Gaffing Undersized Shark That’s Biting My Thumb

October 16, 2014

Question: I recently went fishing with a friend and hooked into a 4-foot angel shark (which I had mistaken for a large skate). When I got it close to the boat, I reached down to unhook it and release it (still not thinking it was a shark). As I got close to its mouth it thrashed around and bit my thumb pretty good (suddenly I realized I was in the jaws of a shark). The shark wouldn’t release my thumb, and me being in the boat and it still in the water, the only thing I could think of doing at that moment was to gaff it and bring it on board the boat. When I gaffed it we got it on the boat, my friend held it down and used a screwdriver to pry its mouth open. By this time the shark had lost a lot of blood.

The law says it has to be 72 inches and 100 lbs. The shark died and I was wondering if we violated any laws given that it died while we were trying to save my thumb? In this situation, if we didn’t violate any laws could we have kept the dead shark? Please let me know or put me in touch with someone who can answer this question. Thank you very much for your time. (Sean O.)

Answer: Sorry about your thumb, but there are no size or weight limit restrictions for angel sharks. Gaffs may be used to assist in landing any fish that is legal to take and of legal size, but gaffs are not a legal method of take for sharks or any other species. In a case like this where it sounds like your personal safety (thumb) was an issue, you can use whatever means necessary to ensure your safety. Afterwards, when the immediate threat is over, you must abide by current rules and regulations. If the species or size is illegal, you may not possess it. And as in this case, if you caught the shark illegally, you must release it, dead or alive.

October 16, 2014

Question: I recently went fishing with a friend and hooked into a 4-foot angel shark (which I had mistaken for a large skate). When I got it close to the boat, I reached down to unhook it and release it (still not thinking it was a shark). As I got close to its mouth it thrashed around and bit my thumb pretty good (suddenly I realized I was in the jaws of a shark). The shark wouldn’t release my thumb, and me being in the boat and it still in the water, the only thing I could think of doing at that moment was to gaff it and bring it on board the boat. When I gaffed it we got it on the boat, my friend held it down and used a screwdriver to pry its mouth open. By this time the shark had lost a lot of blood.

The law says it has to be 72 inches and 100 lbs. The shark died and I was wondering if we violated any laws given that it died while we were trying to save my thumb? In this situation, if we didn’t violate any laws could we have kept the dead shark? Please let me know or put me in touch with someone who can answer this question. Thank you very much for your time. (Sean O.)

Answer: Sorry about your thumb, but there are no size or weight limit restrictions for angel sharks. Gaffs may be used to assist in landing any fish that is legal to take and of legal size, but gaffs are not a legal method of take for sharks or any other species. In a case like this where it sounds like your personal safety (thumb) was an issue, you can use whatever means necessary to ensure your safety. Afterwards, when the immediate threat is over, you must abide by current rules and regulations. If the species or size is illegal, you may not possess it. And as in this case, if you caught the shark illegally, you must release it, dead or alive.

If there are no size restrictions on this species, and you can use gaffs to land the fish, why does it say it was caught illegally??

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...reminds me of the harpoon issue for halibut...here it says you can use gaffs to land the fish but not to take it...in the harpoon answer it said landing the fish was an integral part of the take so no harpoons could be used. Makes no sense to me.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=54135.0

Yeah, I thought the same Jim.  If your motoring around with a long gaff and gaffing something, that sounds like method of take.  But if you hooked it, then landed it with a gaff... not take!!!

Also, doesn't intent have to do with take?  He intended to save his thumb, not kill the fish...

One of my favorite subjects.

I'm still quite certain that you can use what have been called hali-poons.  Or even a kage.  Just start calling them gaffs.

This is an odd one, indeed. I think someone new wrote that response and/or published it...so confused...

MAYBE the DFG thought that he unhooked it & THEN got his finger bit so when he Gaffed it, the fish was taken by gaff only ...  I know, this is a reach but plausible.  That would then have been an illegal take.

except the regs say you can take a fish with a gaff, just not undersized fish:

(d) No gaff hook shall be used to take or assist in landing any finfish shorter than the minimum size limit. For the purpose of this section a gaff hook is any hook with or without a handle used to assist in landing fish or to take fish in such a manner that the fish does not take the hook voluntarily in its mouth. No person shall take finfish from any boat or other floating device in ocean waters without having a landing net in possession or available for immediate use to assist in landing under- size fish of species having minimum size limits; the opening of any such landing net shall be not less than eighteen inches in diameter.

My reference was to just taking a fish (not already hooked by rod/reel) with a gaff.  That, I believe, is what they were making reference to.

My reference was to just taking a fish (not already hooked by rod/reel) with a gaff.  That, I believe, is what they were making reference to.

Then we are talking about the same thing.

Square this with the column on September 22, 2011:

Hitchhikers
Question: If I am using a legal shrimp fly rig to fish in California waters for rockfish and a legal-sized lingcod bites and holds onto an otherwise legal-sized rockfish, can I legally gaff and possess that legal-sized hitchhiking lingcod? I am assuming the lingcod has not been hooked in the mouth on my shrimp fly rig, but has merely bitten and held on to the rockfish all the way to the surface. Would this be legal? (James O. Peterson)

Answer: Yes. The take of “hitchhiking” lingcod with a gaff is legal as long as the fish is of legal size. Gaff hooks cannot be used to take or assist in landing any finfish shorter than the minimum sizes limit. Gaffs also cannot be used to take  salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or striped bass.

Gaffs also cannot be used to take  salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or striped bass.

Well, that's incorrect too...there are situations in which you CAN gaff salmon!
There's gotta be some fine-print clause on these Q&A letters (indicating it is not legal gospel) or else they could be held liable for whatever inaccuracies they publish/? And it seems like they often publish incorrect/incomplete/inaccurate info in these little Q&A deals. Although I DO appreciate that they share these questions & responses. 

No that is correct as long as we differentiate between "take" and "assist in landing". You cannot gaff a salmon that wasn't already caught on hook and line. You can do so to a lingcod and most other fish.

Ahhh, good catch. You are correct. The devil's in the details. I should write a letter to the DFG asking if I could legally take a dump in the ocean...

Ahhh, good catch. You are correct. The devil's in the details. I should write a letter to the DFG asking if I could legally take a dump in the ocean...

Now that is some funny shit right there!     Thanks for the laugh Pat!