First Tries 4/6-4/7:

[Kam_Walsh98]

Decided to finally give surf sharking a shot this weekend. I caught a bunch of macks from my float tube Friday morning, made up some basic bottom rigs (9/0 circle/ J hook, 400lb wire, 8 oz pyramid), and headed out that evening. Fished from about 9:30pm-2:00am. I didn't catch any but I could tell the area was pretty fishy. Got my bait shredded a couple times and missed a short run. Decided to head back the next night and give it a serious shot.

Fished all last night from around 10:45pm-5am. Success! Caught an approximately 4.5' soupfin about 30 minutes in and a large bat ray not too long after (I want to say 70-80lbs but I always overestimate how much they weigh). It was the first big bat ray I've caught out of the surf, and it's definitely a different battle than in the bay. The majority of the battle was spent just trying to pull him against the undertow in the last 20 feet of surf. I lost a rig on the reef later on and switched to a J hook rig. Ended up gut-hooking a smaller soupfin that I tried to revive but failed. I was bummed out that I killed it, as one of the main reasons I wanted to get into surf sharking was to be able to release them much more easily than from a pier after capture. Soupfins are one of my favorite sharks to eat though so it wasn't a tragedy; at least the meat will go to good use. I think I'll stick to circle hooks for the time being; I even switched back to the other circle hook rig I tied right after unhooking the casualty.

Overall the last two nights were good learning experiences and I plan to keep putting in the hours over the next few weeks to see what else shows up.

All the photos are here: https://kamranwalsh.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/

[sasquatch]

Couple soupies and a nice bat? Good session.

[xjchad]

Nice job Kam! Congrats on a successful night! Those are some great catches!
Let us iniw how you cook that soupie!

[Kam_Walsh98]

I just finished cooking up the first portion of the shark. There's a good amount of meat so it'll take a little while to eat through it. Here are the steps I took in preparing it:

1. When I brought it back to the dorm my friend whose cooler I usually borrow was at work so I hung the fish in one of the shower stalls. I positioned a bucket underneath to catch the remaining blood dripping out and stuffed the body cavity with a garbage bag filled with ice.

2. My friend and I got written up last fall for filleting a shark on the quad so this time I did it in the shower stall instead. I cut each of the filets in half to get four portions (I cleaned the stall thoroughly after haha)

3. I took one of the portions, skinned it, and cut it into strips. I always read about how you're supposed to let shark meat soak in milk to leach out any remaining urea (although I've never done it), so I decided to do a test. Half of the strips I soaked in milk and the other half I didn't.

4. While the pieces in the milk were marinating, I breaded and fried the rest in flour, egg, Panko, garlic salt, and black pepper. After the pieces in the milk had been soaking for about an hour, I cooked them the same way.

There wasn't a huge difference in taste between the two, but the strips that were soaked definitely had a creamier texture and better flavor. The nuggets that didn't get the milk treatment tasted very good as well, but there was still that slight "shark taste" to it that wasn't unpleasant but still noticeable. I don't plan on killing another shark for awhile but if a similar accident occurs and I'm forced to harvest one I'll try soaking it in milk for even longer (most of the recipes called for anywhere from 2 hours to overnight but I was hungry and didn't want to wait that long!).

Here are the pictures of the process: https://kamranwalsh.smugmug.com/Shark-Nuggets/i-JKxLCCJ/A

[vdisney]

Much congrats on a couple nights of shark'n, it sounds like you put in the hours.  I'm a big fan of circle hooks, from perch to toothy critters.  The picture in the shower is priceless   

[BackBayMan]

Any man that has been written up for cleaning a shark on the quad and then uses the dorm showers gets my respect!

Way to stick it to The Man.

You have given me a sliver of hope in the younger generation

[xjchad]

Mmmmmm, looks good! 

[lightline21]

I just finished cooking up the first portion of the shark. There's a good amount of meat so it'll take a little while to eat through it. Here are the steps I took in preparing it:

1. When I brought it back to the dorm my friend whose cooler I usually borrow was at work so I hung the fish in one of the shower stalls. I positioned a bucket underneath to catch the remaining blood dripping out and stuffed the body cavity with a garbage bag filled with ice.

2. My friend and I got written up last fall for filleting a shark on the quad so this time I did it in the shower stall instead. I cut each of the filets in half to get four portions (I cleaned the stall thoroughly after haha)

3. I took one of the portions, skinned it, and cut it into strips. I always read about how you're supposed to let shark meat soak in milk to leach out any remaining urea (although I've never done it), so I decided to do a test. Half of the strips I soaked in milk and the other half I didn't.
4. While the pieces in the milk were marinating, I breaded and fried the rest in flour, egg, Panko, garlic salt, and black pepper. After the pieces in the milk had been soaking for about an hour, I cooked them the same way.
There wasn't a huge difference in taste between the two, but the strips that were soaked definitely had a creamier texture and better flavor. The nuggets that didn't get the milk treatment tasted very good as well, but there was still that slight "shark taste" to it that wasn't unpleasant but still noticeable. I don't plan on killing another shark for awhile but if a similar accident occurs and I'm forced to harvest one I'll try soaking it in milk for even longer (most of the recipes called for anywhere from 2 hours to overnight but I was hungry and didn't want to wait that long!).

Here are the pictures of the process: https://kamranwalsh.smugmug.com/Shark-Nuggets/i-
JKxLCCJ/A

Wow, that pic of the shark hanging in the shower is crazy Ha Ha !

[Kam_Walsh98]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm probably going to head back out tonight since I don't have any classes tomorrow until the afternoon.

[Pinoyfisher]

The pic of the shark hanging in the stall is so epic!! Lol!!

[1morecast]

I hope all your roommates are cool with you hanging a shark in the shower. If you ain't asian I hope your roommates are. 

[LONGCAST JOE]

This guy is so in....not only grinmers on his first couple tries but with what might be my favorite line ever of all time! "I got written up last fall for filleting in the quad so this time did it in the shower stall instead"  Rotflmfao!....and the best part is he was dead serious, not trying to be funny.
Your in bro, welcome to our fraternity

[Kam_Walsh98]

Thanks, I appreciate it haha! I'm still just trying to learn something new each time I go out. My goal is to get my first surf Sevengill on the board.