SPEAR FISHERMAN’S SURPRISING CATCH: SEVEN-FOOT GILL SHARK FISHERMAN BRINGS IN A 7-FOOT GILL SHARK

[Fiskadoro]

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Originally Posted by cross580

A spear fisherman looking for lobster near South Carlsbad State Beach got a bit of a shock Friday morning — and hauled in a much larger catch — after a seven-foot gill shark bumped his kayak.
“It swam right under me,” said Benny Stowe, who fishes regularly near the beach.
Stowe said he quickly grabbed his spear gun and shot the shark in the head.
The shark was stunned but still thrashing around, Stowe said.
“He was fighting, not too much, but he was fighting,” he said.
Stowe lashed the shark to his kayak and headed for shore, where he dragged the shark onto the beach and finished it off.
Surfer Richard Fox of Carlsbad was watching from the beach as Stowe paddle ashore.
“I helped him pull it up on the beach. He could barely pick up the head, it was so heavy,” Fox said. “This is the biggest I’ve ever seen caught.”
With the help of a lifeguard truck, Stowe and other beachgoers hauled the fish to Stowe’s truck.
“It was extremely heavy, hard to get ahold of,” said Justin Birks of Carlsbad.
Birks said he’s been spear fishing off the beach for years, but Stowe’s catch surprised him.
“I’ve never seen a shark that big, not even close,” Birks said.
Gill sharks, also known as cow sharks, are fairly common up and down the California coast, according to the Monterey Aquarium website.
They can grow to 10 feet long and typically feed on a wide range of sea life, from octopuses to sea turtles, but not people.
After loading the shark into his truck, Stowe was eager to have it cleaned.
Asked what he’d do with is catch, Stowe grinned and said “eat it.”
In late July, four fisherman on a charter boat off the coast of North County caught a 10-foot mako shark and hauled it into the Oceanside Harbor, where it far exceeded the harbor’s 600-pound scale.
I’ve never seen a shark that big.” Justin Birks • Carlsbad

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/...ch-seven-foot/

Wow!!!! What a stupid article, I hope they just misrepresented some things.

First off the shark is a Seven Gill.

7 Gills are only edible if you instantly butcher them and chill them and take measures that I'm not going into to get the urea out of the flesh, otherwise they just taste like piss.

From the way the article writes it up it sounds like he was spearfishg lobster (illegal) then when a shark bumped his kayak (happens with seven gills all the time) he shot it with a speargun from on top of the kayak (illegal). I'm pretty sure that is a clear violation of the regs. You cant shoot fish with a speargun unless your in the water, and you can't do it from a boat or on top of a kayak, otherwise people would be shooting swordfish with them.

Comparing a seven gill of any size to a 10ft Mako is like comparing garbage truck to a Lamborghini Aventador.

I could be worse he could of speared a black seabass.

Jim

[bluesquids]

Originally Posted by Fiskadoro

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7 Gills are only edible if you instantly butcher them and chill them and take measures that I'm not going into to get the urea out of the flesh, otherwise they just taste like piss.

Some sharks caught by hook and line have the uric acid go into the flesh because the muscles are used for a long time during the battle to tire the fish out. A good kill shot means instant lights out and better quality meat.

[lowprofile]

on the beach shot. were actually hitting that spot in a few mins for 7gill and soupies from shore. there's a nice reef about 80yards out during low tide. he said he thought it was a thresher and claimed it was a thresher on the beach... only to find out he was wrong and a dumbass.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

Wow!! What's with the life vest?

[DanaPT]

however you look at it. . .it's a big fish.

maybe 9 of 10 people would not kill/eat that fish, but to each his own. I like baby seal meat.

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by Fiskadoro

Wow!! What's with the life vest?

i think his attempt at floating it or marking it when he dropped it behind the surf.

[Donfish]

At first I thought it was just really stuffed but It's probably about to drop a load of pups by the looks of its belly and time of year.

[Sdspeed]

I'll admit Idon't know a lot about spearfishing but as mentionedd I didn't think it was legal to use one from the shore or while on a boat. Plus a Lifeguard help transport it?

They never do anything for me except bitch at me

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by bluesquids

Some sharks caught by hook and line have the uric acid go into the flesh because the muscles are used for a long time during the battle to tire the fish out. A good kill shot means instant lights out and better quality meat.

I hate to disagree, but you are confusing lactic acid, uric acid and urea.

Urea is not an acid but an organic compound produced by the kidneys that sharks use to create a condition of osmotic balance with seawater. Though urea is in urine it's not so much that sharks piss through their skin it's that sharks circulate urea through their tissues including muscles to protect them from seawater.

This works great when they are alive.

Unfortunately urea has a destabilizing effect on many enzymes, so sharks use another compound tri-methyl amine oxide to keep their enzymes balanced. Unfortunately as soon as sharks die they no longer produce the TMAO, their enzyme balance goes to shit, and at that point the urea in their body is quickly broken down into ammonia by bacteria.

Ammonia is toxic, it stinks, and it makes sharks taste bad. It also readily crosses most tissue membranes so it saturates all the tissues of a dead shark in short order.

Different sharks have different amounts of urea in their systems. Seven gills are extremely primitive they are from the Jurassic as old as the dinosaurs, and one of the oldest sharks still swimming the ocean. They have a lot of urea in their system. In fact if you cut one open you'll find that they have two ducts or hollow tubes on each side of their spinal cartilage that are filled with urea. They are much bigger in seven gills then in other more advanced sharks. On a large seven gill these tubes are about as big around as your little finger and run the length of the shark.

If you want to eat a seven gill as soon as you catch it you have to cut off it's head and tail while it's still alive, then run a hose through those ducts and flush the urea out those tubes. Otherwise the urea in them will be converted to ammonia and will contaminate all the meat in the shark.

That's the same if you hook and land it, spear it, shoot it, or throw it off the golden gate bridge. The urea is in there, and you have to get it out of there before the bacteria converts it to ammonia or the meat is worthless.

The more advanced sharks like Makos and Threshers have much less urea in their systems, that's why they are good to eat. Blues, six gills, seven gills have more urea that's why if they are not properly cared for they taste like crap and have a reputation for being bad to eat.

It's not brain surgery but it is simple chemistry.

Honestly the only reason I know about it is because I used to know an old timer commercial sharker who fished sevengills back when there was a big commercial fishery for them, and he told me all about it over a few beers.

Jim