There seem to be two main obstacles to landing a shark hooked from the beach.
First, because the angle of the line with the shark’s body is nearly parallel, they have a most excellent opportunity to saw on the line with the very rough skin on their tail. Their business end is defeated with a strong hook—three feet of 120-pound steel leader attached to the hook at one end, and a big swivel at the other. The big swivel is attached to a pointed snap and swivel. Then the experimentation begins.
Having lost a good many sharks in the surf, I discussed the situation at a salt water tackle store and the guy said, “Kid, you need a bigger reel.” A bigger reel would hold more heavy- test monofilament line, which the shark would have more trouble sawing through. Now I’m not cheap, but I do not like to own equipment that’s better than I am and I felt unworthy of owning a big salt water bait reel. Plus, casting is not such a reel’s strong suit. I skipped the self-psychoanalysis and told the guy I was using a big spinning reel. He said, “Kid, you need as much 100-pound mono as you can deal with and this tool to tie a nail knot.” Under ten bucks and we’re back in business! At present we’re using about 15 feet of 80-pound mono- leader, tied at one end to the pointed snap and swivel, and at the other end with a nail knot to the main line of twenty pound mono. With a reliable drag, line strength and capacity are virtually interchangeable. It’s a very good reel (my wife bought it for me), so this ought to work and two times out of about 13 it has.
This brings us to the second problem:
They cheat! The devils jump. I’m talking straight up and clean out of the water, and spin while they’re in the air. I am also suspicious they are spinning underwater. This spinning business, of course, can easily take up some hard-to-predict amount of the 80-pound leader, getting their skin on the 20-pound main line.
However, this jumping is not without its own recreational aspects. One morning I was standing on the beach about 8:00 as the “women & children” time zone begins. This little girl, about nine, comes walking over.
Little girl: “What are you fishing for?”
SS: “Sharks.”
Little girl: “No you’re not.”
SS: “You see that place out in the water where it goes from sort of white to darker? You watch that place.”
Unbeknownst to my small skeptic, Mr. Shark had been messing with half a lady fish since before she came over and took off right about the time she said “No you’re not.” So, I set the hook and the shark went right straight up in the air.
Little girl: “[silent pause] Mommy, Mommy, Mommy…..”( decreasing font size indicates decibel level as she runs away)
A sawed-off sportsman always enjoys these educational interactions with the public but there remained the basic problem of line abrasion.
ML
1/31/07
