A CAUTIOUS SHARK.

Shannon News, 14 June 1927, Page 1

A CAUTIOUS SHARK.

HOW HE WON A FEED. It is not always that the Zane (*ray« boat the denizens of the deep. Whilst I was fishing off Oape Brett about a fortnight ago (writes. Nathan Firth in the Whangarei News), I had a unique experience with a mako. We were sitting in the cockpit of the ■ launch, waiting for a bite, when on the port side, we saw the fin of a shark. My friend, whose name is known amongst anglers the world over as being one of the best boatmen, aw once drew in his line and placed his bait in’ the way of the fish. The bait was only a few yards from the launch when the mako sighted it and he began to circle cautiously around it. Curiosity soon got the better* of him, and he took the kahakai. As we drew him alongside the boat and were ready to ha-rpoon xim he got rid of the hook. In a second my S bait was out and he swam slowly towards it. After inspecting it he swam up to it and calmly bit off the tail end of the fish. Before I could get? my line in he had taken the top half, leaving only a portion attached to the hook.

Three times he took our bait in this fashion, and on the fourth occashn we enticed him to the side of the boat, where, I made an attempt to harpoon him. The harpoon entered hia back but refused to hold. The make swam away a few yards and then came' sloiwly back to devour our last remaJning bait and he took it too. We went back to troll for more bait with a greater respect for the mako than we had hitherto.