Pete Thomas Outdoors

Reward offered in attempt to apprehend trout thieves

The California Department of Fish and Game's Californians Turn In Poachers and Polluters program is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves responsible for stealing approximately 1,000 trout from the San Joaquin Hatchery last weekend.

On Aug. 21, between 3 and 4 a.m., someone forced entry into the hatchery and stole up to 1,000 large trout, and also killed and left another 70 large trout in the process. The fish, which weighed three-to-four-pounds each, had been growing in the hatchery for three years.

DFG wardens have collected evidence at the scene and hope to get additional information from anyone who may have seen someone trying to sell the trout. The value of the fish and the cost to repair the damage to the hatchery elevate the crime to a felony.

Citizens are encouraged to be watchful for anyone attempting to sell trout on the street, at outdoors markets, or any place where trout are not normally sold. Physical descriptions, vehicle license plate numbers, time, date and locations would be extremely helpful.

The CalTIP hotline is (888) 334-2258. The toll-free telephone number operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You do not have to give your name.

-- Image of rainbow trout courtesy of Eric Engbretson / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Record-setting albino catfish (194 pounds) caught in Spain

In the week or so since British angler Chris Grimmer landed a 194-pound albino catfish while on holiday in Spain, his home country newspapers have had fun with the story.

The Express, for example, topped its write-up with this headline: "Better Get More Chips, Love... "

The eight-foot-long behemoth, a wels catfish pulled from the River Ebro after a 20-minute struggle, is said by Catmasters Tours to be the heaviest albino catfish ever caught on rod and reel.

The Sun quotes Grimmer as saying, "It was like trying to reel in a bus. I could barely walk afterwards, but it was worth it."

The cream-colored beast, which was set free after it was weighed, was two pounds heavier than the previous record, caught and released last year in the same stretch of river by Sheila Penfold, who is blind.

Colin Bunn, a spokesman for Catmasters, said in an interview that Grimmer's catfish was thought at first to be the same fish, "but when we checked the photos it was a different fish."

Grimmer told the Express: "It took my reel and stripped it and it was then that I knew it was a big one. My mate went into the water to help lift it out. I was jumping down the bank when I realized it was a record."

The International Game Fish Assn. does not keep track of "albino" catfish records, but the IGFA lists the all-tackle record for wels catfish as a 297-pound, 9-ounce specimen caught last year in Italy's River Po.

Of the wels catfish, the IGFA website states that there are "tales of it attacking and drowning dogs and even children, but these are based on hearsay, rather than observation."

Bunn, who has had clients from 69 countries ply the Ebro for giant catfish, could not recall any such incident.

-- Image showing Chris Grimmer (left) and buddies posing with the albino catfish is courtesy of Catmasters Tours

Details emerge regarding capture of one-eyed 'Cyclops' shark

An albino, one-eyed shark fetus removed from a pregnant bull shark captured recently in the Sea of Cortez was one of 10 babies inside the large predator. All others were normal in color and appearance.

A story with very few details went viral during the past week, mainly because one photo (at right) revealed a white, three-foot-long shark with what appeared to be a single eye perfectly centered in its head, just above the mouth.

Skeptics abounded. One Southern California-based scientist jokingly identified the three-foot fetus as "Cycloptomus," believing the photo to be doctored and part of a hoax.

The story became more believable after Felipe Galvan, a prominent Mexican scientist, acknowledged that he had inspected the shark and had even written a paper on the discovery. The paper is under scientific review.

But on Saturday more details emerged. Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager of Pisces Sportfishing in Cabo San Lucas, interviewed the fisherman who made the catch southeast of La Paz, Mexico, the capital of Baja California Sur.

Ehrenberg said on the Pisces blog that the mother bull shark was caught on a large hook baited with ballyhoo, tethered to a line beneath a buoy fixed in place by another line anchored by a sand bag. The shark was dead when it was hauled up, long after the set was made near Cerralvo Island.

It was taken ashore and filleted, a process that revealed nine normal pups and the albino, one-eyed fetus.

"The fisherman told me that this one would have been born first, due to the position it was in -- first in line at the exit, but that he doubted that it would have survived," said Ehrenberg, who did not reveal the fisherman's name.

Shark fishing is controversial because so many species are in decline, but fishermen in coastal Baja communities know of no other livelihoods and rely on whatever bounty they can catch to provide for their families.

Said Ehrenberg, a strong proponent of marine conservation: "It's kind of sad to see a female with pups inside killed but this was taken by a commercial fishing skiff and this is how this fisherman makes his living. All parts of the shark are used, including the skin. The meat is salted and sent to mainland Mexico, where it is usually sold as bacalo or "cod."

-- Image is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

-- PTO Facebook page

Florida anglers' catch of 25-foot giant squid is a gift to science

Catch of the week honors belong to three fishermen who recovered a barely-living 25-foot giant squid off Florida on Monday, and to University of Florida researchers who have collected the remarkable specimen for study and possible display.

Giant squid, long depicted as sea monsters and legendary for their epic battles against predatory sperm whales, reside largely in the ocean's light-less depths. Whole specimens are incredibly rare.

"It's so rare to get these specimens and they're such deep-water animals that we don't know much about how they live," said John Slapcinsky, collection manager at the university-run Florida Museum of Natural History. "This specimen provides an excellent opportunity to learn things about these creatures we couldn't find out any other way."

The squid was discovered floating at the surface by Robert Benz, Joey Asaro and Paul Peroulakis at about 11 a.m. Monday. They had been fishing aboard a 23-foot boat and teamed to carefully haul the colossal cephalopod aboard.

"I thought we definitely need to bring it in, because no one's going to believe us if we don't," Benz said in a news release issued by the university. "I didn't want to leave it out there and just let the sharks eat it." (Benz also appears in the WPTV News video posted below.)

Giant squid, or Architeuthis dux, can measure 60 feet long and weigh 1,000-plus pounds. They reproduce only once, after which they can become lethargic and slowly perish. That might have been the case with this particular squid.

Bizarre-looking shark caught in Sea of Cortez baffles scientists

Lots of odd creatures come from the sea, and add to the list a one-eyed bull shark fetus that was removed from the body of its captured mother recently off La Paz, Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez.

A brief story about the shark is on the Pisces Sportfishing blog. Pete Thomas Outdoors shared the top image with two shark experts in California and both were skeptical at first, suggesting it was some kind of hoax.

One of them jokingly identified the species as a "Cycloptomus" because of a single eye -- if it is, in fact, an actual eye -- located just above the mouth.

But Tracy Ehrenberg, general manager at Pisces Sportfising, has been in touch with renowned shark expert Felipe Galvan, who has seen the shark and has even produced a paper on the discovery.

The paper is under scientific review. More information will be shared here when it becomes available.

-- Note: This story was updated in a separate post on July 3

-- Images are courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in Cabo San Lucas

-- PTO Facebook page

Florida anglers land 1,000-pound mako shark after epic fight

A casual fishing contest for seven Florida bankers last Saturday turned into an epic struggle between most of the competitors and a 1,000-pound mako shark.

The great predator took a hooked slab of bonito about 16 miles off Elliott Key, whereupon it leaped 10 feet clear of the water before settling in for a deep-water fight that lasted four hours. Five of seven anglers aboard the yacht, Wound Up, took turns handling the rod and reel. (To witness the chaos alongside the boat, see the video.)
 

Warren Sands, the vessel owner who organized the excursion for graduates of Florida International University, said of the catch: "I've been fishing for 20 years, and tournament fishing for sailfish for 10 years and I've never been involved in anything like this."

Sands fought the mako for the final 30 minutes. The crew used two flying gaffs -- with lines attached -- and one straight gaff to subdue the beast and haul it through the transom door.

John Dudas, captain of Wound Up, said his previous big mako was a 912-pound specimen that had been seen surface feeding on a swordfish.

The 1,000-pound mako, which measured 12 feet, was spotted tailing in the distance. Dudas swung the boat around while mate Robbie Ramirez cast a slab of bonito, using a reel spooled with 50-pound-test line and a 2,000-pound leader used for sharks and marlin.

"Once he saw it, he came charging in on it, and he ate it pretty quick," Dudas said.

Said Dudas of the bankers: "They just love being out there, and to see something that big was very exciting for them, and was really a thrill of a lifetime for them."

The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 1,221-pound mako caught by Luke Sweeney off Chatham, Mass., in 2001.

Undersea museum is transformed into thriving reef (video)

"The Silent Evolution" theme of Jason deCaires Taylor's undersea art project off Cancun has never seemed so appropriate, now that the artist has produced video showing the transformation of his stunningly surreal work into a sprawling reef system teeming with fish and other marine life.

(See video below. The first 3:35 is the more captivating transformation; the rest is behind-the-scenes footage.)

The project was ambitious from the beginning; it involved more than 400 life-like concrete statues, meticulously carved to resemble a cross section of human society, and strategically placed across 420 acres of ocean floor.

The life-size figures were fully in place late last fall within Cancun's National Marine Park beyond the Mexican resort destination, with the support of park officials and the Cancun Nautical Association.

The sprawling museum was designed to attract scuba divers, thus relieving pressure from the area's more fragile natural reefs.

Also, by creating sculptures of people from various walks of life -- from an 85-year-old nun to a 3-year-old boy, to a doctor, fisherman and student, etc. -- the artist delivers a long-standing message that environmental issues affect everyone.

DeCaires Taylor, who is from England, explains on his website: "The installation portrays a gathering of people, illustrating how we are all facing serious questions concerning our environment and our impact on the natural world. The work is optimistic and forward looking, expressing hope that there will be unity in dealing with this problem."

Now that colorful reef fish and other sea creatures have discovered sanctuary amid the sculptures, some of which have grown masks of coral and algae that attract and support smaller life forms, the evolution of DeCaires Taylor's finished product is in fact silent, and wonderfully evident.

-- Image is courtesy of Jason deCaires Taylor and protected by ©copyright laws

Rare sighting of offshore killer whales made off Long Beach

A rare sighting of offshore-type killer whales was made Friday about 12 miles nortwest of Long Beach by passengers aboard the dive boat Magician as it was en route to Santa Catalina Island.

As many as eight orcas were seen feeding on a massive school of fish before slowly heading east, and there could be many more around because offshore killer whales typically travel in much larger groups.

In fact, 30 offshore killer whales were seen off Monterey on March 20 and at least one of them was the same animal spotted Friday, according to researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger. That orca has been nicknamed Scoopfin and it's pictured above in August of 2002, off Monterey.

(Schulman-Janiger is requesting that weekend boaters who encounter any orcas take photographs for identification purposes; she can be reached via email at janiger@cox.net.)

The type of killer whales most commonly seen off Southern California are transients, which prey almost exclusively on marine mammals, including gray whale calves. Offshore killer whales prey on fish and small sharks. They often travel in groups of between 25-100 but while traveling they typically break up into groups of 5-15.

Offshore orcas seem to spend much of their time off British Columbia. Schulman-Janiger, who is conducting a longterm photo-identification study of transient and offshore killer whales, said she has fewer than 60 records of offshore orcas off California over the last 19 years.

Those that have been spotted off the Long Beach area often traveled to south Orange County before turning around, so chances are good that there will be more sightings before the end of what's expected to be a beautiful weekend on the water.

Have your cameras ready as offshore orcas are curious mammals, known to approach boats.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Scoopfin the offshore killer whale is courtesy of Alisa Schulman-Janiger

Mako shark leaps into fishing boat, becomes accidental trophy

Jason Kresse and the two fishermen who were on his boat when an eight-foot mako shark leaped aboard early Monday morning off Texas were helpless to assist the dangerous predator, so they watched it thrash about until it eventually perished.

The commercial fishermen had hauled 2,400 pounds of snapper from the Gulf of Mexico depths -- and had just dumped two large buckets of snapper guts overboard -- and were preparing to return to port when the incident occurred at about 3:30 a.m.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Kreese called the incident "crazy" and described the media frenzy in the aftermath as being "unreal."

The 375-pound shark is on display in Freeport, Texas, at Captain Mark's Seafood, which Kresse manages.

Kresse, Steven Prejean and Jonathan Stohr first heard the shark slam into the side of the 25-foot boat. Then they saw it launch from the water.

"I looked up and 15 feet up in the air is a big-old shark," Kresse said. "It ended up landing in the back of my boat."

It remains unclear what caused the shark to jump. The fishermen were not armed and unsure what to do, so they just watched as it began to thrash on the deck, breaking two reels, a fishing rod and a gaff.

The shark then vaulted to the front of the boat. "And it just sat there, thrashing, for the next three or four hours until it finally died," Kresse said. "It was thrashing so hard it sounded like someone was hitting the boat with a sledge hammer. We weren't going to go near it."

Kresse said he has done several interviews and that even his parents were interviewed by a local news crew. The fisherman has contacted a taxidermist and will have the shark mounted, an accidental trophy, proof an almost unbelievable fish story.

-- Pete Thomas

Image shows Jason Kresse posing with 375-pound mako shark that leaped into his fishing boat. Courtesy of Jason Kresse

Twitter: @Pete_Thomas

Giant bass caught for second straight year at Texas lake

This year it was Sean Swank who caught the giant bass at Caddo Lake in Texas. Whose turn will it be next year?

Swank used a jig to entice the 16.07-pound largemouth bass off her spawning bed last Friday. It's the heaviest known bass to be caught in Texas this year.

Last year, on March 20, Keith Burns landed the same female bass in the same area on the lake, near the Louisiana border.

Biologists with Texas Parks & Wildlife are sure it was the same bass because they'd implanted a microchip in order to be able to identify the bass if it were caught again.

Interestingly, the bass was slightly heavier last year (16.17 pounds), because she was more laden with eggs.

Biologists reportedly will use the lunker for hatchery breeding purposes before delivering it back to Caddo Lake. Next year at this time she'll probably be back on a shallow nest, ready for another spawning season, tempted by more tasty-looking jigs zooming through the water.

-- Pete Thomas

Image of Sean Swank and the 16.07-pound bass he caught is courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife

Twitter: @Pete_Thomas