Wrestling with sharks...
It’s not a game for the faint-hearted, but if you can stomach rocking waves and the stench of rotting mackerel mixed with diesel fumes, shark fishing offers thrills that are off the scale – writes Dom Garnett
THE boat is heaving up and down on the swell... the motor rumbles and there is the unmistakable tang of rotting fish in the air.
Suddenly, the Cornish coast looks a very long way away. It’s now way too late to wonder if this was such a good idea.
My companions, Mark Everard along with Keith and Lee Armishaw, are more accustomed to this sort of caper. I’m fairly used to being on boats and sea fishing, but this is in another league.
The kit is ludicrous. The rods and reels look like they’re designed to stop dinosaurs. The terminal tackle is like nothing you’ve ever seen, with hand-sized hooks and floats you could almost moor up to. It’s like going from the rifle range to handling tactical nuclear Just look at the size of that float! weapons. A little bit scary.
Naturally, a rotting scent trail of ‘rubby dubby’ is another essential part of shark fishing. Dave Bond, skipper of Mystique II, lifts the lid off barrels of fish that are not so much mature as indescribable. It has no effect whatsoever on him, but he enjoys watching us squirm.
Once this foulness is lowered into the water, it’s a drifting, waiting game. With one rod each, it’s a terrifying lottery to see who will have that first, nerveshredding run. In a manner that is wholly more civilised than the whole get-up of towrope lines and hideous smelling bait, though, we agree to take it in turns after any early success.
Keith is first to strike. The drag sounds on the reel and tension fills the air. There’s a certain amount of grunting and hauling, before the eerie sight of a twisting shark beneath the boat.
The first catches are modest. Well, I say that, but at twenty to thirty pounds they’re still quite impressive. And if you ever The horrors of rubby-dubby. thought the whole ‘blue shark’ moniker was misleading, they really are deep blue.
Luck is on my side next. I’ve steeled myself for some abuse, but it really does pull like stink. When it wants to dive, all you can do is hang on and apply a few curse words.
When it finally thrashes at the surface, Dave hoists it up and wrestles with 40-odd pounds of fish! Some quick pictures are a must before release, although you do this gingerly with all those teeth. What can I say? The word I’d choose is perhaps the last I expected to use to describe a shark – it’s beautiful. It’s also one of the most exciting fishing experiences of my life, and one I’d recommend for any angler’s bucket list.