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Sharking
| Diversifying for Shark. |
In the last couple of years the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee has been suggesting that many East Coast ports could be benefiting from diversifying their fishing methods by targeting shark and tope. In 2005 we on the Shy-Torque decided to be the first to have a go at shark fishing from Whitby. I had seen more than a dozen of them swimming around the boat during the summer that year. After having one on myself ( and losing it !!! )the same year I knew that it was almost a certainty that it was possible to boat one of these magnificent fish. In August 2005 Rupert Drury from Terrington near Malton, North Yorkshire was the first to have a go at the many sharks we had been sighting off Whitby. He managed to boat a Porbeagle of 250lbs which is up to press the biggest shark ever caught on rod and line out of the port. It measured 6' 10" long. We believe this is the biggest fish to be landed on any angling boat out of Whitby for over 70 years or at least since those collosal Tunnys' in the 1930s. We are now running 2 day sharking trips, now we have the new boat with heated anglers cabin and galley.
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After a 50 minute battle with 2 "Runs" of over 300 yards Rupert Drury finally gets his first glimpse of the fish on the surface.
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And finally Ruperts shark is safely boated, measured, tagged and released. Rupert is in the blue T-shirt. John Wilcock from Bradford ( Crew ) is pictured also.
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| Tope. |
The next to have a go for the shark was Phil Cobham from London. Unfortunately Phil didn't manage a Porbeagle on his trip but had a consolation of a lovely tope of 40lbs. This fish took one of his surface baits which is quite unusual as these fish usually take bottom baits. We did think there was something a bit bigger lurking around that day after a couple of Porpoise playing around had had an encounter with something on the surface resulting in chaos and splashing for a few seconds.
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| Porbeagle. |
My old mate Guy Wrightson from Harrogate was the next to manage to boat a Porbeagle. His tussle was relatively short lived compared to Rupert Drurys' and took just 20 minutes. Never the less Guy was rewarded with a lovely fish of around 120lbs.
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| Porbeagle |
A good friend of Rupert Drury is John Hudson pictured here with his Porbeagle of around 120lb. John was also aboard the boat when Rupert captured his 250lb er' and felt he just had to have a go himself. Just like Rupert and Guy he was also lucky first time. Plenty of these beasties out there in the summer !!!
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None of our sharks are ever pictured held in the arms as they do not have a rib cage to support their vital organs. Holding them this way causes the fish extra distress and could damage them. Apart from the shark that we have boated we have also had many runs when fishing for them. The ones that got away !! We are eager to get back out to the sharking grounds this year to prove that there are even bigger ones out there which we are sure there are. All sharking trips are 12 hours in duration unless otherwise instructed. All new heavy duty sharking gear is available for all our sharking customers now after "SHIMANO" have very kindly sponsored the boat for the foreseeable future. If you would like to be a part of the sharking experience aboard the Shy-Torque give me a ring on Whitby 01947 601233 or 07733 233352 or email me at richardward384@yahoo.co.uk and we'll get you a trip sorted out this year. Cheers for now Rich.
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The first sharks of the year have been spotted whilst working the "Wall" the other day. We had 2 swimming round the boat together on Monday and one on his/her own the day after. Get your trips booked !!!!
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Rupert Drury back for more action! On the first sharking trip of 2009 Rupert managed to boat 2 Porbeagle shark. One weighing a huge 180lbs and the other weighing in at around 135lbs. Picture here shows the 180lb shark. All our sharks are tagged and released safely.
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Shark boarding the boat !
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Rupert Drury, shark # 3.
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Another shark approaches the boat.
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Ready for discorging, ( a bit of a task with this one !! )
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Discorging commences. We didn't bother to boat some of these fish as they weren't of any size to beat our best to press of 250lbs. They were however all tagged and all swam away safely.
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Rupe in to another one !!
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20 mins later a nice shark of around 130lbs is ready to be tagged and released.
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Best picture we have so far of a porgy about to be discorged. We estimated this one to be around the 200lb mark.
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After a relativley short battle of 40 minutes Greg Parkin from Skegness pictured here was granted with his catch. A beautiful Porbeagle of around 200lbs. Well done Greg !!
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