http://www.nokomisea...reeksharks.html

Ha Ha,
A friend of mine emailed that link to me a couple years ago, but I must have deleted it. I was looking for it to post here too.

According to the AP show "river monsters" the fish has been collected 2200 miles upstream in the Amazon (for whatever that's worth). I have had some decent reports of them in the Apalachicola scavaenging on Flatheads during tournaments. I work with some folks that have tagged them around St Pete, and all those fish rarely ventured into FW. A guy I work with, caught one in low salinity (hook and line) last year, an 8 footer and i guess was in about 5ppt.

I have a a running bet with a co-worker on who will collect the first one. When I get one, it will definetly show up on thiis board

I have lived on Lake Pontchartrain my whole life and yes, there a lot of bull sharks. We have also caught many blacktip sharks as well. Lake Pontchartrain is not a freshwater lake it is brackish and even in some times of the year it is so salty that oyster toadfish, jackfish, and even searobins are caught on a fishing pole. The only time the lake gets even close to freshwater is in the spring when the Mississippi River floods and the bonnet caire spillway is opened into the lake. I fish there for speckled trout, flounder, and redfish at least every few weeks.

Must have been another ballast introduction! lol!

Does this count?
Found in the Detroit river.... Of coarse it was 90% dead at the time of finding it..
Yes that is a Bonnethead shark..

There are several documented specimens and many other capture/release records from pretty far inland in the various river systems of FL (St. John's, Suwannee, Apalachicola, etc.). Archie Carr has a cool story in his compilation A Naturalist in Florida about them far up in the Apalachicola River and some of its tributaries when they were searching for the nesting grounds of Acipenser oxyrinchus. They are also documented from Lake Okeechobee, but have become rarer since all of the human disturbance of that ecosystem in the early part of the last century. However, my wife's family told us of one shown in the local newspaper that was caught in the lake within the last 5-8 years.

Later, KW

Finally, someone that believes...........................

Bull sharks will travel anywhere there is water....anywhere.

They have been caught in a hoop net , 275 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

My ol' buddy from Cape Town SA, told us a story of a bull that actually bit a slow turning prop on a small dinghy.


Having been "rubbed" by one in about 3 feet of water while seining speckled trout, I can tell you that even a small one, say under 6', has plenty of rudder power when it bumps you. Why the dang thing didn't bite I can only guess is that I had jeans on and I didn't taste right.

Doc, a close friend, was hit by a school of maybe 8-12 , all about 30" long. He had over 135 stitches and I do not remember how much blood. Had he fallen down in the thigh deep water, none of us believe he would have resurfaced.


But yes, it would not surprise me to see one in any of Great Lakes.

As forage fish disappear off the coast, these things might just start migrating inland. Don't think it can't happen.

I raised a Black drum and a Southern Flounder in a very low salinity (almost fresh) 125 gallon tank. Some salties do adapt and I think we are just going to see more of this adapation as bait fish and such disappear along the estuaries and coastlines.

There are quite a few Research groups hitting us up for Midwater gear to study forage fish. It used to be we'd work on this stuff once or twice a year, now we get calls 2-3 per month. There's a reason for the concern and when the food source moves inland, so will some species. I am afraid people, that freshwater fishermen might just come home with more you should have seen the one that got away stories.......and the get-away fish might just be a wandering Bull.

greg

Finally, someone that believes...........................

Bull sharks will travel anywhere there is water....anywhere.

They have been caught in a hoop net , 275 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

My ol' buddy from Cape Town SA, told us a story of a bull that actually bit a slow turning prop on a small dinghy.


Having been "rubbed" by one in about 3 feet of water while seining speckled trout, I can tell you that even a small one, say under 6', has plenty of rudder power when it bumps you. Why the dang thing didn't bite I can only guess is that I had jeans on and I didn't taste right.

Doc, a close friend, was hit by a school of maybe 8-12 , all about 30" long. He had over 135 stitches and I do not remember how much blood. Had he fallen down in the thigh deep water, none of us believe he would have resurfaced.


But yes, it would not surprise me to see one in any of Great Lakes.

As forage fish disappear off the coast, these things might just start migrating inland. Don't think it can't happen.

I raised a Black drum and a Southern Flounder in a very low salinity (almost fresh) 125 gallon tank. Some salties do adapt and I think we are just going to see more of this adapation as bait fish and such disappear along the estuaries and coastlines.

There are quite a few Research groups hitting us up for Midwater gear to study forage fish. It used to be we'd work on this stuff once or twice a year, now we get calls 2-3 per month. There's a reason for the concern and when the food source moves inland, so will some species. I am afraid people, that freshwater fishermen might just come home with more you should have seen the one that got away stories.......and the get-away fish might just be a wandering Bull.

greg

Hey Greg - Fancy running into you on this forum. I check in every once in a great while. Can you guess who I am from my handle?

Carptracker

By the way weve caught many blacktip sharks in Lake Pontchartarin, and a hammerhead was found washed up on the shore. There have been reports of a few groupers even caught in there. i know it sounds crazy but its completely true. When we go fishing there we always catch jack crevalles while fishin for trout.

By the way weve caught many blacktip sharks in Lake Pontchartarin, and a hammerhead was found washed up on the shore. There have been reports of a few groupers even caught in there. i know it sounds crazy but its completely true. When we go fishing there we always catch jack crevalles while fishin for trout.

Around 1970, my father pulled up 3- 4' hammerheads from under the train trestle at the Rigolets.

Sharks have been in there forever.


Quiz:
Ask your Paw if he remembers what Schwegmann's Grocery on Airline Highway used to call Jack crevalle and Amberjack when they sold it in the meat market.

Hey Greg - Fancy running into you on this forum. I check in every once in a great while. Can you guess who I am from my handle?

Carptracker

Could you be the most famous carp expert in the world who I met on the banks of the Big Mo... aka Dr.D. Chapman ....and not the one with the pony tail...............?

As soon as I am back up and running (after a little setback this summer), I'd like you to accompany us once again for another adventure in running down the Big Heads. This time I'll have 600' Modified Purse seine with that Spook Curtain we spoke of .

Hopefully the results will be much better....if not....I've got a lot more designs to run though.

Keep in touch. Your input last time played heavily into the design of this seine net system.

Greg

Could you be the most famous carp expert in the world who I met on the banks of the Big Mo... aka Dr.D. Chapman ....and not the one with the pony tail...............?

As soon as I am back up and running (after a little setback this summer), I'd like you to accompany us once again for another adventure in running down the Big Heads. This time I'll have 600' Modified Purse seine with that Spook Curtain we spoke of .

Hopefully the results will be much better....if not....I've got a lot more designs to run though.

Keep in touch. Your input last time played heavily into the design of this seine net system.

Greg

I knew if I kept telling everyone that long enough someone would believe it! Looking forward to seeing your new net. I've long thought that a purse seine would be the way to get after these pelagic fishes when you can't get them trapped. The Hungarians are having terrible problems catching the silvers out of Lake Balaton. Got tons of them, but can't catch them. Same problem everywhere I guess. They don't have much recruitment, though, so all their fish are like 12 kg and up. I'll email you with a contact in Hungary you might sell a net to, when you get this thing tested. They have big water, so they could maybe even run a regular purse seine. Trick would be to get the fish encircled from so far away they don't realize they are being encircled, which with these smart and fast fish might be a very long way.

//end hijack