BIG one

I have been asked where the live action picture of me wrestling with sharks is. I will tell you where it is – there isn’t one. It’s not like you can pause in mid-measuring/tagging, whip out your cell phone and tell the shark: “Say cheese” and snap a picture of yourself and the shark. Yes, possibly if there’s not that many sharks on the line there may be some time for pictures but usually when we’re pulling them up we’re doing so in rapid succession.
We’ve had a few hauls now that were full of big sharks. Last night, we had about 15 that were too big to pull on board, they had eaten half of the small sharpnose that took the bait – so we ended up with a bunch of half-eaten sharks and shark heads. Currently, the swell is so high that the boat is rocking so much that we aren’t using the cradle. Either the crew can pull it on deck or we peer over the side of the boat as the shark (usually around 2m give or take) thrashes and flips around trying to get an ID on the species, determine its gender, as well as estimate its size. The crew swaps shifts half hour before we do and one night we realized that the night crew like to pull much larger sharks on deck than the day crew that usually works with us. We were pulling them up like there was no tomorrow and I was busily trying to take down all the data that three people were throwing at me simultaneously I felt something staring at me and discovered a 1,6m (5’2”) shark lying on the deck behind me inching its way closer to my shoe.
While for the larger sharks you need two or even three people to hold them down while you’re measuring, the smaller sharks are most easily handled be grabbing them right behind its head and letting it whip its tail around all it wants until it calms down a bit and you can remove the hook (which is none too easy) and measure and weigh it..
Do not hold a small shark by its tail most of them are able to bit themselves in the tail (and whatever is holding it there). No Daddy, I didn’t learn this the hard way. I’m taking peoples word for it.