7/6 SW south shark attack

First you have to understand that when my two sons were about 4 and 6, we went fishing to the santa cruz wharf, with their cousin.  My niece caught a decent rockfish from one of those "seal holes" at the end of the wharf.  I asked what they wanted to do with the fish.  My niece coos, "set it free!"  My 6 year old nods in agreement.  My 4 year olds says, "Eat it."

Well the 4 year old is now 13, and looking for things to catch.  He said he was only taking pictures of the fowl but I dont know, may have been stalking them.  On to the water...

We fish around the point, and get a few small blues here, a gopher there.  Nathan starts telling me he has a big fish on and his pole is going bendo.  I get up close and we both see it at the same time.  SHARK!  We manage to lip grip the beast and remove the hook.  This is not easy, they roll around and tangle everything.  They have large spines along the two fins on the back.  So if you try to lay them against your leg, they eventually roll around and poke you.  We finally manage to let it go.  Of course Nathan is giving me the "we should have ate it" look.  He manages to catch 2 more, I hook into 2.  By the last one, I was done being nice.  Just brought the sucker up, bonked him on the head for easy hook removal and we put him on the stringer.  Like coppers, they stay alive forever and I had to dispatch him later before gutting him.  No idea what to do with the fish but the meat doesnt smell like amonia, so I guess we're OK.  Googling "cooking shark."

we ended with a nice vermillion, a cabbie, some blues, one copper and a shark.  Released smaller blues, gophers, numerous endangered canaries and 4 other sharks.

I generally dont think about sharks on the water.  But gutting a shark, heaving over blood and guts, I kept thinking about the book JAWS and Quint starting a shark feeding frenzy.  I admit it, I pulled my legs into the yak!  Then paddled away from the carnage, to the delight of the seagulls.  Life is good!

Finally had to add that it was a marathon day.  We started at 6:30 and got off the water at 2 PM.  Ran into Rob out there, nice to see you again.

the nice thing about coming in so late, the parking lot was NOT a zoo.  Pick your space, it was so nice.

Great report - your son is looking so comfortable on the water.  Way to get him into it.   

Outstanding!

Great report & pics.

It's nice to see your son out on the Big Blue.

No fear,

S.

Nice report and pics e2g.  Good to see you two again.
 I never got into the sharks like you guys, I was using frozen chovies not squid maybe thats why.  I was off the water at noon and ended with a nice copper and 3 big blues, I released a lot of small blues, couple gophers and a canary. 

When I was loading the kayak onto my truck it slipped off and went nose first into the asphalt and smashed in the tip.  I ran water over it, it doesn't leak so I guess I will just leave it alone.

bummer on the dropped kayak.  I did that except on the rudder end of tarpon, and that did leak!  I took the rudder off and gooped the heck out of it, and it no longer leaks.  You want to just fill the dent with goop for insurance.

on the sharks they always seemed to hit just as I was planning on heading in towards the kelp to start another drift.  So my guess is they were over some sandy area that we kept hitting. 

  You want to just fill the dent with goop for insurance.

 

Thats a good idea thanks, i didn't think about goopin it.  I am going to do it this week

When I was loading the kayak onto my truck it slipped off and went nose first into the asphalt and smashed in the tip.

Looks like your kayak is pouting...   

Eugene,

What kind of shark is that?  That ain't no Leopard is it?  Is that a Blue?

PJ

Eugene,

What kind of shark is that?  That ain't no Leopard is it?  Is that a Blue?

PJ

I think its a sand shark, aka spiny dogfish.  When you catch one and bring it up, you can see others following the hooked ones.  Not much in the way of teeth