August 2014
I caught this "shovelhead" shark this morning by Ocean Deck. . How? Well, first....I swam out past the breakers, and dove down to the ocean bottom. Then, I covered myself with sand like a flounder, with only my eyes sticking out, ....and a helpless mullet held tightly in my teeth. This curious shark swam by, and I GRABBED him!!! We wrestled underwater for a few minutes....and I surfaced VICTORIOUS!!!!
P.S. Mullet is okay and swimming happily toward Ponce Inlet.
I caught this "shovelhead" shark this morning by Ocean Deck. . How? Well, first....I swam out past the breakers, and dove down to the ocean bottom. Then, I covered myself with sand like a flounder, with only my eyes sticking out, ....and a helpless mullet held tightly in my teeth. This curious shark swam by, and I GRABBED him!!! We wrestled underwater for a few minutes....and I surfaced VICTORIOUS!!!!
P.S. Mullet is okay and swimming happily toward Ponce Inlet.
Law enforcement was
hovering nearby … since this was close
to the Ocean Deck , ...a beach bar where
drunken patrons often try to sneak out on to the sand with an illegal beer in
hand. A young sunburned lifeguard made his way through the growing crowd on his four
-wheeler.
He could see an angry crowd developing around the shark spectacle. The young lifeguard had to had to "call in ", to see if the catch was legal, and if I wasn't "officially" shark fishing! It took them (VCBP ,Volusia County Beach Patrol) about 20 minutes to sort it out. Soon, I found myself caught in the middle of a very diversely opinionated crowd.
There were some pretty heated tourists ….who felt sorry for the shark, and demanded to the beach patrol that I throw him back! Then ….there were guys offering me 25,.. 50 dollars if they could have it! (that's probly illegal ) . They were actually screaming at each other, and the small crowd took sides ....with the "eco-minded animal rights" people on one side, and the " Hemingway fish-killing macho-types " on the other.
"Let him go...he didn't do nothing to you!" screams one lady, practically in tears. "No, I wanna take him back to Kentucky with me!"...says the other side. "He's just a baby.....let him go, you moron.!! " , shouts a skinny rainbow guy from behind a very large angry woman. " Let him go?? What are ya nuts?!! There are kids swimmin' out there!!", proclaims a drunk guy in a Winston hat who made his way down from The Deck!
I had netted a mess of finger mullet and had them frolicking in a tidal pool...(shark was by-catch). A lady from the eco-minded side of the crowd begins to glare at me with a seething contempt in her eyes, and is working herself into a small rage. She reaches into the tidal pool and picks out my finger mullet. One.....by-one....by one ...like 15 or 20 times,... she bends over the small pool ( making sure to not lose eye contact with me) picks up the wiggly mullets , stomps over to the shoreline, and releases them into the surf! Like...15 or twenty times! One by one! By the TAIL!
I just smiled...and if you know me...kind of marveled at the ridiculous chaotic scene! In this lady's mind... she was doing her part to save the planet, and was showing love and empathy for all of God's creatures... as she plunked the gasping mullet into the shark-filled waters, ....each one of them becoming the delicious straggler carnally irresistible to ocean predators .....as the poor baits flutter around in panic outside of the safety of the school!
Yeah...fishing might suck lately, ....but I think I have found some sort of sick pleasure in this sort of scene. It is a microcosm of what our society has become! Emotionally driven poorly informed and spoon-fed amateur ecologists saving the planet with a love fantasy.
I think I will try this again soon...and maybe this time bring a GO-PRO.
He could see an angry crowd developing around the shark spectacle. The young lifeguard had to had to "call in ", to see if the catch was legal, and if I wasn't "officially" shark fishing! It took them (VCBP ,Volusia County Beach Patrol) about 20 minutes to sort it out. Soon, I found myself caught in the middle of a very diversely opinionated crowd.
There were some pretty heated tourists ….who felt sorry for the shark, and demanded to the beach patrol that I throw him back! Then ….there were guys offering me 25,.. 50 dollars if they could have it! (that's probly illegal ) . They were actually screaming at each other, and the small crowd took sides ....with the "eco-minded animal rights" people on one side, and the " Hemingway fish-killing macho-types " on the other.
"Let him go...he didn't do nothing to you!" screams one lady, practically in tears. "No, I wanna take him back to Kentucky with me!"...says the other side. "He's just a baby.....let him go, you moron.!! " , shouts a skinny rainbow guy from behind a very large angry woman. " Let him go?? What are ya nuts?!! There are kids swimmin' out there!!", proclaims a drunk guy in a Winston hat who made his way down from The Deck!
I had netted a mess of finger mullet and had them frolicking in a tidal pool...(shark was by-catch). A lady from the eco-minded side of the crowd begins to glare at me with a seething contempt in her eyes, and is working herself into a small rage. She reaches into the tidal pool and picks out my finger mullet. One.....by-one....by one ...like 15 or 20 times,... she bends over the small pool ( making sure to not lose eye contact with me) picks up the wiggly mullets , stomps over to the shoreline, and releases them into the surf! Like...15 or twenty times! One by one! By the TAIL!
I just smiled...and if you know me...kind of marveled at the ridiculous chaotic scene! In this lady's mind... she was doing her part to save the planet, and was showing love and empathy for all of God's creatures... as she plunked the gasping mullet into the shark-filled waters, ....each one of them becoming the delicious straggler carnally irresistible to ocean predators .....as the poor baits flutter around in panic outside of the safety of the school!
Yeah...fishing might suck lately, ....but I think I have found some sort of sick pleasure in this sort of scene. It is a microcosm of what our society has become! Emotionally driven poorly informed and spoon-fed amateur ecologists saving the planet with a love fantasy.
I think I will try this again soon...and maybe this time bring a GO-PRO.
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