sharks

the first serious shark encounter i had was on assateague island about forty five years ago.  i was surf fishing and moved from casting off the beach to standing on a partially exposed sand bar.  the tide was low and i had only to wade through knee deep water for about thirty feet to get to my new ankle deep casting platform.  when the incoming water got to my knees i turned to wade back.  the slough was now twice as wide as before - and twice as deep.  i looked north and saw a dorsal fin - a big one - making its way towards me, coursing back and forth, hunting.  the shark went by and as soon as it got far enough - i thought - down the beach i started ashore.  in the deeper water i tried not to splash too much but before i could get far the shark turned, heading back towards me.  i retreated to the relative shallows of the bar.  i spent ten anxious minutes before the fish - eight or ten feet long, i could see it clearly as it went by - finally turned to deeper water and i splashed, half swimming, to the beach.  that shark, though sizeable, was probably a, relatively, harmless sandbar type unlike the similarly large bull shark andy smith and i saw one day in the middle bight of andros. that dark fellow was following four tarpon.  no chance for one of you, i thought, shivering slightly.  a bull shark is a serious beast.  andy had warned me when i wanted to jump overboard earlier.  "no, man.  not here.  bulls here."

the biggest shark i ever saw was a great hammerhead in the marquesas, west of key west.  he was also tarpon hunting.  that's how we spotted him -  far off splashes as he chased his prey.   when we finally caught up with  him he looked as big as the skiff - fifteen feet, maybe more - as he swept away, irritated i'm sure at our intrusion.

arno matthee and i had an encounter in the seychelles - this time with a pack of six little lemon sharks.  we were wading back to the boat and he was dragging a deceased, small blue trevally that we planned to turn into sushi.  he'd  lopped the tail off to bleed it out and the sharks had come calling.  they were all about three feet long and scattered when we false charged them.  lemons can be aggressive  but these guys were pretty laid back just like their three sleeping cousins harlan and i discovered on the edge of jewfish basin one calm lovely day several years ago.  i tossed a shark puff beyond them and it drifted down under their noses.  nobody moved but the fly disappeared.  when i struck all hell broke loose.  i'd hooked the largest and all three took off like freight trains.  at about a hundred yards my fish stopped and i thought i had a chance.  harlan ran the boat while i reeled furiously. the big fellow shook his head and popped the leader.  fortunately i got the fly line back.

the last shark tale i'll tell today involved a playboy bunny....i was coming back from key west, in transit from the miami commuter terminal to the main one on a little bus.  sitting across from me were two middle aged guys and a spectacularly beautiful young girl.  we chatted and they revealed they'd been on a photo shoot for playboy magazine.  one guy nodded at my shin which carried a long ugly wound, only half healed.  "what happened," he asked.  "shark," i replied.  to my complete surprise - it was a total lie - he turned to his companions.  "see.  i told you so."  the girl looked at me wide eyed.  i winked.