The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-28
A PROFESSIONAL SHARKER.
One Of the Curious Industries Of Cali
fOTlia.

by Man Eater - Weapons of the
Shark.
Pasadena CCaI) Letter to New York Post
Yes" said a curious old fellow, Il
reckon I'm a professional sharker. sure
enough; leastwise, I shark for a Twin,
not for fun"
The old man lived on a little bay that
reaches into the Island of Catalina from
the southwest, and from where we sat on
the sands we could see the fins of num-
erous sharks moving here and there in
he shallow water.
This is a great place for sharks" con-
tinued'the old man, who was a character.
You don't have to hunt them up; they
just come in ready to be caught. You
see, this is the finest land-locked harbor
of the coast; has a sandy bottom. and the
sharks appear to fancy it. for they come
in here in big schools, and we take 'em
| in nets, and on lines, and sometimes we
! get right in and spear EN-. Some time
ago big school set in here. and the water
was fairly alive with em, so that you
couldn't step in the shoal water without
stepping on one. There were too many
for net; we couldn't have hauled it. 1
| happened to have a pair of old sabers, so
rugged one on the end of a pole as a
! spear and gave the other to a mate, and
we lit into EN-. l reckon they never
experienced a charge of cavalry before,
! but we soon had the beach covered. We
/ walked out knee deep into the water and
| let EN- have it right and left but, of
! course, good many were only wounded,
and, bein' big fellows, they ran into us. A
number of times I was knocked over and
/ fell headlong into the school
mo. thew didn't try 70 bite Thew re
| what We call oil sharks and only reach
| matter of six or eight feet. We catch
! EN- for the oil and the rms and tails for
| the Chinese. The junks stop in here every
once in a while and take what we get.
| You don't reckon to catch a shark on that
thing?" asked the old man abruptly,
! glancing at my light bass rod and deli
| cate line.
You think 1 cant?" I retored, smil-
! ing.
| why 1 know you can't" responded
| the professional who knew little of the
| persuasive qualities of a light rod and fine
tackle; and to satisfy him l soon had
bait of half a pound of yellowtail cut on
| my No Is cuttyhunk line.
I'VE use the strongest kind of a line"
| continued the old fisherman, land then
! they get away with us sometimes. Why.
| I'd as soon think of f1shin' with piece
| of thread as that"
AS he spoke, with a disdainful grunt, the
! line began to move off, and, letting about
! ten feet of it go, I gave the shark the butt
| and hooked him; then the fun began. He
| made a long rush of 100 feet, taking me
| down to the waters edge; the old sharker
! followig, dancing about with quaint inter
| jections and lamenting over the loss of
my tackle. But / had the brake on, and
! suddenly six feet of shark arose above
the water as neatly as would a salmon,
making loud splash in coming down, and
| rushing in another direction. The rod was
! bending like a whip, and the reel sang in
| high c. 1 was almost in the water, and
the old man, with his hands on his knees,
| had his eyes on the outfit in blank amaze
ment. WELL" l heard him say, well,
| darn my skin, who'd a thunk it?''
lost 200 feet of line before 1 made
foot then 1 turned the flsh and he came
in like a race horse, upon which l rushed
| up the beach, Keeling in as fast as hand
could go and meeting him so well that
even the professional grunted his APP
| prevail. Then the big fish turned again
! and away went 100 feet, but / checked
him, and soon the reel had him coming in
on the turn. The rod creaked ominously
! several times, but met the heavy charges
in fine style, and in 20 minutes, to the adj
! miration of the old sharker, 1 had the
| shark lying in six inches of water wait
| ing for the gaff. AS he pulled him out
| and noted the length of the fish and the
| size of the rod, he confessed there was
| something in the rod and reel Anglers
! may be interested in this catch The shark
! weighed So pounds and was about five
| feet six inches in length. This line was
| 405 feet of No. 10 cuttyhunl-the smallest
| size The rod was black bass with split
! bamboo trout tip, so that it was very
| light and flexible for so good fish. Later
1 controlled a fish three times as heavy
on the same rod. Il wouldn't have be-
| lieved it, but seems believin'," the old
| sharker remarked as we sat on the beach,
| still watching the sharks that were gam
boiling in the water before us.
1--WE catch several kinds of sharks
here" he said, in reply to my question.
| There's the leopard shark, the blue
shark, the basker, the hammerhead, and
once in a while I've seen a regular man.
eater off shore. They're ugly brutes. You
see 'em swimmin' along slow and looking
| big enough to swallow horse, and like
enough they could If they got the chance.
The largest shark ever caught here was
a ten-foot shovel nose, and I've taken
! hammer heads nearly as long. They're
| the chaps that give you chase and ugly
| faced creatures they are, too. 1 got one
up to the boat once and ii took the cut
water between its teeth and gave the boat
a regular shake"
When the tide was well up the old man
and his mate hauled out a dilapidated
seine, showed it into a heavy boat, and
soon had it across the head of the little
bay, then gradually worked it in. The
| sharks must have had a prominition of
what was going to happen, as they dis
| appeared from view, but soon a boiling of
the water in the vicinity of the net, told
that they realized that they were in the
tolls. In came the seine, the commotion
| increasing until finally the men leaped
! into the water and began tugging the big
| purse-like trap on the sands The water
which had been boiling, now broke into
| foam, tails dashed the water ugly scythe-
like fins cut 1t this way and that, and oc-
casionaly a big fish would leap, like a
! salmon, clear out Of the water and escape.
Soon a number Of beating and splashing
! tails and bodies were on the edge of the
sand in shallow water, and the men moved
fearlessly among them, lodging open
mouths and swapping jaws and tossing
the fish upon the beach. 1t was a varied
| collection; big sharks and little; some six
| feet long, others two or three feet, all
! piled together-a mass of open mouths
| and flying tails. Here was several yellow
! tails caught in bad company, a sea bass
and a host of small fry that had been
| swimming in shore or feeding at the rise
Of the tide and all were rolled over in the