures coupled with my watching Jaws at a young impressionable age, have me thinking I never want to dip a toe in the ocean again (this coming from a past "fearless" adrenaline junkey).

I think you're pretty safe in Ohio, Tim...unless we have some *real* serious global warming

[Joeaksa]

And we were poo poo'ing the kid who shot a 1000 pound porker a few days ago?

There are far too many things in this world who are large enough to kill us and a few of them like this shark would be more than happy to do so!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by nostatic
I think you're pretty safe in Ohio, Tim...unless we have some *real* serious global warming

All those years partying at Daytona beach for spring break, I guess I was too drunk to worry.

[JeremyD]

I know the odds are much better getting struck by lightening in the great state of Florida - but knowing big beasts like this are close - really conjures up that "primal fear" gene.

especially as much time as I spend on the water. This is the 2nd LARGE shark that has been caught in the past two weeks with a mile or so of where I live.

[TerryBPP]

When I was younger we use to swim and fish in the Boca Grande pass located between Pine Island & Boca Grande. Come to find out its one of the largest Gulf Coast breeding grounds for Hammer Head sharks!!!

[azasadny]

I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan from 5/84 - 5/85 and while I was there, some locals caught a 25' Great White shark. This was the first time a Great White was caught that far north and 25' is the same size as "Bruce", the shark from the movie "Jaws". I never snorkeled again after that...

[masraum]

Originally posted by JeremyD
I know the odds are much better getting struck by lightening in the great state of Florida - but knowing big beasts like this are close - really conjures up that "primal fear" gene.

especially as much time as I spend on the water. This is the 2nd LARGE shark that has been caught in the past two weeks with a mile or so of where I live.

I'm from the St Pete area. My grand parents used to live in and near Largo in between Indian Rocks and Clearwater Beaches. My mother said they used to catch sharks off of the piers there all of the time. I used to spend lots and lots of time in the water when I was younger. I guess I was too scrawny to look appetizing, thank goodness.

[id10t]

And in several hundred saltwater dives - quite a few at night - I've never seen a shark in the water while I was in the water...

[JeremyD]

I catch them just about every weekend - just smaller ones...

[alf]

Holy smoke, that is one big ugly shark. Would not want to be in the water with that one.

Originally posted by id10t
And in several hundred saltwater dives - quite a few at night - I've never seen a shark in the water while I was in the water...

I have seen my fair share of sharks while diving. Hundreds of black tip reef sharks in Tahiti on every dive. Leopards in Thailand, white tips in Hawaii. No whites, tigers or bulls and frankly I do not want to see those while I am in the water.

[id10t]

alf- i would've expected at least a nurse or blacktip when I spent a month in the keys, etc.... just luck or unlucky (or half blind...) I guess...

[JeremyD]

Originally posted by TerryBPP
When I was younger we use to swim and fish in the Boca Grande pass located between Pine Island & Boca Grande. Come to find out its one of the largest Gulf Coast breeding grounds for Hammer Head sharks!!!

Terry for years there was a hammerhead that used to show up at the sunshine skyway fishing pier. It was nicknamed "hitler" and was famous for snatching all the fish that were caught if you didn't bring them up fast enough.

"They" said you could see the head on one side of the pier - and the tail would still be on the other side. The pier was 18 feet wide...

[livi]

One caught probably means ten left in the water..

[Tobra]

In Huntsville State Park there was a lake where people swam that had some BIG alligators in it. Bigger than our canoe by a lot, which was 12 feet. Never heard about anyone getting bitten.


I recently read that the girl who was eaten at the beginning of Jaws reprised the role for 1941, another Spielberg flick.

[bigchillcar]

Come to find out its one of the largest Gulf Coast breeding grounds for Hammer Head sharks!!!

found myself and a buddy hovering about 15 feet above a rather large contingency of said sharks that were investigating a large lobster trap floating on a buoy, which had drifted into shipping channel. we weren't supposed to be there..caught in a current while scuba diving. held our knives and friggin' froze..waiting for the current to move us past. saw my life flash before my eyes..they were friggin' beasts.

[KFC911]

Hey Jeremy, this made my local news this morning! I was in the other room when I heard it come on and caught part of it. They had an interview with Ed and showed the shark on the dock, with several young boys checking it out and also showed a young girl hosing the shark down with water. I did think to hit record on my DVR. That was one big shark!

[berettafan]

are bull sharks not good eating?

[David]

I believe it was Jay Leno that said, "More people die a year from falling coconuts than from shark attacks... of course the coconut doesn't grab you, pull you underwater and eat you." (or something like that)