Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-05
Sharks.

A volume could be written about the
habits and traits of the tropical sharks.
In the teaming tish-life of these torpid
waters they find abundant food, all the
more easily captured because of the
transparency of the sea. 1t follows that
there is an enormous development of
shark-life, both asto number and species,
as compared with more temperate ocean
chimes. In his relations with the fish
ermen the shark is a vile marplot. You
may be gleefully hauling in fish after
fish, and congratulating yourself on al
hour or two Of sport. Suddenly, Just
as you have started a four-pounder up
ward, you see a cleaning white flash.
Pull rapidly as you will, but you
will pull in vain. Thirty feet more
Of line, it may be, are drawn in,
when the hook seems to strike a rock.
Perhaps the check is but momentary;
then on drawing in you find only the
head of a handsome fish whose body
has gone into Mr.. Sharks nav. But
more likely you have put too much
strain upon the line, and in that case
the shark, fearing the escape of the
prey, has bolted hook, fish, and sinker,
SO that only the severed line comes
back. The negro fishermen, with the
aid of their water-glasses, have been
able to- make a thorough study of the
habits of these pirates Of the deep, and
give the shark a high character for
cunning. AS these negroes aver, q
shark will sometimes follow q boat for
q mile until it comes to anchor. Then,
lying in the shadow of some subaqueous
rock, so as not to brighten the fish from
biting, the shrewd fellow will dart out
the insant a hooked victim begins
his ascent. With a hungry shark
around, not more than one of three
hooked fish ever reaches the rail;
and there is proportionate and vex-
atious loss OF hooks and sinkers. After
his n&el fishing is ended the shark rids
himself of these impedimenta by rub
bling his nose and lips againt projecting
rocks. Sharks of the moderate Size 81
ten or twelve feet may sometimes be
caught with a rope and huge hook
hung to a chain. But even then they
have a clever way of following up the
line, turning on the back, and by a side
snap Of the teeth cutting the cord as
clearly as with a knife. The larger
and fiercer species of tropical shark,
from twenty-five to thirty feet long,
have never been caught here by line,
and the negroes tell wondrous tales as
to the chain hooks and huge cords
broken in tackling the big fellows. We
have had lately here an illustration of
their voracity. A negro sailor had
caught one day an ordinary shark ten
feet in length and weighing some 25O
pounds. He left the creature over NIGHT
on a line attached to his boat. The
next morning only the head was found.
1t had been severed from his body bv a
single clean cut just behind the gills.
AS a rule, when once the sharks get
actively at work around the lines the
legitimate sport ends for that anchor
age in fifteen or twenty minutes, as the
fish fly to the rocks for protection. But
sometimes the fishermen, tying together
a bottle and piece OF iron, drop it down
on a cord attached to the boat. The
rise and fall Of the craft on the waves
keeps up a constant tinkling below,
and, as water is a good sound-con-
ductor, the sharks flee in terror. A ray
of sunlight cast downward through the
water-glass often has a similar effect
Nassau (Bahama) Cor. N. Y. Post.