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Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

Title:Fishing-V2: All About Angling
Notice:Time to go fishin'! dayegins
Moderator:WAHOO::LEVESQUE
Created:Fri Jul 19 1991
Last Modified:Wed Jun 04 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:548
Total number of notes:9621

205.0. "What do you do when Fish >> Boat" by USCTR1::SPERRY () Mon Jul 13 1992 18:10

    The kids and I were making our first trip out to Stellwagon bank.  They
    are rapidly approaching their teens so I figure that if we are gonna
    die, lost at sea, we should do so now, before their teen years.  About
    15 miles out, in what should be 250 feet of water we saw some large
    fish break the surface.  I cut the engine and we glided to a stop while
    we got the poles ready.  We were just about ready to drop our lines
    when my son said, "Dad, watch out, we are going to hit bottom".  The
    fish finder was showing the bottom at 250 feet and large fish at 60.  I
    looked over to see what he was talking about and he was right, there
    was the bottom 6 or 8 feet down.  Then I saw a huge brown fish, must
    have been 6 or 8 feet long move.  All this happened within a couple
    seconds.  As I was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, it slowly
    dawned on me that it wasn't the bottom at all, it was something alive. 
    It was also something bigger than my boat (17 foot Boston Whaler).  I
    figured it must be a whale, 25 to 30 feet, less than 6 feet below the
    boat.  It was moving leisurely, now at a right angle to the boat,
    crossing directly amidships.  I got worried that it was going to
    surface under us.  Then I noticed that the tail was "wagging" from side
    to side, not up and down.  Isn't that a shark not a whale?  We were
    just kind of stunned for a minute as we watched it fish strut by. 
    Anyone ever hooked anything like that in a small boat?  It was an eerie
    experience, seeing it so close and slow.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
205.1Basking Shark.GEMVAX::JOHNHCMon Jul 13 1992 18:3611
    Basking Shark.
    
    It eats plankton. They have been spotted in unusual numbers this year
    all around MA waters. (There's at least one hanging out in the
    Gloucester/Rockport area right now.) Chances are that they usually pass
    through in the same numbers every year, only earlier in the season when
    there are fewer anglers, boaters, and divers in the water.
    
    FWIW.
    
    John H-C
205.2Shark in Merrimack R. >>boatCAPL::LANDRY_DTue Jul 14 1992 10:4230
    re: .205
    >>.........................  Isn't that a shark not a whale?  We were
    >>just kind of stunned for a minute as we watched it fish strut by. 
    >>Anyone ever hooked anything like that in a small boat?  It was an eerie
    >>experience, seeing it so close and slow.

    What a great sea expierence with the kids.  You'll have that memory forever.

    We were in a small rented 12ft Aluminum boat with 35hp motor trolling
    into the mouth of the Merrimack River years ago.  I had my son and his
    friend along.  We had been cod fishing off the North jetty and I decided
    to head in as the tide was slack and easy to navigate the mouth in such
    a small boat.  As it was calm I decided to hang out two trolling lines.
    We were only about 50yds into the River when I saw a "tail" break the
    surface on our Portside.  I first thought "Striper" tail but as it
    eased on closer to our boat it was the dorsal fin of a large Shark.
    I estimated it's size at 13ft-14ft as it was along side our boat 
    2ft off our port side.  I immediately told the kids to reel in the
    lines so we wouldn't hook this baby.  I noticed a long scar on it's
    back.  Not sure if it was from a prop as it was too straight.  After
    the lines were in I moved the boat as close to the North Jetty as 
    possible to avoid colision with this huge beast.  It was on the surface
    and we would have easly collided.  The shark continued slowly up river?
    I reported it to the marina (no radio with me) and they notifed the CG.
    They said maybe the shark was sick and disoriented as it was uncommon
    for sharks to enter the Merrimack?  I wouldn't attempt to catch anything
    that size in a small boat with kids aboard or alone for that matter.

    Anyone know of sharks coming into Rivers?
    -< Tuna Tail >-
205.3Not Uncommon .............SALEM::PAPPALARDOTue Jul 14 1992 15:409
    
    Some years (9+) my wife was on a 20' boat and they came along side a 
    Basking Shark in the river (Merrimack) about half way up to the 
    Toothpick (Salsbury Boat Launch). They radiod the CG and they asked if
    they were sure it was a shark. It had been the second report within an
    hour. The CG were dispatch and escorted the shark back out into the 
    ocean.
    
                                                          Guy
205.4Sharks in the Merrimack.....CAPL::LANDRY_DTue Jul 14 1992 16:576
re: .3

	Guy,  Thanks for input on another Shark in Merrimack R.
	      I never did find out how far our shark went in.

	-< Tuna Tail >-