Shark Hunter Tournament

[FishinBill]

I have watched the OLN shark tourney trail. A friend of mine in cally is in it and took home the grandprize. He's sponsored by our company Town and Country Credit.....now if only I can get them to buy me a bass boat and start up on the tour! hmmmmmm

[Ralph Wiggum]

Well, the one I saw was about 1200 pounds. Probably was a tiger.

[hanson]

Just to confuse all you guys-

ESPN had the Monster Shark Tournament which was held outside Martha's Vineyard.

OLN has a Shark Tournament Trail of some kind on the west coast (California I believe), which was on TV last night.

I can't recall the specific titles of the shows off the top of my head but there are definitely 2 different shows on TV right now.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I was watching the ESPN one.

[Northlander]

Neither one really turns my crank. Seems like a lot of cussin and hollering going on. Maybe they air all that junk to increase the hype but its not my idea of a good time on the water.

I dont deny that a big shark would be a blast to catch though.

[Ice9]

Sharks are seldom much fun to catch. Makos are pelagic fish and are very energetic and acrobatic (like the billfish they eat) but most of the other sharks are sluggish and slow. Larger sharks are often looped--hooked, then allowed to circulate in the chum slick, then harpooned. A new all tackle record GW was taken that way a couple of years ago. Sharks have a high C&R mortality, and many varieties suffer badly from lactic acid buildup in prolonged fights. Threshers I believe are in that category.

These tournaments, in my opinion, are more dishonorable and disgusting abuse of the resource for a buck and a moment of fame. Our sport is being overrun by this tendency--everything has to become glitzy and cool and hot and profitable. And to do that, generally, there is deception. I didn't see the show with the biologists and the research and all of that but one guess as to why the show featured that element--they're aware of the criticism and are trying to head it off. What I know about sharks suggests that those events aren't what they seem.

Worldwide, sharks are one of the most abused fish stocks. They are slow growing top predators and so will be extremely difficult to rebuild. They are being fished very heavily everywhere. And yes, especially in the Pacific, sharks are often taken on long lines, finned, and dumped. Some are finned alive and tossed. A charter captain I know in Florida used to see lemons swimming around with all three fins missing. We're heading for disaster with this stock, but what else is new.

Shark fishing is boring and nasty. Large chunk/chum slicks are set, and it's smelly work. Slicks often draw vast numbers of sharks that aren't desireable for the "hunters," like whitetips and reef sharks. Once larger target fish are in the slick, mates usually spend a lot of time heaving baits in front of them and yanking them back before the other sharks grab them. I've seen the shows with releases and specs on those who are released, but I've seen a lot of dead sharks and other reports that make this "sport" seem silly and cruel and wasteful.

Shark "hunting" is becoming a glamour pursuit, and even the most innocent and careful tournaments add to it. There are numerous hotshot anglers who are abusing the stocks and making big bucks. One is Mark "The Shark" Quartiano, who has made a name for himself (and a lot of money) catering big-dollar shark fishing extravaganzas and cultivating a personality to match. He kills a lot of threshers (which are very easy to target, since they laze along the surface on calm days with their huge caudal upper lobe (tail fin) waving in the air, and they're fearless. You just run up on them and heave a dead bluefish with a 12/0 hook in front of their nose. Landing them is like winching a boat on a trailer on a windy day, except with less fight. I've almost run over 600 pound threshers in Cape Cod Bay lots of times.) Here's a link to a Miami paper article on Quartiano. He was later convicted and briefly lost his captain's license over this incident but he's back and was probably in the tournaments you were watching on tv:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/korten.html

There's one in every charter basin, and they're generally not very respected, but they can count on lots of charters of bloodthirsty businessmen or professional athletes who want to do battle with a shark, like it's some kind badge of honor.

Sorry to weep all over your thread, but it's not what it seems in my opinion.

ice

[Riverratpete]

wha wha whaaa...well its still fun to watch as far as I'm concerned and having had some experience in ocean fishing (Mass & N Carolina) I can tell you its a blast and nothing compared to catching a 15 inch Wally..don't get me wrong, I love fishing Walleyes/Muskies, etc just that its a diffrent deal all together. Too bad lately on these HSOforum forums we have a bunch of people that just want to dump on anything that looks/is fun and automatically go negative on everything and anything..two words for them people...lighten up.

[Ice9]

Lightening up. Fun = Good. Sorry I blew up.

ice

[FOOT]

Riverratpete, just a quick question.

How would you feel in Mark the Shark was doing this to Muskie's ?

[Riverratpete]

well..I don't know since a Muskie is not a Shark, this Mark guy..don't know who he is either, not to get into an argue ment about the virtues of tournament fishing (I've done bass tourneys)or certain species over others all I'm saying is why when someone brings up something on these forums even slightly positive or of interest either fishing or hunting there is ALWAYS someone ready to question their validity/honesty/character without knowing any of the background facts and go right into charactor assasination, it just gets kinda discouraging after awhile...I'm done now, back onto subject.

[Swimmer]

RRPete: there are tons of posts/subjects that get no negative responses here. In fact, in reading your post, I can only percieve one statement that I can agree with..."a Musky is not a Shark". But, it wasn't so long ago that Musky's were thought of as meat/spectacles only...get out the pistol. This changed for the better. When the buffoons (the "shark-man" capitalizing on the hype) step aside long enough for serious biological discussions to occur, then we may be able to save the big sharks.

In a word: DISRESPECT of the creatures they are "hunting". Sorry to add to the rain, but it's better than blowing sunshine...

[FOOT]

Swimmer, yes as close as 30 years ago I remember going Muskie "hunting" (that's what a friend called it) and he took along his .22 pistol to dispatch the Muskie so it was easier to get in the boat.

I went with him once and it turned me off so much I asked him to take me back to the boat ramp.

If, as earlier posts state, a fisheries biologist has no problem with this kind of fishing then I guess I would defer to his knowledge. I guess the amount of sharks caught and killed is minimal and valuable scientific info is gleaned from those kills.

I wouldn't particpate or watch the show but I won't condemn those individuals that do.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

Its pretty easy to criticze 'mark the shark' based on that article. Obviously the author was on some type of personal vendetta with the guy that probably goes a lot deeper than a few dead sharks. I'm not saying that the guy isn't a deutchebag, just that I won't take the word of a reporter who isn't willing to consider both sides of a story. Hopefully the title that reads 'News and Headlines' is an error- that kind of writing might be alright for an opinion piece, but any reporter with that much bias should not have a job. It's kinda like getting your news from the 700 club...

As far as the musky thing goes, yeah people used to shoot them, but things have turned around, thanks in large part to an increase in knowledge of the fish. If these shark tourneys are allowing biologists access to new info about these monsters, then maybe some new management strategies can be created.

IN ANY CASE, I don't care who you are, that would be fun. I wouldn't want to be the poor SOB that has to crank the fish in, but it would be a blast to mate on one of those boats and help corral the things.

[Northlander]

Ya you just want to give it "The Club". One of these days Im going to bronze you one.

[Swimmer]

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but it would be a blast to mate on one of those boats

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