New England Role Call

[seavee capt]

Hello SFCers in the Northeast, Pat on the Kingfisher here, I'm pretty new to SFC, but like what i've seen so far. I'm from RI and fish mostly every fishable day from early May to late November. I start out in local waters fishing for fluke and stripers and continue with that into the early fall, then the Tuna fever takes control of my life and I head to the Cape for October/November and fish for GBFT. I fish on my newly refinished 26 Seavee with a straight Yanmar inboard, man what a nice riding boat for its size. When I'm done fishing or when its too snotty to get out, I'm usually in a tree with my bow, trying to get white tails.
I'm interested in expanding my fishing horizons and would like to get down to the Carolina's and look into the Giant Tuna fishing there. Any of you Northeast guys every try it? If so let me know, I'm interested in any logistical info you could provide.
May Winter end quickly! Pat

[wrap-check]

Hey Pat -- I live right across the river from you in Portsmouth, and fish down the cape as well - keep the boat in Sandwich.
Those Seavees are nice rides.

[VCinRI]

Hello,
I came across this website while doing some research on reels.

I have been fishing here in RI all my life both inshore and offshore. Most of my offshore experience was between the late 70's and early 90's. I recently acquired the bug again, bought boat, and am in the process of gearing up.
I have been out of the loop for a while and need to get up to speed on everything. I believe I have found the place. I look forward to participating on this site.

I will try to upload some photo's of one of my experiences. I hope it works.

[Tuna Meltdown]

Great first post but I am waiting along with others who want to know the whole story behind those pictures.

[Thin Blue Line]

That is awesome..I bet if people really knew what was swimming with them they wouldnt go in the water...when did you catch that shark?

[shoefish]

Jesus H!

"Gamin' fish, eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire? Don't you tell me my business again! You get back on the bridge... "

Tell us the story!!

[fmoore]

WOW. That's one helluva fish. I agree, let's hear the story.

[VCinRI]

We caught this shark on July 27th, 1991 less than 3 miles south of Pt. Judith.
We were planning on heading out to the Mudhole or Cox's ledge to do some shark fishing. We spotted what appeared to be a capsized boat but turned out to be a dead Finback whale. The whale had not been dead long as it appeared fresh, but it did have several large bites taken out, we knew what was here was probably a large white. The whale was leaving a long slick behind it, so we zigzagged across it and marked something huge at 60' down in 75' of water.

We rigged up a 80w with the largest hook and wire we had and began drifting bait back in the slick, nothing happened. The next idea was whatever is here is eating whale meat so let's put a piece on the hook. ( I will get back to this later)

While I was leaning over trying to cut a piece for bait in a rolling sea the shark appeared from under the whale about 6' below me. It was a sight I could never forget. (I now know the true meaning of "It takes your breath away" )

We watched in amazement for a while as the shark swim around and inspected the boat and at one point mouthed the outdrive. ( We were in a 24' Seabird) We also witnessed him take several bites out of the whale. Seeing all this unfold in front of you is entirely different from seeing it on the Discovery Channel. He looked like a small plane underwater. His back was 4' across and each pec fin was about 3'.

We decided to try to catch him. We pulled along side the whale again and finished taking the piece we had partially cut. As the shark passed by the chuck was dropped in front and it looked like he had almost swam over it and the next thing the line of the 80 started going out slowly.

There was no fast fight or slowing him down, just one speed, One statement said it best, "tie your line to concrete truck and tell him to drive at 5 MPH ". After a short while of chasing him down we got near him on the surface and sank the first of two harpoons into him. He made a bee-line for the bottom.
For the next hour or so we chased him down pulling on the rod and rope and got close enough for harpoon #2. He headed straight down again popping the monofilament on the trim tab.

The harpoons must have hit him hard because we were starting to gain on him
pretty quick after the second shot.

We finally got him close enough to get a few shots with the 12 ga. bangstick we keep on board, as you can see in the photo's.

We had radioed some friends of what we were towing in and the next thing we knew we had a small fleet forming behind us. We took the fish to Snug Harbor Marina for weighing. The scaled bottomed out at 2000 lbs and the wooded pier with the full crowd began the lean. Across the harbor at Galilee, Rhode Island engine company, with their crane and a 5000 Lb engine scale hoisted him out of the water. This day just so happened to be the annual blessing of the fleet in Galilee, needless to say we had quite the crowd.

National Marine Fisheries were already waiting there for us and asked us for permission to study and dissect the fish, we happily agreed. They performed their autopsy in front of the entire crowd. They took their samples and we offered the remaining meat to anyone who wanted it. We kept the jaws, dorsal and tail fins. Not much remained.

End result, The shark was 15' 6" long, weighed 2909 lbs. ( after spilling a belly full of whale meat on the pier) He was 10' across the pec fins and the same in girth. His bite was 32" high and 28" wide. Largest teeth were about 2.5 inches.
If the fish were caught under IGFA. Regs. it would be the world record. There was an article in Feb. 2006 Saltwater Sportsman called "Behemoth"

After it was on the front page of the Providence Journal and on every news station for the next few days. It was then the Animal rights activist came down on us. We are murderers, we put another nail in natures coffin, etc... They insisted we violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act by touching the whale and because of this we were brought up on charges and placed on probation. The whale drifted on to a crowed Matunuk beach the next morning and had to be removed. Would the shark have followed the whale in to the beach? That is a question I am often asked. I really don't know. I Could not imagine being in the same water with such an animal.


Sorry for all the elaboration, 17 years later I still enjoy telling it.

VC

[Thin Blue Line]

Dont worry about the elaboration. That is a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Too bad the bleeding hearts have to ruin a good time.

[oldmud]

WOW, !!!! Great story, WELCOME ABOARD VC.

Don