Have You Shot Sharks?

[J. R. WEEMS]

Almost shot a 'loan shark' once, but that is another story.

 

[Texas Star]

I worked on a boat called the California Dawn waaayyyyy back in the 80's. 1985-1988. We sportfished sharks, and learned a LOT about shooting them.
1. A 12ga. is quite effective. To note, if'n you use buckshot, you are likely to blow the jaws apart depending on the writhing of said shark and shot placement. And you will see the customer's face go ashen as his prize mako jaws rain tooth particles down into the blue.... and your tip goes up in smoke!
2. 22LR CAN do the job, if you hit the shark in the right spot. If you miss the brain, you just zip tiny holes in the shark, and the shark does not care.
3. Best rounds we found were lightly built 9mm-44mag. They penetrate a good 3-4" and then break apart, sending all the energy into the brain cavity. Teeth are saved, shark is rendered Jello. Ball ammo in either caliber tended to go thru the shark, and often did not KO the fish like you wanted.
As to spearing them, I have speared makos, threshers, soupfin, and leopard sharks for food. I put a spear in a very large and aggressive tiger in Hawaii in 2004. I have had to spear bulls in Hatteras, and Tx. The bulls tend to not take 'NO' for an answer sometimes.
When SPEARING a shark, what we have found is:
1. 223 bangsticks kill every shark you hit with them, so long as you hit the forward section. If you hit the rear section, you paralyze the shark. And then he gets eaten by a much larger and less friendly shark. And you wonder WHY on EARTH did you not bring a second 223 round to help you with your new found friend....
2. When spearing a shark for sport/ fun, I try to spear them sideways thru the gills. The perfect shot goes into the gills, and is angled forward a bit. This cracks the cranium, and paralyzes them. Lights out.
3. Sharks which swim in a slinky fashion like leopard, blue, dusky sharks tend to roll a lot when speared. They will twist up your shafts something terrible.
4. When tigers roll in, I roll out. The fact that they can get to 18ft or so and EAT people- not just bite people puts them in a special class with big bull sharks. I do not look for a conflict with either. I just leave.
5. Being in Ca....... all I can say is: "There is no such thing as white sharks. They do not exist. They do not eat seals in the same water I swim in. White sharks are like Bigfoot. Someone must have seen one, but they are not real."

After dropping down in very dirty water near Bodega bay looking for halibut on the bottom in the murk, I surfaced to the sound of a boat. There was a DFG warden looking at me, and he was perplexed. "Are you really diving out here? Here? Now?"

'Yeah, the halibut are in. I have 2 good ones in my kayak.'

"Take a look over the other side of your board...."

And there, still turning and gasping for breath, was a bull sea lion, torn in half. Still breathing a bit. And bleeding up a storm. The red cloud was maybe 12ft. across.
I contemplated it, and to ward off my impending terror, I smiled and told the warden 'Oh; Good. At least he's eaten, and now he's not hungry.'
I dove, and right there, right under me was halibut #3. About a 20lb fish. I shot it, and swam the 30 feet back to the surface, and took a breath. I climbed onto the board, pulled the fish up, and slid it into the hatch. I told the warden "Well, that's my limit. Want to check my catch?"

He shook his head in utter disbelief, and slowly drove off to check on the H&L fishermen. And I was FROZEN with fear, but was glad I did the dive. The shark did not come back, I never saw it. Mr. Sea lion was just bobbing away, like a bleeding cork on the water. I shivered for a good 1/4 of my paddle back to the harbor..... and not because I was cold.

That's probably going to be the best answer of all. Wow! And thanks! That was both exciting and informative.

How big were those halibut ? I know they grow very large. Did you spear them, I guess?

 

[Texas Star]

Once while bored we threw a couple concussion grenades into a Vietnamese fishing net, the resulting shark feeding frenzy that followed then led to firing into the school of sharks with an M2...what I remember was that although not in favor of the grenades into the local fishing net I was more than obliged to open fire on the swarming sharks...it was memorable and quite spectacular.

Were you on a boat? With a M-2 .50 caliber machinegun? Or do you mean the M-2 .30 carbine?

I saw your Army avatar and was wondering how you were humping a .50 cal. unless it was mounted on some vehicle that got down to the water or was a patrol boat.

The USAF was still using a lot of those .30 carbines then, but I thought that Army units had long since replaced them, except for Spcl. Forces advisors working with Viet units or Montagnards.

I didn't like the carbine a whole lot. Not too accurate and had limited killing power per round, at least with hardball GI ammo. And on full auto, they'd rip through a magazineful faster than an angry black mamba on steroids. I'm curious to know how the .30 carbine round would fare on big sharks. It's probably been used on some, I know.

 

[MOONDAWG]

From many decades of dealing with tourist...

Important safety tip.

Shoot the shark while it's "in the water" not while it's "in the boat".

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I see no reason to shoot a shark unless he's in the same boat with me and looking for trouble. Even then, I'm gonna do everything I ca to stay away.
Professional courtesey you know

 

[Texas Star]

From many decades of dealing with tourist...

Important safety tip.

Shoot the shark while it's "in the water" not while it's "in the boat".

You usually post in colors. Its very difficukt to read on this background. Someone needs to tell you, and it bugs me so much that I did.

Please don't get mad, I'm trying to help.

 

[Maximumbob54]

We used to anchor out and have swim call. I hate swimming unless the boat is sinking so I would do the topside watch with an M14. I always used to wonder if the .308 would be good enough on a shark and if I could even hit the thing with that shift in vision in the water. Parallax effect I think it's called.

 

[steveno]

when I got out of the air force in 1973 our family went to visit relatives in Seattle. my dad and I rented a small boat and we going to fish for salmon in the Puget Sound. we were putting things in the boat the guy we were renting the boat from threw in a 2 x 2 about 3 foot long. when we asked why he said if you catch a sand shark and get it in the boat make sure you club him real good with the 2 x 2. we made the mistake of getting the first one in the boat and it was like a Chinese fire drill but we got it taken care of. it was about 3.5 feet long and it was more than enough. it must have been our day as we caught another and said to heck with this **** and just cut the line. the only salmon we caught was a couple of inches undersize so it had to be thrown back.

I should add that the guy that we rented the boat from called them a sand shark. what the actual species is I have no idea but it looked like a shark

 

[Texas Star]

when I got out of the air force in 1973 our family went to visit relatives in Seattle. my dad and I rented a small boat and we going to fish for salmon in the Puget Sound. we were putting things in the boat the guy we were renting the boat from threw in a 2 x 2 about 3 foot long. when we asked why he said if you catch a sand shark and get it in the boat make sure you club him real good with the 2 x 2. we made the mistake of getting the first one in the boat and it was like a Chinese fire drill but we got it taken care of. it was about 3.5 feet long and it was more than enough. it must have been our day as we caught another and said to heck with this **** and just cut the line. the only salmon we caught was a couple of inches undersize so it had to be thrown back.

I should add that the guy that we rented the boat from called them a sand shark. what the actual species is I have no idea but it looked like a shark

"We need a bigger boat."

I'm not sure what a "sand shark" is, either. There is a Sand Tiger, called a Ragged Tooth in South Africa and a Grey Nurse in Australia. It's scientifically Eugomphodus taurus. It's considered dangerous, especially in South Africa and in Australia. The distribution map of the species in, "The Jaws of Death", by Xavier Maniguet does not show it present on the northwest coast of North America.

The area where you were does have Salmon sharks, related to the Mako and Porbeagle. I'm not aware of any attacks on humans, but that's probably just because it sees few swimmers or divers. It certainly has the potential to be very dangerous.

 

[steveno]

it probably was a salmon shark. all I know it was a lot more than what we wanted in the boat. up until that point a 5 lb catfish or walleye was the biggest fish we had ever caught in our lives

 

[finesse_r]

I have never shot a shark. However I did catch a Hammerhead shark while wade fishing down in Galveston. You wade out about ¼ of a mile or so to the edge of the intercostal canal and are up to your chest in water. This was a relatively small Hammerhead not large enough to be a threat to a man, but it certainly gave me pause. I like to have never killed the thing as they are tough as nails. I will find a way to take a gun with me if I ever do that again. fortunately I had some very large pliers and a good knife.

I spent the rest of the time out there looking over my shoulder for its momma.

 

[scott1970]

I think the discussion about Hemingway and a BAR vs. a Thompson results from a description in "Islands in the Stream" of Eddie shooting a large hammerhead with a BAR. Here's an actual photo of Hemingway with a Thompson while fishing and apparently drinking.
Regards,
turnerriver

You beat me to it! Supposedly the Thompson was Hemingway's favorite shark gun.

 

[rojodiablo]

That's probably going to be the best answer of all. Wow! And thanks! That was both exciting and informative.

How big were those halibut ? I know they grow very large. Did you spear them, I guess?

We catch them on H&L a lot also. They are a little different than the flounder we catch in the bays in Tx. When we catch them in the bays and shallows, they are very similar, in the depth we catch them, and the size tends to run close as well. For shore casting for halibut in the bays, a decent fish is a legal fish (22") and anything over 5lb is a real good fish for the bays.
In the open waters, there are 2 types: California halibut and pacific halibut. Californias get to around 45lb, maybe 50lb. max. They run from the surf out to about 150ft. of water. The pacific butts tend to be further north, and in Ca. waters they tend to be pretty deep, from say 200-600ft. down. In Ca. the pacific halibut tend to average about 20-60lb. but in British COlumbia to Alaska, they get over 300lb.

I can only dream of a 9ft. flatfish!!!

 

[rojodiablo]

We used to anchor out and have swim call. I hate swimming unless the boat is sinking so I would do the topside watch with an M14. I always used to wonder if the .308 would be good enough on a shark and if I could even hit the thing with that shift in vision in the water. Parallax effect I think it's called.

308 ball tends to go pretty straight for about 4-5ft. under water. Parallax can distort a lot depending on elevation over water, and clarity, sun angle also play a role in the change of the view.

When in doubt???? Send more ammo.

 

[Kinman]

The M2 I was referring to was the 50 caliber machine gun. I can't think of anything more devastating to use on a pack of sharks in a feeding frenzy. It was mounted on the stern of an Army LCU I was stationed on.

 

[scott1970]

This was many years ago so forgive me if I'm hazy on some of the details. I was sherrifing in a small northeast summer island town. The town lived and died on the business of summer beach goers, 4th of July ws make or break for most businesses on the island. Folks would come over on the ferry from the mainland for a day trip or weekend, maybe longer.

There had been reports of shark attacks in the local waters. People were starting to panic but the mayor and town council were desperate to keep the rumors down so they were classified as boating accidents. I had my doubts so I even called in some expert help from Wood's Hole. He was kind of a showy sort, whipping off his glasses and almost gagging when he saw one of the victims, you know the type.

Again, folks were panicking, even going out of shark "hunts". Finally the town hired a fisherman to get the great fish. The mayor insisted I go along since it was the town's money and despite the fact that I hated the water. The Woods Holey guy went along too. This part I remember well, first time I saw the boat I said, "we're gonna need a bigger boat."

Well we got started, the captain was a gruff oldtimer, one you'd expect to see in the movies. He had me ladling chum over what he called the transom, I called it the *** end. Well this big old she-monster of a fish jumped out of the water and I nearly lost my water. I couldn't help but repeat, "we're gonna need a bigger boat."

The shark started attacking the boat, the captain started harpooning the fish with lines that had barrels attached to tire the shark. He got two or three harpoons into it and it dove. The captain said no shark ever survived that many barrels, almost as if trying to convince himself. Suddenly the shark bashed into the bottom of our much too small boat and we began taking on water. The shark attacked us from all sides, even dragging us by the harpoon lines. We began to swamp, our jig was up. One of the others even got ate by that Charlie the Tuna.

The water was lapping at my legs as the shark turned and came at us again, he almost had me but I fought him off with the only thing at hand, a compressed air cylinder. I jammed it in his mouth (I know I called it a she-monster earlier but that was only for drammatic effect, truth is I didn't take time to check), I think it would have eaten anything. It turned again to attack the boat, I could see the cylinder dangling from it's mouth like a soggy cigarette. It was still maybe 50 yards out and I grabbed the next only thing I had at hand, an old M1 Garand that the captain had on board. I took my aim and squeezed. Miss! I shot again...miss! Death was coming closer and closer I took one more shot and hit the compressed air cylinder, BOOM! Bits and pieces of shark and probably some of the guy he/she/it had eaten earlier showered down around my too small boat.

Sorry if this is kind of fuzzy. Like I said, it was a long time ago and my memory isn't what it used to be. But to answer your question, yes, I have shot a shark.

I'm horse laughing!

I'm a cop down in Tennessee. I've done the exact same thing to my co-workers only I use episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard. It's hilarious....to me.

 

[2hawk]

Saw mention of the hammerheads, here's an experience-

I used to lay net with in Kaneohe Bay, on the windward side of Oahu. Usually in an area known a Hakipuu, near Chinaman's Hat. We usually had 2 or 3 200' sections of net we put out, but how much just depended on the exact location in the channels and the way the tide was running.

Anyway, K-Bay is well known breeding spot for many species of shark, from the pelagics like Tigers to the reef/inshore species. And lots of hammerheads.

We would have lot of net to repair when sharks would hit the fish in the net, and there were times when we just ended up with a lot of damage from schools of sharks hitting the net and tearing it up.

One night we were pulling the net, and started coming across a lot of small hammerheads. Most about 3', some a little bigger or smaller. Probably had about 30 or 40 of 'em.

The captain was unhappy, to say the least. He'd just finished up patching up his nets, and was not feeling too kindly towards our catch.

So, on his orders, we started shark stretching. Yep, that's what I said, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g.

You grab the tail and the head, (easy with hammerheads, they've got grips, just mind the teeth) and pull. A 3 footer will stretch 3 or 4 inches or so. Toss overboard, and they just spiral down to the bottom. Seems kind of cruel in retrospect, but when a man makes his living off the catch in his nets, he gets pretty protective of his equipment.

Bangstick is the way to go on anything big enough to be a threat, and yes, shooting your catch in the boat is a sure way to put holes in the deck. Known a few guys who learned that one trying to put a quick end to ahi and aku so the fish wouldn't overheat and "burn" the meat.

Good times...