Extreme "catch and release" fishing!

[FORD]

Christine Dell'Amore

National Geographic News

Published May 6, 2011



Talk about a big fish—an expedition crew has hauled up—and released—what the team says is the biggest great white shark yet caught.

The 17.9-foot-long (5.5-meter-long) male behemoth was found off Mexico's Guadalupe Island (map) in fall 2009.

The animal breaks the team's previous record of 16.8 feet (5.1 meters), set when they caught a female great white named Kimel. (Both records are unofficial and not maintained by a formal organization.)

The new titleholder was named Apache after the dog of Brett McBride, boat captain on the National Geographic Channel show Shark Men. (The National Geographic Channel is part-owned by the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.)

Shark Men chronicles the work of scientists and fishers who catch and release great whites in an effort to figure out where the mysterious giants breed and give birth. The scientific team is led by Michael Domeier, president and executive director of the Marine Conservation Science Institute.

The two-ton Apache put up a fight—at one point breaking free from his barbless hook, said expedition leader Chris Fischer.

"The battle with Apache was like nothing we've ever dealt with," Fischer said.

Once on board, the researchers fitted the fish with a satellite-tracking tag, took a blood sample, and released him, watching him vigorously swim away.

"He was all scarred up and had big marks all over him—you could tell he was just a bad-ass shark," Fischer said.

"It was so impressive and so humbling to be near him."

Size Doesn't Matter for Shark Research

In large ocean fish species, females are almost always bigger than males, because they need more girth to carry their young, Fischer noted. (See great white shark pictures.)

However, even a male of Apache's size is not unheard of among great whites, other experts say.

"That is one big shark, [but] I have no doubt that this isn't the largest white shark in the wild," John O'Sullivan, head of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's White Shark Program, said by email.

Shark expert Kenneth J. Goldman added, "I don't see anything overtly magnificent about it being so large. It's just another adult male they've tagged."

That's because size alone doesn't tell scientists much, said Goldman, a fishery research biologist at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Homer.

Instead, Apache's real value would be in helping to resolve the lingering mysteries of great white behavior.

Biggest Shark May Help Crack Mysteries

Expedition leader Fischer agrees—and he and his team are now watching to see where Apache goes.

For instance, recent research suggests that Pacific great whites gather in specific spots near the coasts—including the Guadalupe Island site—and then travel to a "cafe" in the middle of the ocean to feed. The animals often return to the same aggregation sites after feeding.

But this is still a tentative theory, so it "would be groundbreaking if, [say], Apache left Guadalupe and went to the middle of the ocean and [returned] to a different aggregation site," Fischer said.

Overall, tagging sharks to figure out where they migrate and congregate may help conservationists protect the species, Fischer added. Great whites are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Meanwhile, Apache lives on, he said, as a "giant male shark out there doing his great white thing."

ON TV: Shark Men—Biggest and Baddest premieres at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, May 8, on the National Geographic Channel.

[Hardrock69]

And my friends make fun of me that I say I will never go swimming in the ocean....

[FORD]

I'm trying to figure out how exactly they kept that son of a bitch alive while they were tagging him, because sharks have to constantly swim in order to breathe. Their gills don't move like most other fish, so if they stop moving, they die. Fuckers even swim in their sleep.

[Seshmeister]

That's why the guy has a hose, if you spray sea water over their gills it stops them from suffocating at least for a while.

[Diamondjimi]

That's why the guy has a hose, if you spray sea water over their gills it stops them from suffocating at least for a while.

True dat.

In the times I've swam in the oceans, I tried to put the thought of sharks out of my mind....

[sadaist]

Good thing they took the bigger boat.

[Nitro Express]

I love to surf but in the back of my mind was a big shark mistaking me for a seal. I scuba dive and did some free diving as well. Never saw anything scary and I have a lot of dive time. I hear diving the wrecks in the great lakes is creepy.

[clarathecarrot]

I had a oportunity to buy a whole rig of -US Divers- gear just about everything yuo could want from a dude who had been diving since the sixties this was in 1995 he had US state of the art gear and I could have really had the shit as they say, but he was dead and his sister was a cunt and sold the shit to someone other than family and I think she is a asshole.

I used to dive alot and once you have been 200 ft off the Cayman Brac Wall all else is just crappola.

Once I dove Beaver Lake in Arkansas clearest fresh water around it was still uneventfull. But, I set a catfish line underwater and caught some woppers.

Fuck a Shark and those douchebags that tag them by creating a extreen TV show .

I am the chief predator of this world Kill them all I say,.

[clarathecarrot]

Oh and,... P.S. Fuck those, "Whale Saver Dudes TV Show " what a bunch of ego maniacs uh fuck me just the douchiest.
50 years from now whales will be meat on the table to free up all the krill we need to feed the world.

I didn't work my way to the top of the food chain to baby sit and tittie nurse maid a fucking whale.

[Diamondjimi]

I hear diving the wrecks in the great lakes is creepy.

Lake Eric is great, not too deep. Now Lake Ontario, you go 10ft down and it get dark real quick. Very deep, very creepy.
I haven't swam in Lake Ontario in 30 years, I personally think it's a fuckin toilet compared to our northern lakes. Most of my water fun is in Lake Erie these days at the cottage. Great beach, good fishin, good times...

[Diamondjimi]

Fuck a Shark and those douchebags that tag them by creating a extreen TV show .

I am the chief predator of this world Kill them all I say,.

Oh and,... P.S. Fuck those, "Whale Saver Dudes TV Show " what a bunch of ego maniacs uh fuck me just the douchiest.
50 years from now whales will be meat on the table to free up all the krill we need to feed the world.

I didn't work my way to the top of the food chain to baby sit and tittie nurse maid a fucking whale.

Sounds like the perfect job for you is on a Chinese or Japanese Ocean fishing ship. Those cocksuckers catch and keep everything in site. I predict, in a hundred years those fuckers will be offering human steak in their restaurants!

[sadaist]

I set a catfish line underwater and caught some woppers.

I have heard stories of divers at lake Mead and a couple other Colorado river dams. They go down over 100 feet deep to check the dam for crack & such. New guys have come up white as a ghost swearing to never go back down due to the monster Godzilla sized catfish at the bottom. Big enough to fit a human head in their mouth with ease. Nasty. No thanks!

[clarathecarrot]

I have heard stories of divers at lake Mead and a couple other Colorado river dams. They go down over 100 feet deep to check the dam for crack & such. New guys have come up white as a ghost swearing to never go back down due to the monster Godzilla sized catfish at the bottom. Big enough to fit a human head in their mouth with ease. Nasty. No thanks!

It was explained to me or as when we used to tell each other horror stories dudes sitting around ect...
That at the damn these big catfish just lay there for years cause all the dead food etc washes towards the damn they just lay there with there mouth open and get huge.

I have seen a 1930 picture or so..? of these casual fishing buddies all standing in a row holding catfish for the picture and these five dudes have like ten fish laying around them and the heads on these fish are as wide as the dudes chests.
This photo is from the Mississippi Delta same food washed down hill theory.

Plus, a big fish only has to be big enough to pull you down and drown you 100lb could do that and they are common.

[Seshmeister]

Despite what the Discovery Channel may imply you have a much much much better chance of winning the lottery than being eaten by a shark.

[Guitar Shark]

That's why the guy has a hose, if you spray sea water over their gills it stops them from suffocating at least for a while.

Yep.

I've been watching this "Shark Men" show on and off for a while. Sometimes it is interesting, other times it just seems like they are trying too hard to manufacture drama.

[clarathecarrot]

The things they are doing to the shark can be done in a split second with pole dart it is forsho the most stressfull way to tag a fucking fish I have ever seen, all hype to sell commercial money time.

Plus it is a one off show stretched into a... what the second season, of the same fucking thing just a different fish.

The next show will be they take the shark, "home to a tank in Nebraska" and ask it to watch, The Nanny.

Only then will they trully trully know the shark is there, really there.

[Nitro Express]

I had a oportunity to buy a whole rig of -US Divers- gear just about everything yuo could want from a dude who had been diving since the sixties this was in 1995 he had US state of the art gear and I could have really had the shit as they say, but he was dead and his sister was a cunt and sold the shit to someone other than family and I think she is a asshole.

I used to dive alot and once you have been 200 ft off the Cayman Brac Wall all else is just crappola.

Once I dove Beaver Lake in Arkansas clearest fresh water around it was still uneventfull. But, I set a catfish line underwater and caught some woppers.

Fuck a Shark and those douchebags that tag them by creating a extreen TV show .

I am the chief predator of this world Kill them all I say,.

The best diving I had was off of Belize. It's an old reef. The second best was the Red Sea. I actually learned to scuba dive when I lived in Israel. I picked up wind surfing there as well. The sea of Galilee is great for that. You read about the big storms that would kick up in the bible. That happens for real there. You have high elevation cool air trying to equalize with the lower elevation warm air down towards the Dead Sea. It kicks up some good wind and you can haul ass on a board.

[sadaist]

I avoid the ocean because of ALL the critters. Sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, and all the other things that can sting, bite, or will fuck you up if you touch or step on them. Forget the number of people killed by sharks. How many people are bitten, stung, or poked by creatures of the sea?

Include gnarly rip-tides that suck people out 3 miles too. And the few times I have been on a board trying to get out past the breakers, my timing sucks. They never crash behind or in front of me....always smack right on top.

Yeah....fuck the ocean. Awesome to look at. I even love being on any size boat in the ocean from a small fishing boat to a giant cruise ship. I just don't like swimming in the fucker.

[Nitro Express]

Amazingly I never got stung by a jellyfish. I would see them all the time. My sister got stung and it looked like it sucked. I actually stepped on a sting ray's tail off of Saibel Island in Florida. You find the best sea shells on the ocean floor and I find them with my feet and I found something with my foot that was round and hard. I pinned it with my foot and grabbed it and it was a fucking stingray! Man I was so glad I didn't get barbed.

Every time I go to Hawaii I always end up getting cut on lava rock in the ocean there. I have a nice scar on my knee from that.

[Nitro Express]

I got clobbered by a wave good surfing the wedge off of Newport Beach, California. I mistimed the wave and it broke right on top of me. It knocked all the air out of me, ripped the tether off my ankle and I was spinning not knowing which way was up. When I came up for air another wave crashed me. I just about drowned but the lifeguard got to me and pulled me out. You don't appreciate the power of water until it clobbers you!

[clarathecarrot]

The best diving I had was off of Belize. It's an old reef. The second best was the Red Sea. I actually learned to scuba dive when I lived in Israel. I picked up wind surfing there as well. The sea of Galilee is great for that. You read about the big storms that would kick up in the bible. That happens for real there. You have high elevation cool air trying to equalize with the lower elevation warm air down towards the Dead Sea. It kicks up some good wind and you can haul ass on a board.

I have friends who dove Belize ,said it was fenom..( we had Nikonos Film, cameras back then seen pics) then toured into the jungle to some Mayan ruins that would be a great week or two.

I tried Windsurfing here in KC but the lake was sided by hills and the wind just caught the top of the sail, sail 40 ft fall down and repeat..lol there is one flat terrianed lake around here I would still give it a go.
A different time and a pocket full of money we could hang out and I would be able to p/u windsurfing with a lesson or 2, and jumping waves, then we could booze and broad..lol.

[Hardrock69]

Despite what the Discovery Channel may imply you have a much much much better chance of winning the lottery than being eaten by a shark.

But whether or not I win the lottery I will still be alive either way. I tend not to do crazy stuff where the downside could be death-related. Like skydiving, swimming with sharks or piranhas, bungee-jumping, playing on the freeway, armed robbery, walking around the upper edge of the CN Tower in Toronto, etc.

No thanks. Life is perilous enough just driving on the freeway without taking it to the extremes.

[Seshmeister]

Just trying to quantify the risk a bit though.

[Seshmeister]

The chance is also going down rapidly as medicine improves and as people kill all the sharks.

In 2007 for example, only 1 person in the whole world of 6 billion people was killed by a shark.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

The chance is also going down rapidly as medicine improves and as people kill all the sharks.

In 2007 for example, only 1 person in the whole world of 6 billion people was killed by a shark.

who made your list?

[Dan]

In 2007 for example, only 1 person in the whole world of 6 billion people was killed by a shark.

Sounds Like Bull-Shit To Me.

[Dr. Love]

The chance is also going down rapidly as medicine improves and as people kill all the sharks.

In 2007 for example, only 1 person in the whole world of 6 billion people was killed by a shark.

I always suspected GS was up to no good in 2007.

[Hardrock69]

1 person in 2007, Sesh. And you would have tried that same argument when talking to that person about swimming in the ocean.

[Seshmeister]

Sounds Like Bull-Shit To Me.

Look it up yourself.

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/...last_year.html


My favorite statistic this week is that if you have 300 people in a room, the chances of 2 of them having the same birthday is 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 999999999999999999999999999999998%

[ashstralia]

as a keen surfer living near the coast, i've seen dozens of sharks in the last 15 years. had a 16 foot tiger shark swim right under me. the critical rules are; don't swim at dawn or dusk, in an estuary outlet, or when there's lots of baitfish.

[lesfunk]

Sharks kick ass

[ashstralia]

Sharks kick ass

agree les. as a predator, just about perfect.

[Hardrock69]

The mindless eating machine!!!

:d

[Nitro Express]

as a keen surfer living near the coast, i've seen dozens of sharks in the last 15 years. had a 16 foot tiger shark swim right under me. the critical rules are; don't swim at dawn or dusk, in an estuary outlet, or when there's lots of baitfish.

I hear you have some nasty stuff in your waters. Box jellyfish, salt water crocks, sharks. What kind of board do you ride? I'm into sharp turns so I use a short board with three fins.

[Nitro Express]

Most people don't know it but you can surf in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Those rapids are just down the road from my house.

[ashstralia]

I hear you have some nasty stuff in your waters. Box jellyfish, salt water crocks, sharks. What kind of board do you ride? I'm into sharp turns so I use a short board with three fins.

yeah nitro, there's some nasties alright.. the crocs are only a problem in the far north, and when the box jellies and the bluebottles are around we just don't go in. i like a shortboard too, but the long right handers common to my locale are best suited to a bodyboard. blasting along with your face a foot off the water is heaps of fun!

[Nitro Express]

So are you down in the Sydney area?

Did you whack it to Delvene Delaney when you were a kid?

[clarathecarrot]

Been to the Carribean,... etc.. been a few places, done a few things been there and here...

To the point: Reading you cats talk about surfing, I dig .

Something, I think I would have been good at, but never had the opportunity due to geographic placement and just really wish I would have been born on the coast sometimes.

Some dudes up here in the midwest ditch school to shoot a couple ducks or something, if I would have grown up on the coast I would have been in the water non-stop. I was Lifeguard qualified by the age of 15 never did anything about it working the tall chair at the pool didn't thrill me. Rather be swimming that working the water..

But the coast,, you lucky fuckers...dang.

Talking about board styles very cool stuff to me.
...
Completely spent most of my life as a vagabond... the beach I would have seemed more realistically suited for ..lol.
\
Rock on.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

a veggie bond

[clarathecarrot]

So are you down in the Sydney area?

Did you whack it to Delvene Delaney when you were a kid?

OH..my Holy WHAT THE....in the nicest way possible... I would pick her up and drink her like a yard of beer.

In my younger days now I would do it sitting down and with some kind of crane or something, ow my back...jeez what a looker.
Someone should CGI her walking side by side with Catherine Bach WOOF!