Thread: Shark Fishing, just curious, Food or Sport

I have noticed that on this forum there is a lot of discussion and interest in shark fishing. Are people shark fishing for food or sport? If for food which species is the best, I have had shark steaks on the grill from the local supermarket before and quite tasty. As for the sport, it seems like a lot of fun but out of my league, equipment wise.

Originally Posted by witler

I have noticed that on this forum there is a lot of discussion and interest in shark fishing. Are people shark fishing for food or sport?

Most people shark fish for sport, away from the pier because the pier doesn't allow shark fishing at all. Sharks are apex predators, so their flesh is high in mercury - one reason some people avoid targeting them often as a food-fish.

Blacktips, spinners, makos, all are good to eat, there are others as well, as stated they can be high in mercury though so i try to keep them on the smaller side, usually just above the size limit, and you need to bleed them out fairly quickly, sharks urinate through their skin, if you dont bleed them the flesh can end up with a strong amonia taste

Im fishing for shark this weekend. Any tips or advice?? is this time of the year productive??

Originally Posted by Klester31

Im fishing for shark this weekend. Any tips or advice?? is this time of the year productive??

Yes. All you have to do is to get your bait out there where the sharks are. Lots of people kayak their baits into deeper water. You should have a fun weekend - be safe.

Originally Posted by fishingjunkie84

... and you need to bleed them out fairly quickly, sharks urinate through their skin, if you dont bleed them the flesh can end up with a strong amonia taste

False and True at the same time:

"Like other fishes, sharks excrete nitrogenous wastes over their gills. The teleosts, or bony fishes, excrete nitrogenous wastes in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is a very toxic compound, and excretion of ammonia requires passing large amounts of water over the gills. Marine teleosts replace this water lost to excretion by drinking a lot of seawater and using their gills to remove excess salts.
Sharks, on the other hand, excrete nitrogenous wastes as urea, which is a less toxic compound. A complex biochemical pathway called the ornithine-urea cycle converts ammonia to urea, which can be stored more safely in the blood. In a live shark, ammonia doesn't accumulate because it is quickly converted to urea. When the shark dies, the urea deteriorates back into ammonia, which is why shark meat often tastes and smells of ammonia. Apparently you can remove much of this ammonia by soaking the flesh in freshwater or lemon juice before cooking it."

"Sharks DO have a urinary system! They've got kidneys and a urinary duct just like any other vertebrate. The next time you do a dogfish dissection, which I'm sure you all do every day, just look against the back wall, there's the kidneys! It's a little bit of a different shape but they're kidneys, they work perfectly well and excrete quite a lot of waste products in the urine.
Sharks do hold a lot of urea in their blood plasma, but that's an adaptive strategy to keep the concentration of solutes in their blood the same as seawater (seawater has more NaCl, shark blood plasma has more urea, but overall it's a similar concentration of solutes). This prevents them from losing water constantly through their gills. It also means they don't have to drink (unlike bony fishes, which constantly have to drink). It's a clever solution to the perpetual problem that marine animals face, of not losing all their water.
source "

I stand corrected lol, thanks carl, always happy to learn something new