Shark!

I had a sharky weekend. On Saturday I got up early and spent a few hours fishing off the beach. I caught a couple small sharks, but nothing worth keeping. Sunday we made a family trip to the beach for swimming, reading, sand castle building and everything else that my kids like to do at the beach. I also brought along my fishing gear (just in case).

After a while, I grabbed my casting net and went to look for bait. It was a little choppy, and the water was a little cloudy, so it was harder to see schools of mullet. I was walking along in about 8 inches of water, when I saw a small skate flutter away from me. That was neat. I have seen large rays before, but never the small sand colored skates. Thirty seconds later, I saw a much larger fish. A four foot skark came swimming slowly right at me. The shark swam about a foot around my feet, and kept swimming away from me, parallel to the coast.

I was fascinated by the shark at first... I was never frightened, because the shark did not seem to be interested in me, in fact it kept away from me. I think it was also looking for the elusive mullet schools. After the shark swam away, I went back to my family, and dug a hole for my girls to play in. We kept them out of the ocean for a bit. After thinking about this for a while, I realized that I know the sharks are out there. Why should I keep the girls out of the water only when I see one, since they are always there. I really think that when a person gets bitten by a shark, it is an accident on the sharks part. They are trying to eat fish, and sometimes a leg or an arm gets in the way.

The sharks I caught Saturday were only about a foot long. This guy on Sunday was easily four feet long. Too bad I did not hook that one!

Posted by on 07/28 at 04:37 PM

If you’re looking for schools of mullets, try Magnolia Mall. I saw a family of them there once. It was like seeing a family of lions in the wild. One sudden move and they might flee. : ) There was a daddy mullet, a mommy mullet, two young boy mullets and even the beginnings of a baby mullet. I felt honored to see such a rare phenomenon in their natural habitat. ; )

Posted by  on  07/29  at  03:32 PM

That’s awesome. They love to hang out in the surf. The state record Tiger shark was caught off of the Cherry Grove pier. Weighed in at 1780 lbs.
You should go out to Pawleys reef or the 10 mile reef. Bottom fishing is just about out of the question because of the sand sharks. We release as many as we can but sometimes you end up killing them to get them off the hook. They are quite tasty. You need to bleed them right away.

Posted by  on  07/30  at  02:11 PM

Frank, I didn’t have you pegged as a fisherman type. If a 4 foot shark at your feet didn’t upset you you are rather brave I would say. I am not sure how I would react, but I hope I would do as you did and not make sudden moves to splash water and possibly excite the shark into an attack . A 4 food shark could mess up an otherwise nice day.

Now what’s this about mullets at the Magnolia Mall
Jamie?

Posted by  on  07/30  at  04:05 PM

I saw a family of them there once. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. And yes, I know you guys are talking about fishing, but come on… a family of mullets? It was too good to pass up…

Posted by  on  07/30  at  04:37 PM

Mullets at Magnolia Mall? Classic!!!!!!!!!! That is too funny!

We saw some pretty big sharks swimming near the peir in Garden City. People were swimming so close, but I guess that happens all the time. We saw some stingrays (or skates?) too that looked injured.

Posted by  on  07/30  at  08:08 PM

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