I’ve been writing about sharks lately, but this shark story just must be told.
A regular customer at my store, Hook, Line & Sinker fishing center in Santa Barbara, had a harrowing experience and came in to tell us the tale. We’ll call him Sam.
He and a friend were drifting with live squid baits for the tanker white seabass that have been on the chew along the Gaviota coast for months now.
It has been an on again, off again bite with 40- and 50-pound fish common. There have been a number of 60-plus pounders and a few that even went over 70 pounds. Divers tell me they have seen individual fish that pushed the 100-pound mark.
What Sam was about to encounter made those look like guppies.
Watching his depth finder while drifting, Sam noticed that he was drifting over a hard-bottom area in 50 feet of water. He picked up another rod/reel combo that had a Lingslayer tied on and he dropped down the lucky lure to the bottom. A hookup came almost instantly, and it felt like a good-size lingcod.
Knowing the water was crystal clear that day, with visibility of over 30 feet, Sam looked over the side and could just make out that lingcod’s bucket mouth at deep color. He cranked it up a little longer and looked over the side again. Man, was he in for a shock.
The lingcod was nearly to the surface and looked to be about 12 pounds. Then Sam saw a monstrous mouth, lined with huge teeth, coming up at the lingcod from directly below. Sam cranked like crazy and swung the lingcod into his boat. Those jaws surged right up out of the water after the fish — just 3 feet away, jaws gaping open and Sam went eyeball to eyeball with a 12-foot white shark with a girth that looked as big around as Sam’s 16-foot boat. That moment may have lasted four seconds, but it seemed like four minutes!
That big shark leaned to the side to re-enter the water, closed his mouth, tail-slapped the boat twice and swam off. Sam and his buddy looked at each other silently for a long, poignant moment before Sam said, “I think this would be a good time to go home now.”
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
