The Toothy Catch

On a Sunday morning the tide was high (4.4m), with moderate wind speeds so I setup my gear at a quiet gutter. The gutter runs along the end of Lammermoor beach, then about 300m from the end it turns and heads out to Claytons Reef. With this in mind, I positioned myself at the turning point of the gutter and rigged my rod with a modified double hook running sinker rig. I waded out as far is I possibly could, due to the rough waves and then cast my line into the gutter. The top hook was baited with a whole prawn and the bottom hook was baited with a strip of mullet fillet. I used a section of PVC pipe as a rod holder and left the drag fairly light to prevent the fish from breaking off the line. As soon as the drag screamed I raced to the rod and pulled it from the holder. I applied more pressure as I hooked the fish. The fish had a pattern of short strong punching hits then a light break before it hit again. I used the waves to help me land my catch as it was a powerful fighter. When it was beached I assumed it was a whaler shark but its two dorsal fins were the same size and the bottom of its tail was darker. I later discovered that it was a sharp toothed shark. After a few quick pics the shark was released into the surfy beach. As the tide slowly reseeded I hooked up on a swallow-tail dart fish on the prawn hook. The number of bites decreased with the tide and I packed up my gear till next time. The conditions of high wind and swell were no good for kayak fishing but the beach was awesome. I can’t wait till next time when such conditions favour the beach.

Rhett Thorne