500 lb. Hammerhead taken of South Beach

[Mark Cahill]

From WFTV.com via the RT Newswire (http://www.reel-time.com/newswire.php)...

http://www.wftv.com/news/3938046/detail.html

[lemaymiami]

Like a lot of ex-charter boat mates I vividly remember killing every shark that we could con an angler into mounting. We'd exclaim that it was the biggest, rarest, or fought the hardest... anything to get that taxidermy commission. That was more than thirty years ago... Most of us who've stayed connected to somehow make a living chasing fish have long since quit that practice. I can't condemn anyone who's still doing it to make a living, but it's wrong, wasteful, and no shark population will stay healthy if we kill them to make a buck! To this day the shark population is still greatly reduced along the Atlantic coast of South Florida. Sharks reproduce so slowly and in such small numbers that you can really reduce the fishery to nothing if we go back to slaughtering them. A bang stick (12ga.) was standard gear on every charter boat that I worked on back then. Today I carefully release at boatside sharks up to and over 10' long with nothing more than cotton gloves on my hands and with minimal risk...

This particular charter boat captain is a throwback to that earlier generation. Every few years, right at the start of tourist season he allows some newspaper or television station (ch. 6 locally this time, other stations know better) to be part of the act with the carefully posed picture of "Jaws" right behind his boat. The photos or tv spot always manages to show the name of the boat, and the captain. As usual the dangerous animal was "caught very close to where people were swimming". A lot of local anglers are very angry with this guy. He's been cited for more than one fisheries violation over the years and a search of his name on the local 'net will provide plenty of food for thought. Fortunately there's no law that covers this kind of behavior.... or unfortunately depending on your point of view....

To this day I'm careful never to pull any mature shark out of the water even for just a photo. Their insides are not tough enough to take what happens when they're no longer supported by the water around them. Most of the time we're even able to remove the hook before the release with a special tool. I could go a long time without looking at another large brood shark hanging at the dock.... What a waste.

[Mark Cahill]

It's interesting to hear the "rest of the story."

As a guy who spends much of his day spinning marketing tales, it's funny to think that I just fell right into that one...unquestioned.

[lemaymiami]

Mark,
I should have tempered my remarks a bit. The clippings and news briefs that you include on this site are informative and to the point the vast majority of the time.

Our 500lb shark captain has duped local news media on more than one occasion. There have been several big public flaps over stories and events that he's been involved in and still there's always someone who bites on one of his come-ons almost every year.... There's no way guys in the northeast would ever know about a guy like this. Can you guess where a captain with a less than sterling reputation finds his anglers? As one local angler said on the South Florida portion of Florida Sportsman's bulletin board, the more press coverage the guy gets the better he likes it. There's probably a few like him in every region, unfortunately.

[LandlockedinMI]

This has to be Mark the shark. A bigger waste of protoplasm there is not.

[Mark Cahill]

it is indeed...

Amazing to think that one guide can get such a bad reputation...reminds me of a guy I fished with (once) in the seventies who used to brag that every tarpon he ever caught, he killed. No one catches his tarpon...no one. He also used to fish the islands off the cape.

[soundownsam]

Mark the Shark is a well known butt head here is south florida. Members of the Florida Sportsman Forum have worked to have at least one TV spot featuring this dirt ball pulled as well as a radio spot set to feature him. This was done through an overwhelming number of phone calls and emails from around the state.

Do not support this "capt" in any way shape or form.

Sam

[PierAfficionado]

Floridasportsman forum member here, and yes Mark the Shark is a throwback to a past generation and way of thought. Just look at his website and it tells it all. Kills just to get pics for his customers, and show off back at the dock. Kind of disgusting some of the things he has done. Example, catching and killing the deadly Mola-Mola. What the hell he does that for I have no idea. Have only seen two in my life and was the coolest experience to swim around with them. He just sticks em with a spear and drags em to the dock. Anyho' not many conservation minded anglers down here (probably not a one) agrees with or likes the exploits of Marky. And yes the Floridasportsman Forum has been key in having several of his big promotional gigs cancelled.

[Roostahfish]

I had to check out his website....what a tool!!

[JGH]

This guy is clearly scum. (The "fillet and release" bit on his site, with about a dozen dead billfish on the deck of hios boat, is proof of his alone.) But he's likely done less damage with a rod and reel than one longliner, dragger or gillnetter does in a "good" week. They generally have the sense not to publicize their kills. :mad:

(Okay, I've stepped off the soapbox, so it's available again for others.)

[mctrout]

Not neccessarily on the commerical front, as the new reoprt shows that rec guys do 60 times the damage than commercial. we have figured out that poachers alone in the NYBight area kill upwards of 250,000 pounds of Striped Bass alone every year. That is more than the allocation for some states alone!!
B

[ned]

what's this dopes website?

[JGH]

Brendan, on an aggregate basis you may well be right. But it cannot be the case that one recreational fisherman (even this A-hole) is responsible for a higher level of fish mortality than one commericial netter, longliner or dragger.

[loomis]

Hello JGH,

Unrelated to the 500lb. shark posting. I read a posting of yours looking for Ascension Bay information. Such as: lodges, guides, transportation and travel arrangements etc.

Are you still looking for help? Shoot me an e-mail and I'll be glad to help you out.

Happy holidays,
Tim

profota@colorado.net :)