Record Fly-Fishing Catch!

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  • Nicholas Carey
    Flâneur • Seattle
    • Feb 2001
    • 20330

    Record Fly-Fishing Catch!





    Doctor catches 7-1/2 foot, 385 pound shark on fly tackle (12 lb tippet, 7 inch bright orange streamer).
    “The big joke on democracy is that it gives its mortal enemies the tools to its own destruction,” Goebbels said as the Nazis rose to power—one of those quotes that sound apocryphal but are not.​
    — Adam Gopnik
  • Phillip Allen
    new member
    • May 2002
    • 63618

    #2
    What is that...do I see a white tip on the dorsal?
    The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
    Personal failures are too important to be trusted to others.

    Comment

    • Paul Pless
      pinko commie tree hugger
      • Oct 2003
      • 124805

      #3
      article states it as a lemon shark
      Simpler is better, except when complicated looks really cool.

      Comment

      • paladin
        Senior Senior Member
        • Dec 2000
        • 26476

        #4
        you could have caught that with a dip net and an open can of tuna......
        Wakan Tanka Kici Un
        ..a bad day sailing is a heckuva lot better than the best day at work.....
        Fighting Illegal immigration since 1492....
        Live your life so that whenever you lose, you're ahead."
        "If you live life right, death is a joke as far as fear is concerned."

        Comment

        • L.W. Baxter
          can eat fifty eggs
          • Sep 2003
          • 23618

          #5
          I think it's inhumane to intentionally exhaust a fish to the point of death just for the pride of catching it on stupidly light tackle. Sharks are tough, so that one probably was fine, but we'll never know. It sure was depleted; look how they're holding it.

          If you're going to kill it, kill it quick. If fishing catch and release, use appropriate tackle, fight the animal for a while, let it go in good shape. Cut the line if you have to, rather than damage the fish trying to land it or disgorge a deeply taken hook. That's my opinionated opinion.

          Comment

          • L.W. Baxter
            can eat fifty eggs
            • Sep 2003
            • 23618

            #6
            That's fine, Donn. I bet they're good people.

            But when judging what behavior is cruel or stupid or useless, I keep my own counsel. Who you've paid to take you fishing has nothing to do with it.

            Comment

            • Tar Devil
              Original Invisible Man
              • Nov 2001
              • 6690

              #7
              L.W., as you said, the shark is tough, it's a warm water species and can tolerate longer fights without damaging lactic acid levels.

              Would I do the same thing to a salmon... no way. I'm judicious in my equipment selection when I fish, just for that reason. And to answer any questions ahead of time, it is exceptionally rare that I catch anything other than my intended prey, as is true with most experienced anglers.

              It's all in knowing your species and their limits, and Dr. Arostegui and Ralph Delph have no shortage of the knowledge required to care for the fish they catch. They are well known and respected in the angling world.

              Later,

              Phil

              PS.
              Happiness is worth waiting for!

              Comment

              • Stiletto
                Grant S
                • Jan 2003
                • 11234

                #8
                LW Baxter, I have caught lots of fish with th express intention of eating them. To catch one to the point of exhaustion and then releasing it because you had no intention of eating it does seem particularly callous to me.
                There is nothing quite as permanent as a good temporary repair.

                Comment

                • Tristan
                  Senior Member
                  • Nov 2004
                  • 2934

                  #9
                  Eating Sharks

                  Attending the retirement party of Kou Walter (see Ahto Walter, "Sailing the Seas") about 30 years ago, I ate lemon shark which had been brought up from Key West by Eric Walter, Kou's nephew I believe, who was at that time a shrimper. I don't know what special preparation (soaking, etc.) it had to get rid of urea, as I recall, Eric said just bleeding, but it was delicious, flavor and texture of spiny lobster tail. Not to promote the killing of sharks, just an observation on edibility of this species.

                  Comment

                  • Chris Coose
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2001
                    • 12283

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Donn
                    The shark was probably healthier when released, than before it was hooked.
                    Were you my football coach?
                    Study Peace

                    Comment

                    • L.W. Baxter
                      can eat fifty eggs
                      • Sep 2003
                      • 23618

                      #11
                      I think we went to the same high school.

                      All absurdities aside (thanks for the chuckle, Donn), I didn't mean to insult anybody's friends, I really didn't. Maybe I shouldn't have said "inhumane", as that is a term loaded up with judgment. Maybe "callous", as Stiletto says, would be better.

                      But I was thinking today... it's possible to be cruel, for example, to an autistic child, and that child might be totally unaffected (at least outwardly, in ways we can observe). Cruelty says nothing about the victim; it reflects only on the moral agent committing it.

                      And if these expert folks think that their form of reverence doesn't harm the objects of their affections, perhaps they are right. What does it say about them, though? I think that, just as oversexed rockstars are bored by normal lovemaking, they are bored by conventional ways of catching 400 lb fish, so they have to invent perversions to enjoy themselves. Instead of getting a new hobby, they choose to break a critter down with a marathon instead of subduing it briefly with a quick sprint. Then they can reverently cradle his head-- though the only way a man can safely cradle the head of a 400 lb shark would be when it is depleted beyond all possible action. I wouldn't be disappointed had he underestimated the animal. Now that would be good sport!

                      I can appreciate the practical distinctions Phil makes between species, and to the extent that it matters, I agree.

                      Maybe the shark in that picture recovered completely in short order from an hours long fight. Or maybe he went back to his pack, his buddies saw how utterly exhausted he was, and they ate him. If you think nature doesn't work that way, you need to get out more. Maybe do less fishing, while you're at it, guided or otherwise.

                      Not that it matters if a shark gets eaten by its' own kind. Nature isn't right or wrong; only people can put moral values to their actions. My opinion was about the ethics of a particularly useless and self-indulgent human behavior. The affect on a particular shark is not of tragic consequence. I don't consider catching a shark that way to be a great offense... but I won't celebrate it. Or congratulate them on their skill, either. That is all.

                      *no animals were harmed during the composition of this post.

                      Comment

                      • Steve Paskey
                        Senior Member
                        • Oct 2001
                        • 3082

                        #12
                        I think yaw'l are missing something. Forget the Delphs -- they're paid guides. The guy who caught the fish is a doctor who owns a slew of fishing records, and he did this just to add one more record to his personal "collection."

                        If anyone involved is "cruel," "callous," or "inhumane," he's the man.

                        Comment

                        • Rick Starr
                          Pre-Millennial Member
                          • Dec 1999
                          • 1519

                          #13
                          You know, being conservation-minded and married to an endangered species biologist and resource manager, I'm pretty sensitive to these sorts of stories.

                          LW, I share your sentiment to some extent, but your speculation and anthropomorphism are way off base, in my experience, and ultimately counterproductive. Because flyfishing is a single-specimen method of fishing it can have essentially no impact on the fishery, release or not.

                          The more productive and realistic view is to consider the fishery as a whole as the organism within the marine ecosystem and consider questions of stewardship accordingly, rather than to focus on an individual specimen. This view allows one to make reasonable judgements about fisheries and their health without emotional factors fouling up the results to the detriment of the species and ecosystem.

                          Edited to add: WARNING: C223's link below is NOT WORK SAFE!
                          Last edited by Rick Starr; 05-19-2006, 07:40 AM.
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                          • Chris Coose
                            Senior Member
                            • Sep 2001
                            • 12283

                            #14
                            Jesus. I can hardly type
                            Laughing about as hard as I can.

                            Loving the context.
                            HS, that is funny.
                            Study Peace

                            Comment

                            • Tristan
                              Senior Member
                              • Nov 2004
                              • 2934

                              #15
                              Originally posted by C223
                              Sharks deserve no sympathy. Especially when they have been drinking. Here is proof.



                              Jim
                              Ugh, now this IS cruelty to the shark!

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