Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-08-14
HOW TO CATCH SHARKS.
They Make Game Fight and May
Swamp Your Boat.

Men crave excitement. The passion
Tor yacht racing, horse, bicycle, foot
and other kinds of racing is but the
expression of the innate lust for ex-
citement. 1t is part of the very fiber
of the body of each healthy man, and
excitement is sought in many forms
and after quite as many fashions. One
delights in a prize fight that, to other
men, would be brutal-the extreme.
And possibly the one who found
pleasure in fistic encounters might
have funny feelings in the pit of his
stomach should he witness bull
fight in Mexico or in Spain.
Long Island waters furnish one of
the most exciting sports known, and
a sport that even the most aesthetic
will not inveigh against on moral
grounds. Shark fishing resembles no
other kind of sport save the capturing
of swordfish. There is more unadul-
terated excitement in shark fishing
than the average person cares often to
experience. That it is frequently at
tended with danger of no make-believe
character and that this danger an
nounces itself without formality, but
adds to the excitement No ones
heart beats in its customary manner
after he has hooked or speared good
sized shark.
Long Island sound, near Maine
cock Point, and the Great South bay
are the best shark-fishing grounds
known to the writer. A few words of
description of the methods used at
both places may serve to give the
reader some slight idea or the sport.
Matinecock Point, which is near
oyster Bay, is a favorite fishing
ground with many who like their ex-
citement in large chunks There
sharks of from to II feet in length
are sometimes caught For these no
light lines can be used with success.
A large hook fastened to a stout chain
is attached to line of. strength al
most equal to the chain. The hook is
pushed through large piece of meat,
preferably meat which the fisherman's
nostrils rejoice to be rid Of The water
is from 10 to 60 feet in depth and
quite clear. At times fish may be
seen near the bottom. This, of course,
is on calm days. No one need ask
what a shark bite is. The line spins
out with lightninglike velocity and the
fisherman is commonly yanked neal
ly out of the boat. The sharks own
weight, added to the strength of it's
dash, fastens the big hook securely.
Then the fight begins. The line, II
not wound on a large wheel, has teen
! previously carefully coiled in the bow
of the boat, which is not anchored
The light boat is dragged through the
water with an ever-increasing speed
although the line pays out much
faster There is little danger of the
fish loosening itself. It's mouth has
firm flesh and the hook becomes very
firmly imbedded.
Presently the shark turns ant
dashes in some other direction. The
boat must be turned by oar or ruddel
to prevent a capsize. The big water
scavenger rushes to and fro, trims
the arms of it's enemy by it's marvellous
strength, fighting, battling, resisting
until the last The experienced fisher
man does his best to keep the sh arl
man does his best to keep the sharl
after being thoroughly tired out, and
he knows there is a battle royal due
when the shark is finally pulled to the
side of the boat for the death blow
The struggle lengthens out to an hour
or perhaps two, the fishermen, for nc
one ever goes Shaking" alone, re-
lieving each other at the line. Final
ly the big fish is drawn up and in
struggling but slightly 1t is no joke
to pull shark in before it is worn
out by the protracted struggle. Per
haps it is drawn in almost like a log