Shark eats downrigger ball

[deerhunterdes13]

Was fishing out of Westport this weekend having a great day when all hell broke lose. We were fishing 14 miles out in 250' of water catching lots of fish. Things slowed down a little so we were getting ready to move, all of a sudden fishing rod gets a bump I go to grab the rod and notice the downrigger cable going straight out to the side of the boat. Cable starts screaming off the smoking downrigger, not knowing whats happening dad grabs the spool to try to slow it down. It worked(not really), the fish turned came straight across the stern to the other side of the boat, downrigger wire cutting into everything in its path. The shark surfaced 100' from the boat(12 pound downrigger disc in its mouth), rolled then BOOM! there goes the whole downrigger. This whole episode happened in about 5-6 seconds. After doing the math we are down about $450.00 dollors in gear and tackle. We didn't get an actual length of the shark but it was a good 2-3' wide.   

[CedarPants]

 

What kind of shark?

[h20hunter]

Holy.....

Could have been a great white...I know their range is getting very broad these days.

[shanevg]

Crazy!

[Buckmark]

Your going to need a bigger boat.....
jaws clip: "You're going to need a bigger boat"

[notellumcreek]

Damn!! What an experience... My Dad's ex co worker hooked into a 14 ft thresher shark a few years back out at westport... but yeah that sounds like something pretty big... no detailed visual of the thing?

[deerhunterdes13]

 OMG , THATS EXACTLY WHAT MY DAD SAID! Now i know what he was talking about. That thing completly spun our 19' boat.

[Button Nubbs]

That is scary!

[magnanimous_j]

What kind of shark?

I would say a 6 gill, but 2-3 feet accross  , that's a big freaking fish.

[sirmissalot]

Can you describe the shark? A 3ft wide shark is a big one.

[JohnVH]

wow! never know whats out there!

[deerhunterdes13]

We ruled out a sand shark, we had a 6'er eat our flasher a couple weeks back. we got our lure back but the flasher was in its belly. Not a blue shark. We have no idea, it all happened way to fast. 3' is probably pushing it but definatley over 2'. We saw the thing roll and splash then had to duck as the downrigger shot across the boat.

[sebek556]

did you happen to see any colors when it rolled? maybe a salmon shark down from Alaska following the salmon in  but doubt they could spin a 19ft boat, even at 2 foot wide you in the 15ft range for a shark, which does narrow it down quite a bit....

[h20hunter]

Maybe this guy got indegestion from your rigger?

[Fishstiq]

2 guesses.

1. Salmon shark.  Google them, they look very similar to a white, can grow to 10ft and upwards of 800lbs for the big ones.  Being a salmon shark, they swim at the same depths as... you guessed it... salmon! 

2.  Great White.  Not at all unheard of for them to be in the waters offshore here, they can grow well past the size you are describing and will jump fully out of the water. 

Thresher shark is possible, but they are very unique looking and I doubt they would be mistaken for a white or a salmon shark.  6 gill and 7 gill are both scavengers.  Being bottom feeders they would not normally be at the depths the disc was, and they are very slow moving sharks.  They don't have the speed or energy for the maneuvering and acrobatics you describe.  It's not impossible, but it's pretty unlikely.