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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member 
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25-Foot Shark Believed To Be Lurking Off Fla. Coast POSTED: 5:06 pm EDT September 2, 2007 UPDATED: 10:06 pm EDT September 2, 2007  Residents living in Tampa claim there is a giant hammerhead shark, possibly 25 feet long, in the waters off the coast. "I've heard he's anywhere between 20 and 25 feet," said Capt. George Roux. "He's a big boy," says Wayne Lord, 55. "That's all I know." For decades, local anglers have called him Old Hitler, the great hammerhead shark who allegedly lurks in the summertime waters around the Sunshine Skyway bridge. As the weather heats up, so do the tales about the fish with an evil name who can snap a large tarpon in two with one chomp. Many anglers claim to have seen him, some even snapped pictures. A few say they have hooked him, if only briefly. Roux, the 56-year-old owner of Mega Bites Sport Fishing Charters in St. Pete Beach, jokes that he killed him a few years back. "I buried him without any fanfare," he says, a laugh giving way. "I didn't tell anyone because I wanted to perpetuate the myth." But is it a myth? Or is Old Hitler somewhere swimming right now, hunting prey in the green waters beneath the big yellow bridge that links Pinellas and Manatee counties? "I tell you what, it's a good tale," said Richard Leitz, 69. "Whether it's true or not, I don't know." People like Leitz, who work the bait shops and toll booths around the bridge, tell of the shark's most recent sightings this year. "It broke a 400-pound braided wire leader right under the bait house," Leitz said. "That's what the man told me. He's from Arizona. "It shook its head from side to side, which is what a shark will do." Great hammerheads, with their odd-looking heads, are among the largest of the species, growing to 20 feet long and weighing up to 1,000 pounds. Their average life span is 20 to 30 years, but scientists have found some to live beyond age 50. Clyde "Bucky" Dennis of Port Charlotte snagged the sport fishing world record in Boca Grande last year, capturing a 14-foot pregnant hammerhead weighing 1,280 pounds. Scientists later determined the fish was 49 years old. One of the shark's favorite treats is tarpon, which they follow into Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor farther south in the spring and summer. There's an Old Hitler down there, too. And a song by the same name that calls him "the biggest shark on the bay." "There's an Old Hitler around every inlet, wherever there are sports fishermen who get angry at losing a fish to shark," said George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the University of Florida. Many think , but can't quite confirm, that the tale was birthed by annoyed west coast fisherman during World War II. "Who really knows where it came from," said Bob Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. It's been passed from generation to generation. Like many urban myths, it is "somewhat believable," said Charles M. Brown, sociology professor at Albright College in Pennsylvania. "Urban legends in general tend to reflect the dangers of modern life," he said. They also have to be entertaining, he said: "If not people are not going to continue telling them." Dale and Larry Mastry, who own Mastry's Tackle and Bait in St. Petersburg, remember fishing for Old Hitler as boys, in the late 1950s and early '60s. Larry Mastry said several years ago one came after a tarpon he had hooked while boating. "I saw a huge fin behind me," he said. "The fin was as high as my motor. I thought he was going to knock the motor right off the boat." While it's possible for hammerheads to return to the same location year after year, Mote Marine Laboratory's Hueter doubts Old Hitler is one fish seen year after year. "When people see a very large hammerhead shark, they just want to say that must be Old Hitler," he said. "I think it's just a catchy name." But don't tell that to Lord, the St. Petersburg fisherman who says he caught the local version of the Loch Ness monster a decade ago, at least for a few seconds, while fishing for grouper and snapper in a 19-foot Thunderbird near Egmont Key. "He took everything, including the rod," Lord said, while swapping stories at Mastry's last week. "I know he takes what he wants, when he wants it."
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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member
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 just a baby! but an ugly baby!   MyFOXTampaBay March 5: Thirteen-foot shark weighing more than 1,000 pounds caught off Florida coast. A Florida fisherman has made the catch of a lifetime, reeling in a 13-foot, 1,000-pound hammerhead shark off the state’s eastern coast, MyFOXTampaBay reports. Fritz Van Der Grifd was fishing off of Singer Island in Palm Beach County when he snagged the shark, which he says he never intended to kill. He just wanted to get its picture, MyFOXTampaBay reports, but the shark died during the struggle. To read more on hammerhead sharks, click here. "I saw that huge shadow, and I was like, 'I can't believe it,'" Van Der Grifd told MyFOXTampaBay. "So, I just grabbed the reel and started reeling." Attachment: (Downloaded times)
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librtyhead Original500© Member 
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Can you eat shark? I guess if you bleed-em maybe? I always catch sand sharks and was wondering.
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Lady Cop Pioneer100© Member
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many people eat shark. and sometimes it has been passed off as swordfish and cookie-cutter stamped as scallops. i have a deal with them, i don't eat them and they don't eat me when i dive! 
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librtyhead Original500© Member
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Now I had to lokitup! Any shark to be used as food should be cleaned immediately. If the blood is not drained from the system right away, the urea deteriorates into ammonia and results in the pungent odor and dry taste characteristic of poorly handled shark meat. So, don't just throw your shark on ice at the dock like you would other fish. Instead, follow these tips for cleaning your shark: After gutting, dunk the shark in water to wash out as much blood as possible. Put the shark on ice. At the dock, cut the shark's head all the way around and make a cut from the head to the tail on both the top and bottom sides. Using a pair of pliers in one hand and holding the head and tail in the other, skin the shark. Then cut the head and tail off, remove the underlying layer of dark meat, and cut the shark into filets. Wash thoroughly and package the shark for freezing or cooking as you would any other fish. To further neutralize any residual ammonia, presoak the shark filets in an acidic solution such as lemon juice before cooking or freezing. The only proper way to keep shark fresh and firm before you get to the dock is to surround it with ice. Place the shark in a container in layers with ice covering each layer. Here are a few more tips for preserving shark: Double-wrap the shark before freezing. Wrap only enough in one package for a single serving. Smoking does not preserve shark -- it only enhances the flavor. The salt for salting and curing shark should always be non-iodized salt such as kosher salt. Iodized salt will turn the flesh black or it will spoil. To salt shark in a crock, glaze the inside of the crock or the salt will leach the crock and cause the shark to spoil. Plastic containers work well for salting shark. Before salting shark in a plastic container or crock, soak the shark in a salt brine solution overnight to remove all blood. Remove the shark from the brine, wash with water, lay flat, and let drain. Then, after 1 to 2 hours, place the shark in a crock and layer with salt. Cover the last shark layer with about 1 inch of salt. Much of the information on this page courtesy of the University of Delaware
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24HourNut Administrator  Body pillows rock!
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I guess before I die I should try shark meat. There are lots of meats I haven't tried but want to.
The best human beings start good new topics and vote on the better posts. |
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