Tiger Shark St. Marks Stoney Bayou 5-19-12

[lordsfisher]

We caught and released a 6' Tiger Shark yesterday. I took my teenage daughters out for a couple hours yesterday. My 13 year old caught a 2' sharpnose shark on a Gotcha. She thought it was fun on light tackle. Grass was a problem. I put out a live mullet on my biggest rod to see if we might stray across a cobia. Something big hit it well inside the stakeline in about 4 to 5' of water. I could tell from the way it hit that it was a big shark. But I didn't have anything but mono so I was sure we'd be cut off or tailed. We would've been spooled except that we chased it twice with the boat. We all took turns pulling on it for about 45 min. As it got closer it was obviously a beautifully marked tiger shark. My daughter was having problems with the camera so it's hard to see, but it shows up a little. It was about 5.5' to the fork. Too big for my 13' boat. But it was fun and we all were tired from fighting it so we called it a day.

[outdoor7or24]

Wow!

[bman]

Awesome! Can't wait till Scallop Season

[TallyFish]

Its difficult to see the tail clearly and to compare the dorsal fins with the pectoral fins but that MAY be a Sand Tiger.

[MIKE REELMAN]

i saw pleanty good a shark in that close is not good of that kind a eating mechine

[lordsfisher]

Its difficult to see the tail clearly and to compare the dorsal fins with the pectoral fins but that MAY be a Sand Tiger.

I know what you mean. It seem more typical Sandtiger habitat, but I suspect this one was up hunting mullet and the many small Kemp's Ridley sea turtles I've been seeing lately. I was a marine biology student in college under Dr. Bob Shipp (who incidentally has the best book on regional Gulf Fishes that I know of. Loaned and lost my copy years ago). The tiger shark has a much more blunt head. Sandtiger looks meaner but has a sharper nose. The camera didn't capture the spots and stripes or the blunt head. But if you could've seen it in the water, there was no doubt it was a tiger shark, which is the most easily recognizable of the requiem sharks. About the only thing you can see is the position of the dorsal fin, which is further forward than that of the sandtiger which is further back from center.

This shark ID stuff is actually important because its illegal to land either one of these and many other sharks according to the latest reg chart. About a month ago, my daughter caught a 36" shark and really wanted to keep it. I didn't really want it, but I said if you eat it you can keep it. On the way back an extra nice conservation officer stopped me (30 mph in a 15 -- oops -- who knew?!) and asked to see my fish. He said sharks have to be 54" fork, except for except Atlantic sharpnose, blacknose, blacktip, bonnethead, finetooth and smooth dogfish.

He said, "Do you know what kind it is?

I said, " I think it's an Atlantic Sharpnose."

He said, "How do you know?"

I said, "I said, cuz' it has a sharp nose?" (under pressure i couldn't think of anything better)

He was like, just go!

I soaked it in salt water, then marinated it and grilled it. It was fabulous.

PA's history lesson has made me question the logic of releasing too many tiger and bull sharks, but gotta follow the law.