Blue shark encounter while digging lug (yes, that's right)

[jw]

......in the summer, and some will venture inshore into waist deep water.
A fly fisherman told me he was wading at Monomoy on Cape Cod in 1998, casting to stripers on the flats;
when nearby anglers shouted; Shark! He turned around and a 9 foot blue shark swam so close to him that
the tip of the pectoral fin hit his leg.

In July 1996, a non fishing wader, in Truro Mass., receive 46 stitches in his leg from an encounter with a
blueshark. Reports of blues in shallow water have also been made in the Boston area.

http://www.newenglandsharks.com/Page8blueshark.html

.... i think it looks more like a porbeagle though.....

[Conor]

Iodore

I apologise. I was not trying to wind you or anyone up. I was looking at the photos with some work mates and we thought that the photos could be fake as the fish was not moving which most sharks need to do to breathe (with the exception of some species such as nurse and angel sharks which have exceptionally powerful gill and throat muscle used to pump water over the gills similar to the way bony fish use their operculum or gill cover).

No offense intended
My apologies
Conor

[lodore]

Iodore

I apologise. I was not trying to wind you or anyone up. I was looking at the photos with some work mates and we thought that the photos could be fake as the fish was not moving which most sharks need to do to breathe (with the exception of some species such as nurse and angel sharks which have exceptionally powerful gill and throat muscle used to pump water over the gills similar to the way bony fish use their operculum or gill cover).

No offense intended
My apologies
Conor

No worries Conor; I was probably being oversensitive myself!

[Hooker]

Might explain why I found these on a S Wex beach last sat, each jaw bone was found 70-80m apart. Glued them up and I'm going to varnish and mount them. 1st thought was conger but teeth seem a little long to me.

[Bassmania]

I've holidayed very close to this area many a time over the last couple of years and early morning there would be loads of baby mullet in this area splashing around ........... never really thought it was a good fishing spot It really is a great part of the country/world.

Lodore if you are still holidaying down there, three to four hundred yards to the right (open to the sea) is great for pollack (spinning with German Sprat). If interested PM me.

P.S. My son wants to know what kind of phone you have (I think he missed the point - teenagers )

[shamoo0804]

Definately not a blue as they have a circle of white around the black centre in the eye, probeagles have just a plain black eye

Case solved

[lodore]

I've holidayed very close to this area many a time over the last couple of years and early morning there would be loads of baby mullet in this area splashing around ........... never really thought it was a good fishing spot It really is a great part of the country/world.

Lodore if you are still holidaying down there, three to four hundred yards to the right (open to the sea) is great for pollack (spinning with German Sprat). If interested PM me.

P.S. My son wants to know what kind of phone you have (I think he missed the point - teenagers )

Cheers man. I actually passed the place you mentioned and though it could be handy for spinning. Meant to have a hop today, but the apocalyptic weather put me off. Sadly, leaving tomorrow, so maybe next year!

For your son's info, my phone is an iPhone 3G. It makes me mildly depressed that the kids would consider this old-fashioned already

[dunner]

Last summer i was fishing in my yak near Court Mac in deep water, and it was dead calm over kelp and deepish water and i startled something ahead of me, nothing i know could have made a wake like it (very big).. scared me a bit ,so i stopped and looked for a seal or anything else to come up ten minutes later.. nothing... i do believe it was a fish of some kind (too big for any small fish though)...
Check this out..
http://www.irish-trophy-fish.com/articles/kevinl.htm

[lodore]

Last summer i was fishing in my yak near Court Mac in deep water, and it was dead calm over kelp and deepish water and i startled something ahead of me, nothing i know could have made a wake like it (very big).. scared me a bit ,so i stopped and looked for a seal or anything else to come up ten minutes later.. nothing... i do believe it was a fish of some kind (too big for any small fish though)...
Check this out..
http://www.irish-trophy-fish.com/articles/kevinl.htm

That's some story about Jack Shine! I really recommend the link to anyone reading this. Makes flounder-bashing (my normal game) look like the sport of old maids ...

[septicsac]

Fabulous pics M8, well done. Looks more a porgie than a blue and the bones pic might be from a monkfish.

[Gilks]

On the basis of the white patch at the back of the dorsal fin the shark is a porbeagle.

The distinguishing features in porbeagles (but not makos) are:
1) Just where the body meets the tail fin, a second 'keel' or ridge on either side
2) Each tooth has two extra smaller points either side of the main point (I don't suppose you have a look in its mouth ? )

As observed in an earlier post the shark appears not to have moved between any of the shots - even the tail fin is at the same angle in all of them. Porbeagle sharks have to swim to maintain a flow of oxygenated water across their gills (unlike many other species). If the current there was quite fast and the shallow water quite warm, then it would be a good place to recover. This might be from a scrap with the dolphins but it's hard to tell.

Was the shark seen to move (of its own will) at all ? Was it still there the day after ?

P.S. F****** awesome find.

[lodore]

On the basis of the white patch at the back of the dorsal fin the shark is a porbeagle.

The distinguishing features in porbeagles (but not makos) are:
1) Just where the body meets the tail fin, a second 'keel' or ridge on either side
2) Each tooth has two extra smaller points either side of the main point (I don't suppose you have a look in its mouth ? )

As observed in an earlier post the shark appears not to have moved between any of the shots - even the tail fin is at the same angle in all of them. Porbeagle sharks have to swim to maintain a flow of oxygenated water across their gills (unlike many other species). If the current there was quite fast and te shallow water quite warm, then it would be a good place to recover. This might be from a scrap with the dolphins but it's hard to tell.

Was the shark seen to move (of it own will) at all ? Was it still there the day after ?

The shark moved plenty when I wasn't pestering it; as I said earlier, the darker tint to the water is partly from the mud it stirred up from it thrashing about--not toention it swimming into the shallows in the first place. The three photos are static because (a) the shark froze when I went near, and (b) they were taken in quick succession. As for the second question, it wasn't even there and hour later when I brought the wife and kid for a look. I think you might be on to something about the recovery issue: the water was quite warm, and if the current wasn't huge, it was shallow enough that the rising tide would give a reasonable movement.

[Wrasseputin]

excellent pictures amazing story and considering a white tipped reef shark off cornwall a few weeks back shows anything can happen...... now im off to dollymount to catch a six gilled

and the snout on a blue is like pinnochio

[nthclare]

There is a mark in Co Clare where during a real hot summer you can go down with a bucket of chum and a bucket of mackerel heads and tails and feed the porbeagle like ducks to gain access you need permission from the farmer who owns the land as there was too much dumping rubbish and injury claims etc or else you need your walking boots but they are huge and come right up near the rocks they are v curious fish the last time I seen them was the summer of 03 and back again in the mid 90s but with the way this summer is going there wont be many this year.

The herd the mackerel like a sheepdog herding sheep fast as a dolphin and can jump fairly well too ill bring my fly rod next time lol

[nicefish]

Might explain why I found these on a S Wex beach last sat, each jaw bone was found 70-80m apart. Glued them up and I'm going to varnish and mount them. 1st thought was conger but teeth seem a little long to me.

My grandad lost them.

[beachcomber]

Looks very like the lower jaw of a monkfish. Nice find though.

Might explain why I found these on a S Wex beach last sat, each jaw bone was found 70-80m apart. Glued them up and I'm going to varnish and mount them. 1st thought was conger but teeth seem a little long to me.

[Trojan]

Thanks for sharing,that is the photo of a life time i say it frightened the sh$% outa you

[southaussie]

After watching JAWS last nite with the kids I'm not sure I'l be digging baitfor a while, Great photos and a once in a lifetime experience, thanks for sharing it.
p.s. did ya get any lug after???

[Hooker]

Looks very like the lower jaw of a monkfish. Nice find though.

Might explain why I found these on a S Wex beach last sat, each jaw bone was found 70-80m apart. Glued them up and I'm going to varnish and mount them. 1st thought was conger but teeth seem a little long to me.

My father reckoned it could be a monkfish jaw as in a true monkfish. I thought it too narrow to be that of a Anglerfish. I think it will look pretty good mounted up and on my dresser

[chuckaroo]

There is a mark in Co Clare where during a real hot summer you can go down with a bucket of chum and a bucket of mackerel heads and tails and feed the porbeagle like ducks to gain access you need permission from the farmer who owns the land as there was too much dumping rubbish and injury claims etc or else you need your walking boots but they are huge and come right up near the rocks they are v curious fish the last time I seen them was the summer of 03 and back again in the mid 90s but with the way this summer is going there wont be many this year.

The herd the mackerel like a sheepdog herding sheep fast as a dolphin and can jump fairly well too ill bring my fly rod next time lol

now that would have been an awesome sight!

nice pics. fascinating find.