Belmont Shore report

[Baytuber]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 4]Got my live Sardines at Norms Big Fish this morning. They are $5.50 for a dozen. Tubed 64-57th. St. for SHARKS!!!

totals for the day.
2 Shovelnose Sharks
2 Smoothound Sharks
1 Stingray
and 1 20" Halibut.

All were caught on live Sardines.[/size][/font]
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool] If you hang any great whites, remember it is catch and release only. Now if the sharks will just play by the same rules.

What's the biggest leopard shark you have taken on your home waters? Man, I love to play with those babies. And, how about angel sharks? I have wrestled in a few of those big uglies, thinking I had record sized halibut.

Also, have you ever hooked into any threshers? I used to hang one up off Hueneme once in awhile. Never brought one to tube though. Between their spinning leaps and sharp teeth I never stayed attached very long. But what a fight while it lasted.

I decided a long time ago that I would rather stretch my string on a less glamorous shark than watch a straight stick all day when the 'buts didn't want to play. I've had some memorable "slow motion water skiing" behind some big rays too. Those babies can pull.

You oughta see the eyes on fellow float tubers in the inland ponds when I tell them about catching sharks from a float tube. Of course they all think back to the memorable line from the movie "Jaws"..."You're gonna need a bigger boat."

I just love it when wimps ask me "what about sharks?". I love to make them twitch by replying "Let the sharks look out for themselves." I've thought of taking one of my worn out tubes and hanging it on the wall of my "tackletorium"...with a big semi-circle cut out of one side. I could put a sign under it 'THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY". That oughtta shake up the troops.

But, seriously, for the benefit of young impressionable readers, I DO NOT ADVOCATE TAKING UNNECESSARY RISKS. The inshore members of the shark family taken incidentally by anglers are in no way to be with the dangerous pelagic species. Big sharks usually feed on fish...and sometimes ocean-going mammals...like seals...and dumb humans. Don't ever launch your flotation system where there is a potential for larger sharks to be in the area. If they don't go after your fish, they might go after your dangling extremities. Don't risk it.
[signature]

[Baytuber]

TubeDude,

Excellent point! I have had many offers to take a ride on someones boat to Catalina to fish for the Halibuts close to shore but I know there are around 7 Great Whites who claim that as their home! It just wouldn't be fun thinking or looking for sharks every second.

I have never caught a Thresher but they were catching them inside the breakwall on Kayaks! 200 pounders.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool]You're probably already aware, but if you ever get offered a chunk of thresher shark you gotta go for it. Cut off a steak and broil it up right and you would swear it was a good piece of swordfish.

I've heard about the great whites that hang around Catalina. The bad news is that I suspect they have been there for years and I used to go afloatin around the Isthmus in the olden days. I never saw anything except a couple of blues over there while tubing. I have heard tales of blues coming in for fish hanging on a stringer or in a basket.

I had a big pack of blacktips come in around me while I was fishing for corvina in the Sea of Cortez a couple of times. They were all less than five or six feet long, but they were biting everything in the water...including the lures I had been casting for corvina. When they got too close, I moved out onto the sand and wrestled with a few of them from the beach.

In the southeast part of the country you never want to tube at night, and not even during the day off some beaches. Bu;; sharks are totally fearless and can be very aggressive. They take over fishing spots from boat fishermen and you can't land a fish. In the surf they probably account for more shark bites than any other species around the world. Lots of bull sharks in the warm waters around Florida.

There are also some huge tiger sharks, and they are confirmed maneaters. They also favor sea turtles, and a float tuber is easy to mistake for a big turtle. At night those big tigers come almost right up on the beach. In Panama City, Florida, and other areas, they have shark derbies that routinely see folks spooled by submarine sized tigers.

On the other hand, catching lemon sharks, blacktips and nurse sharks in shallow areas is so much fun it should be outlawed. They take lures and flies and will tear up cheap tackle in a hurry. But, again, in those areas you are better off fishing from a boat platform than tempting fate.

I asked about the leopards. If you like them, you need to go north. There are favorable tubing sites at Moss Landing, Morro Bay, and around the San Francisco Bay. Most of those areas have good halibut too...and the occasional big striper or salmon.

Still farther north is Humboldt bay, near Eureka. The part of the bay that goes north up into Arcata is a commercial oyster fishery and the owners love to have fishermen catch the sharks and rays that eat the oysters. Lots of big fiesty leopards up there.

I was also wondering, Kiyo. Do you ever cook up any of those shovelnose? I used to enjoy the occasional chunk...and they are great smoked. My buddies that come over to watch football and eat up my smoked goodies thought they were some of the best yellowtail thay had ever eaten.
[signature]

[Baytuber]

TubeDude,

I have never tried eating any Shark. Believe it or not the Halibut is the only fish I'll eat. I always get offered White Seabass, Yellowtail, Albacore, Yellowfin, Bluefin and Dorados but I almost always turn them down.[] I went on a Tuna trip about 7 years ago and caught about 15 Yewowfin Tunas and gave them all away to relatives and friends.

We catch Leapords at Cabrillo, Long Beach and Doheny Beach areas often in the 4-5' range. Nice looking sharks!

The Shovelnose Sharks I heard were better than the Halibuts. There was a guy who used to fish our tournaments and always took home the Shovelnose. He said there was a Skipper on a boat that turned him onto it. I guess you just put Teriyaki sauce on it and BBQ it.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool]I guess if you had to pick only one kind of fish to eat, halibut would be a good choice. It has always been up near the top of my list too. But, I like almost any kind of seafood, properly prepared.

I have long been a reasonably accomplished chef. I actually have many original fish recipes and have been published in that area. I worked on both party boats and did some commercial fishing in my earlier lives, so I learned how to use the knives and how to take care of good fish flesh too. I seldom order seafood in a restaurant, because I can always tell when it is suffering from "long time no sea". I'm apalled at the poor treatment fish receives from some commercial operations.

No apologies necessary for anyone's preferences in fish or in fishing. While I find it personally difficult to understand, I know accomplished anglers who never keep and eat their catch. And, it's not just the conservation thing. They just like to catch fish but not eat them. I guess that's a lot better than the guy who always has a freezer full of poorly wrapped fish that ultimately get tossed out because of freezer burn.
[signature]

[JapanRon]

Hey there Baytuber,

It's JapanRon. This great white thing. I've made inquires (emails, emails, emails) from the US Coast Guard, Avalon harbor master, nature conservency, sportboats, dive shops, kayak rental shops, local tackle shop and every other board I could find to get the skinny on Great White Sharks and Catalina Island.

My research results: Not one single recorded great white shark attack on a human since records were kept! yes, not one and yes not recorded in or around Catalina. Eyes seem to roll when one mentions sharks and they should if you're in Australia, South Africa and a select other few places.

The few great whites that have been sighted and reported seem to be on the outside around eagle rock area.

The tourist trade would suffer if everybody screamed shark but I was assured by an number of agencies in offical capacity that if there were such a danger, maritime alerts would be required to be made.

Great whites don't normally stay in an area very long, usually solitary, and migrate long, long distances.

To these comments people still say 'ya ya, just go out there and see what happens'.

We're buddies, so I wouldn't and ain't raggin on you. If you've seen em' with your own eyeballs, please let me know where as I still plan a tube trip there in April.

Whew, I feel better already. ha ha ha

Your fellow tuber buddy,

JapanRon
a.k.a.tsurikichi
[signature]

[Baytuber]

[]JapanRon,

My Uncle had a 28' Skipjack and he saw one at Catalina about the same size as the boat. There was a Great White just outside of the Long Beach Jetty about a year ago seen chomping on a seal.

When you tube there at Catalina make sure you have a boat with you or someone who can pick you up if the current takes you out. Jerry Chang who floattubes with us at some of the tournaments got sucked out about a mile out when fishing for the Halibuts close to shore. He made a phone call to his dad on his boat to pick him up. His dad couldn't see him but did manage to pick him up. Also, there was a report of a guy who lives on a boat there at Catalina who took his raft back to his boat at night and the current took him towards Mexico and he was out on the sea for a couple of days. Make sure you have a phone maybe even a flare[]

PS- Ask Paul Grunion (just retired DFG Marine Biologist) he should have an answer for you.
[signature]