My mom, dad and I went down to the Gulf of CA for some fishing and water skiing. We were in a 15 foot boat runabout. Just as a preamble, all three of us were a little on the substantial side.
All three of us dropped our lines on the reef. Boob, boom, boom, all three of us had caught sharks on each of our lines.
We tried to reel them in, and dad & I lost ours; hook, line and sinker. Mom was able to tickle hers up to the boat. Four foot sand shark. No great whites.
On previous excursions, we had observed the other fishermen take the shark out of the water, hit them in the head with a baseball bat, drop them back into the water and leave the area.
We didn't have a baseball bat, so my dad picked up a large, heavy pipe wrench. He was holding the shark out of the water, below the gunwale of the boat. Then he had the thought, if the shark jumps, I'm going to miss and put a hole in the side of the boat.
Aside - This was in the 70's and we were in Mexican waters. Animal cruelty was not an issue.
So he lifted the shark above the side of the boat. He aimed at the shark's head and the shark did jump -- off the hook and into the boat.
In unison, my mom, dad & I jumped on the narrow gunwales and balanced like gymnasts on a balance beam. We were all evicted from the boat, and could not go into the water because his injured cousins were there. The shark proceeded to flop around the bottom of the boat, like he were captain.
He was snapping his jaws at anything and everything until it jumped into the large bait box. My dad slammed the lid shut and sat on it.
At the end of the day, he was actually delish.
Great story! I can imagine everything that transpired that day and how exciting it was. LOL @ put a hole in the side of the boat, too funny. You've inspired me to write about our own "Shark" encounter at the oregon coast. Thank you! Happy Summer Solstice Day!
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