Dan Marchese of East Longmeadow, MA had an experience straight out of Jaws while on a recent fishing trip south of Martha’s Vineyard.
After a day of bluefin fishing, Dan and the rest of his four-person crew aboard the High Hook out of Point Judith decided to have a go at some sharks in the area known as the Dump. Dan and company were having luck with the blue sharks, and as the seas kicked up to around five feet, their lightest rod, designated for pitching bait to circling sharks, doubled over. When the hook was set, a massive thresher shark jumped 10 feet into the air, and upon splashdown, dumped nearly all of the line off the reel.
Backing down on the shark in 5-foot seas was no easy task. Though they knew it was large, they were unaware of the true size of the fish, and if they had been, they might have felt uneasy battling it standing up in only a light harness. Dan and his brother fought the shark for a little over an hour each before it finally showed itself. Once it was close they harpooned it with a poly ball, and, just like in Jaws, the shark surprised the crew by diving, buoy and all, to a depth of 80 feet where it stayed for 20 minutes.
A second float subdued the monster, and after drifting nearly 4 miles during the three-and-a-half-hour fight, a tail rope secured the fish. The crew returned home with an estimated 450-pound thresher shark measuring 8 feet, 9 inches from nose to fork (with a tail measuring 7 feet, 8 inches), and an epic fish story.
GREAT JOB GUYS CONGRATS
Error on the Cape Report. Commercial striper days are Monday and Thursday-not Tuesday.
Any way you can stop showing the mutilation of sharks??!! It’s so lame.
do you now how many people that shark will feed .whats lame is you bone heads think we are out there killing sharks and then just throwing them back dead or something .
Don’t look!
Didn’t know you were an OTW, Doc.
No Gert .. your lame, it’s a nice catch and they are bringing it home to eat. GOOD job guys…congrats on a fine catch.
I thought this magazine supported catch and release.
lol Thanks for the laugh!
No need to hate. I’m all for catch and release but to take a trophy to the dock is not a bad thing. Not everyone is a fly fishermen
Your clueless, that shark will feed many mouths. Also makes memories. So why dont you go and pick on more important issues. There are plenty out there effecting our country.
Guess your only going to catch that shark once……
You have to think about it from the Sharks perspective. If you release him, he is now the aquatic equivalent of people who claim to be abducted by aliens. And he’ll be criticized by the rest of the sharks
We should all keep our eye on the ball. Looks like this fish was harpooned and bled like any other big fish might be. It would be a shame if this big specimen were killed solely for sport, but the article doesn’t say and there’s no reason to assume anything. Maybe the article should have included something about shark population health and the anglers’ plan for the catch. As for catch and release, of course that’s an important practice but let’s remember the reality that a high percentage of released fish die anyway. Keeping one specimen is not as big a deal as fishing responsibly, with gear that doesn’t harm fish that will be released, and by fisherman who know which species can bear any fishing pressure at all.
“the mutilation of sharks”. Unbelievable how some people can humanize a FISH in their minds. Todd, Stay inshore casting at the salt pond for schoolies.
Nice catch. If anything catch and release has led to too many apex predators. Killing a good number is healthy for the eco-systems. Leaving this up to government like the California drought, Western Coyote Problem, and Eastern Deer tick explosion is pure lunacy. Tips high and slay em early and often.
It saddens me when we celebrate the needles destruction of such a magnificent creature as this thresher shark like it was something to be proud of. Sure, the sportsman like capture and release of a spectacular trophy is a great accomplishment, but the wonton commercial slaughter of a dwindling resource is nothing to brag about. Harpooning and then chasing down a crippled animal attached to poly-balls is nothing short of animal cruelty and should be outlawed ! This is not sport, and these two misguided macho men should quietly sit down and really think about what they’ve done and what they can do in the future to promote & conserve our marine environment instead of exploiting and endangering a precious resource.
Don’t let the haters get you down, Great Job guys!!! that’s a fine catch. and great eating…. Between hunting and fishing, I kill most of what I eat. I belive most of the haters think steak and chicken come from Isle 5
Keep up the good work
D
Can we get a comment from the anglers themselves? Was the shark actually eaten?
Captain E., don’t you agree that nobody who fishes for sport isn’t something of a “macho” man or woman? Let’s not kid ourselves and judge these guys without the facts, or condescend to fisherman who aren’t precisely like us. Let’s also not pretend the way the shark was killed is the issue. Fish struggling and fishing tactics might not be pretty, but fish are low order animals. This isn’t cruelty against anything close to us.
The bigger issues are population health, use not waste of kept catches, and promoting interest in the environment through interest in the sport. I’m sure these “macho” men support wise fishery management of sharks just like Ducks Unlimited supports wetlands conservation. Use and harvesting of resources can and should be consistent with their preservation.
I like ur comments shark is good eating fish send me a invite to go fishing
How many of you critics have done ANYTHING about the millions, yes millions of sharks harvested annually by asian flagged vessels around the world. Do some research, and if you care at all about exploited sharks, there is a great starting point! One fish from a healthy population and consumed is what fishing should be. Im guessing the seal population in Chatham is nothing but good in your eyes also?? Great job landing a nice eater!!
That is a great catch! Sorry all the tree huggers wont appreciate the amount of time and money spent for such a perfect day. That was surely not an easy thing to do, bringing in a 400+ lb thresher boatside on rod and reel. Only fisherman would understand. Way to go guys!!!
Threshers are a very good eating shark. Many believe they are the best of all species in terms of taste and texture. With the current regulations you ate allowed to keep one per vessel per day. They did nothing wrong. If you don’t like the regulations fight to change them not harass two fisherman following regulations. No one says anything about keeping a fish when a tuna or swordfish is kept but because everyone believes everything they see on TV they think all shark species are endangered. While many have been depleted largely due to the commercial shark fin trade and long liners many species still thrive. Thresers in particular can be very abundant with boats targeting them catching and releasing several on a daily basis on good days.
Nice job guys! To all haters and catch and release enthusiasts; They were within the “law” to catch, land and keep this shark if they wanted to. “WE” have elected folks to mandate law to protect us and nature around us…
nice job guys . The people who think we are just mutilators of sharks are the back seat drivers who find fault in anything real men and women do. The big game industry is alive and well because of the sport fisherman just as many other activities ,and yes occasionally we reap the benefits such as a nice thresher to share a moment with our friends or family. So I say to the politically correct people of the world do your homework then and only then may you judge.
Haters gonna hate.
The PC crowd get their world view from Leftists like John Stewart and Keith Olberman. They can’t be bothered to actually research issues like this on their own or make their own decisions on anything. Don’t let these ankle-biters get you down!
Nice fish!
killing that shark is like going out and shooting an elephant. Magnificent beast reduced to a slimy bloody mess on the deck of some meatheads power boat. Very sad indeed.
Spare me the sanctimonious BS. These guys boarded a boat with friends. They paid a fair sum of money to do so. They go out into the Atlantic. They spend hours fishing legally, catch and kill a fish they intend to eat. They take a picture to remember and share the experience. Someone has a problem with this?
What really is the amazing part of this (besides the nice fish these dudes fought and landed) is the people criticizing this alpha male behavior aren’t ridiculed off the pages of this blog. If you come across a person like this you must verbally thrash them with logic. The men who raised me and my friends (WWII and Korea Vets) on Eastern Long Island wouldn’t believe what some of these folks are writing wasn’t a joke. Elephants? May god help us all!
To all people who are courteous enough to read the blog about the wonderful thresher that myself and crew caught I appreciate everybody’s input. This isn’t about being just a Sportfisher this is about putting food on the table for everybody to enjoy. I don’t appreciate people badgering people that are putting food on the table. What about all the people that are killing thousands of chickens and cows a day that you all eat but you’re a hypocrite for criticizing me where the fish has an equal chance for survival. Pigs are walked into a gas chamber and is slaughtered after a human let it to grow for years with human growth hormones. pick and choose your battles closely I fish for enjoyment and let thousands of fish a year ago and the ones that are trophy fish that happened to be very good eating come home with me and I can list over 30 families that I give fish to every season .
The whole chicken and cow argument is absurd. Chickens and cows are farm raised and as such are subject to sustainable breeding practices to ensure that future business continues. Sharks rely on nature and breeding in the wild. No one stocking them or breeding up their numbers for sustainability purposes. I agree taking one a day is not a problem for food and sport; but now multiply that by the number of fisherman taking “one a day” and compound that with the amount of sharks killed as by-catch and purpose killed for finning and you can see some peoples concern. You can’t rely on fisheries management to set effective catch limits and enforce effective management programs as evidenced by the depletion in the menhaden (bunker) stock along the entire east coast as well as the decline in the number of stripers, fluke , the list goes on. It’s all connected, overfishing , and mismanagement of stocks. We Can’t leave it to the damn government to manage and enforce because they have proven their ineptness time and time again. As fisherman, we must practice sustainability and educate our kids about respecting the fishery. Don’t mistake what I am saying, only take what you must, return the rest. Not a liberal, in fact an extreme Republican. Been a fisherman my entire life and respect our fisheries and the environment. Those of you that say” it’s regulated” how many of you have ever been stopped? Yeah, never seen it myself either. Not enough officers to enforce the rules. Not on Long Island anyway.
Just reading some of these negative comments makes me wonder, are these people fishermen or bleeding heart liberals? I’m a fisherman, I eat fish that I catch period. If I am lucky enough to catch a thresher shark, I’m going to get it into the boat by any means necessary. Of course if I am shark fishing, I will be licensed, yes shark fishing is regulated. I personally have only eaten mako shark, I like it better than tuna, if thresher shark is better eating than make then I’m sold, and you should be too. It’s called food people, sit down slice a lemon and bon appetit!
Endangered (EN A2bd) in the northwest Atlantic and western central Atlantic
Have we come so far from an agrarian lifestyle that we have to criticize people who legally gather food? Its been a long time since I’ve eaten fresh Mako, I’d love to try Thresher.