Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-08-16
FISHING FOR SHARKS.

My shark fishing was all done near
New Smyrna, Florida. Some sharks
would give half barrel of oil, but they
were generally under fifteen feet. We
sold the skin for little or nothing, andS
good many backboncs were sold for canes.
Run steel rod into them, and they take
a fine polish. These and the jaws were
often sold to tourists who came over to
catch shark, and they'd carry them
home with EN- as trophies. Some OF EN-
who would catch shark all alone got
more than they bargained for, for we us
ually hired fifteen or twenty darkies 10 do
the pulling and hauling, and camped out
during the months of July, August and
September, moving up and down whenever
the biting was poor. We carried our pots
and things along and tried out the liyers,
and shipped the oil by a smack up to Fer
nandina. where it was all bought by one
man. don't know what he did with it.
Some>said he sold it for cod liver oil. We
used a regular hook and line, only it was
rope and the hook was foot long, and
made fast to the line by three foot chain.
| Fish bait was the best-Sea trout, some
thing like our steak fish. We kept about
twenty Of these lines over all the time at
regular distances along the beach where
ever the water deepened quick from the
shore All the lines were about htty
yards long, and, after they were thrown
out. they were caught around a stick so
when one of these sticks went down we
knew there was a bite, and three men
would take the line. Perhaps you'd hard
ly believe il. but sharks bite as softly az
first as a small fish. It's exciting sport,
if you don't have too much Of it. You
must have about fifty feet Of slack, and
when YOU feel the line shake and quiyer
like, you want to slack out. Sometimes
they fool over the bait, but generally a
| big shark will nose it once or twice, and
then pick it up and move off, swallowing
the bait as he goes. You want to give
him about fifteen feet of rope. and then
take brace, and when the rope hauls the
line taut all jerk together. Then the work
commences fun, some people callit. As
soon as he feels the hook hc makes big
rush that will often start ten or fifteen
men, and I've seen five jerked right into
the water on the start. Up and down he
goes, sometimes jumping into the air and
trying to shake out the hook, and some
old fellows will swim right for you and
try to bite the line. remember one young
fcllow-hc called himself an athlete-who
came down from jacksonville on purpose
to 20 a sharking; and he let out that he
could catch the biggest shark single
handed. NoD bet we gave him chance.
He had line all to himself baited with
shad, and it wasn't long before nibble
came and we stood around to see the fun.
He had the slack all coiled up, and let 1t
run for about ten feet. and then braced
his feet in the sand about three feet from
the water as the line tautened he gave
Jerk that would start bull, and the
next thing we saw was mans heels and
legs flying in the air. He landed all in
heap half in the water, and off went the
fish, the line tearing out like creased light
ming. He looked rather cheap as he pulled
himself together, but he grabbed the line
again, and the next thing he knew he was
going out to sea, and had to let go or
drown. BY the time he got in, the line
was all out, and the shark was rushing
up and down like mad. The young fell
low was game. though. He hauled away,
now getting in a foot, and then the shark
would jerk him on the face in the sand
and after he had swallowed about pint
of it and had his arms nearly jerked out,
he concluded that man-eater was too
much for one man and gave Il up. We
laid on then, and ran the fish ashore. He
measured fourteen feet, and it took eight
of us to get him in. The young fellow
took the jaw, as a memcnto, he said. 1t
had eight rows of teeth, and just fitted
over his shoulders.-Nelo York Sun.