FIGHTING A MAKO SHARK.

Shannon News, 22 November 1929, Page 4

FIGHTING A MAKO SHARK.

THE RISKS OF THE GAME. A rac-y description, in the N.Z. Fishing and Shooting Gazette, by Trevor S. Withers, of an expedition after biggame fish at the Bay of Islands, contains the following reference to an experience in company with Mr Robert Wilson, a son-in-law of Mr D. Smart, of Levin:— “Suddenly out from Cape Brett came our old friend—the lighthousekeeper, the renowned Bob Wilson, in his little twelve-foot open boat. After a yarn with us, and having secured fresh bait, Bob commenced a drift about four hundred yards away in the lee of the island, and in less than half-' an-hour was fast to a big mako. Immediately afterwards, while drifting near a school .of trevalli, Bio had a running strike. He struck, and felt the hook drive home. With our engine running he fought the fish, which he judged to be a swordfish-, and a good one This fish made no leaps, but to our consternation set off in a terrific rush for the narrow gap between Picrcy and Dog Rock. We had no option but to follow, and I successfully negotiated the heavy surges which rolled through the gap. Leaving the shelter of the island we had our hands full in the heavy sea, which had risen with great rapidity. In the heaving wind-whipped swells Bio fought the fish for over an'hour, until suddenly the hook pulled out. “Running back to the lee of Piercy we looked for Bob Wilson, whom we had left battling with a mako. He was gone, but Bio suddenly saw his white dinghy—a rnfile seaward —as it. rose with the ocean surge, only to disappear again. We raced to give assistance, realising that to land a big mako in a regular launch, let alone Bob’s little boat, would be no mean task in such a sea. Coming up to Bob’s dinghy we could see him pulling and pumping hard, and then saw the big dorsal fin of the mako within twenty yards of his boat. “'Come aboard me and harpoon the blighter!’’ yelled Bob. But Bio considered it impossible to board the dinghy in such a sea and under such conditions. Bob finally pumped the mako alongside .the dinghy, and dropping his rod, grabbed the thin wire trace in his' hands, and heaved. At .last the torpedo-like head of the mako appeared beside the gumvhale. Mouth wide agape and tail flaying the water into foam, the mako made a last desperate struggle for freedom, but Bob ,I'ield on. Simultaneously we ran along* side in order to assist, and I remarked to Bio: ‘Bob can have that on his own! Look at those teeth just below his hands!’ I was on the point of hurling our -harpoon at the thrashing mako when Bob sang out: “Don’t throw that harpoon! Come round again and lunge it into him!’ Obediently we swung round and ran alongside a second time —no easy task in that- big sea, and with the threshing mako pulling the dinghy from side to side. As . we came up the fish' suddenly lunged, and the dinghy spun like a cork. “Try again, but hurry! ’ yelled Bob, who, soaked with spray from that • flaying tail, was still hanging to the trace like grim death. We turned again and were almost over the lashing tail when suddenly Bob yelled with pain, cursed, and dropped the trace. Then I saw his hands—gloveless —and dripping blood iiiom the long incisions made by that deadly wire trace. The shark, ‘just out of harpoon range, ceased its struggles, as though knowing it had won, and slowly turned on its side. Bio and I could see Bob’s thin white line, together with the trace, tangle as the big fish foiled on the surface. Then his jaws opened arid closed, and Bio said: “The blighter’s bitten tiiat line through.” He was correct, and a tired and frightened mako slowly sank out of sight. By this time we had Bob aboard the launch, with his little boat tied astern. His hands were an unpleasant sight, but he eouid still grin, and was apparently unconcerned at the loss of the fish.

“ ‘Forgot my gloves,’ lie explained, ‘and thought I could hold that trace in my bare hands. But he w r as too strong for me. Look at this.’ And he showed a long bleeding spiraling cut around liis wrist where the trace had bitten into the flesh.”