Been kinda slow with "real" hunting stories here lately (I'm sure that will change shortly as folks get out on their annual sheep, caribou, moose and deer hunts here shortly.) Here's one that made the rounds here in Southeast yesterday.











The stories go like this:



Hi, I understand there is interest in the great white shark sighting by a

charter boat operator here in Yakutat yesterday. Here is the story as I

heard it from Captain Mark Sappington on the vessel Manifest Destiny,

yesterday on the dock. It starts the day before.



On Sunday, Mark had a client reeling in a halibut when the line was

suddenly hit by something that hit like a freight train, then parted the 400 lb test

cable leader like a string and was gone. This was exciting, but nobody saw

the culprit. They were telling wild stories of huge Makos in California

that night, joking about big sharks they had seen, etc.



The next day on a charter with several clients, again a client was reeling

in a halibut, about a 40 lb fish, and had it up to the back of the boat

when a large shark took a large bite out of the middle of it. A photo of the

bitten halibut is attached. I did not take more than one, sorry, did not

know it would be of such interest, but it clearly shows the large bite.

The bite was quite rounded and fairly clean, despite the appearance in this

photo. The shark rubbed on and bit the swim step at the stern of the boat

in the process of trying to get to the halibut. The fisherman got the

halibut aboard the vessel, taking it out of temptations way. The shark

circled the boat for a time, allowing Mark to make a length estimate using

the boat as the measuring stick. Destiny is a 30 foot boat, and the shark

swam by close enough to get an excellent size estimate. When it's tail was

at the bow, it's head was about 10 feet from the stern. Of course the

excited clients had added 2 to 4 feet to the length with each telling of

the story, but Mark estimates approximately the shark was 20 feet in length

with a huge girth.



Mark grew up in Southern California, working in the fishing and charter

industry since he was a young teen and has experience with lots of sharks,

of all species. He was confident that this was a white shark, describing

the markings, coloration, shape etc. He can be reached at

[addy removed by MuskegMan] if anybody wants to talk to him about this.



Gordie says this is the end of his body surfing in Yakutat, something he

has experienced once in 20 some years. We are sorry to hear of his retirement

from the sport. I will be thinking twice before taking up any new water

sports myself. Our skiff is 18 feet long.....

______________________________________________________



Thought you all might enjoy this. As we came in from Coho fishing Mark had

this on the dock. The width of the bite is 11". It was very clean and had

none of the narrow sawing tooth marks that Salmon Sharks usually leave.

That said, it is a fish story and I'll keep my last shred of doubt until I

see one. This happened in Yakutat Bay about 2.5 miles SE of Manby Point.

I was fishing about a 1000 yards from Mark on Sunday and we had the same

thing happen with two large baits taken at once and then finding the 400

lb. mono leader sliced clean. We later caught an estimated 225 lb halibut

and figured it was her. (Had to fit my own fish story in somehow.) Think

twice before you put on those swim shorts.

I would have thought it was a Salmon Shark up that way.
Any one know how large they get?

WOW

Great story thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Andr�

mmmmmmmmmm! Halibut nuggets!

--Mike