Pete Thomas Outdoors

Another two-headed shark photo surfaces, but one-eyed Cyclops shark may still reign supreme in realm of the bizarre

Another photo of a two-headed shark has surfaced. The first was that of a bull shark found recently by fishermen in the Florida Keys. The second, published Thursday by National Geographic, shows a baby blue shark with two heads (pictured at right).

Very bizarre, since only about a half-dozen cases of two-headed sharks have been documented.

But based purely on appearance, many will agree that when it comes to bizarre-looking specimens the one-eyed Cyclops shark captured in 2011 in Mexico's Sea of Cortez still reigns supreme.

The two-headed blue shark was found in 2008 by Christopher Johnston, during a longlining expedition in the Indian Ocean. He supplied the accompanying image to National Geographic.

"We pulled up a pregnant blue shark, cut it open, and there was the two-headed one," he said. "It was about two-thirds the size of the rest of the pups in length. I put it in the tank on the deck. It swam a little while, but it couldn’t swim properly, it just swam in one spot as if it were on a treadmill. I tried feeding it squid but it wasn’t interested."

It's believed that two-headed sharks would be vulnerable to predation and would not survive in the wild. This one eventually died.

After this website broke the story about the one-eyed cyclops shark, thanks to a tip from Pisces Sportfishing, the image went viral and lots of people didn't believe the shark was real.

 

The story became more believable, however, after Felipe Galván-Magaña, a prominent Mexican scientist, acknowledged that he had inspected the shark and had even written a paper on the discovery.

That albino shark fetus, with what appeared to be a single eye perfectly centered on its forehead, was one of 10 babies removed from a pregnant bull shark by fishermen near La Paz.

The shark, which was caught via a baited line beneath a buoy, was dead when it was pulled up by commercial fishermen.

To read more about the two-headed blue shark, click on the National Geographic link atop this post or see David Strege's story on the GrindTv Big Blue blog.

--Pete Thomas

--Blue shark image is courtesy of Christopher Johnston, via National Geographic

Orcas surprise Baja anglers, emerge just inches behind boat

For Bryan MacGowan and friends, a recent Sea of Cortez fishing trip will remain memorable not because of what they caught, but what they saw: several large killer whales that emerged off the stern of their 31-foot boat, two of them just inches away, at times seeming to inspect the anglers and crew.

"As the stern dipped in the waves, they would peer into the cockpit," MacGowan said. "It was intimidating--they are big!"

The encounter, involving at least 12 killer whales, or orcas, occurred off Baja California's East Cape region as the anglers were cruising offshore to hunt for marlin. There were no lines in the water during the encounter.

Two were immediately behind the boat when MacGowan captured the top image, revealing a killer whale practically within touching range. "There was another orca in the prop wash on the other side, but my camera could only capture the one," he said.

MacGowan captured a second image (posted below), showing a killer whale "playing in the stern wash, after the close ones dropped out."

It was startling because everyone had been looking forward until the captain spotted the mammals and shouted for everyone to turn and look.

The top image first appeared Saturday on the Pisces Sportfishing blog and Facebook page, with a post that reads: 


Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

The captain told MacGowan that he sees what he thinks is the same pod two or three times a year.

Boaters farther north, off Loreto, enjoyed a similar encounter last fall. Perhaps those were from the same pod or family group.

--Pete Thomas

Killer whale's sudden appearance behind boat startles anglers

Imagine cruising along in a fishing boat and turning to gaze off the stern and spotting not a sunning marlin, leaping tuna or ray--which anglers might not be too surprised to see--but a large killer whale riding in the boat's wake only a few feet away.

This was Bryan MacGowan's experience recently in the Sea of Cortez, in Baja California's East Cape region.

MacGowan on Saturday was fishing farther south off Cabo San Lucas and showed the photo to Pisces Sportfishing general manager Tracy Ehrenberg.

She posted the photo to the Pisces Facebook page in late afternoon, and by about 7:30 p.m. it had been viewed by 30,000 people and shared more than 300 times.

Ehrenberg's post reads:

Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

--Editor's note: Pete Thomas Outdoors tried reaching MacGowan by telephone, to obtain more details, but at the time of this post he had not returned the call.

Yellowfin tuna caught on Excel 'taped out' at 459 pounds

When John Petruescu disembarks from the Excel on Sunday morning in San Diego, he probably will do so as the angler who has landed the largest yellowfin tuna on rod and reel.

Petruescu is on his first-ever 16-day fishing expedition out of San Diego and was fishing at Hurricane Bank (960 miles southwest of San Diego), when he caught a massive tuna that will not be weighed until the vessel reaches Fisherman's Landing at about dawn Sunday.

However, in a satellite telephone interview, skipper Justin Fleck revealed that the yellowfin "taped out" at 459 pounds via a time-tested measurement formula that usually is fairly accurate.

This revelation is surprising because the Excel has been listing the estimated weight at 400 pounds on its Facebook page.

But the reasoning is understandable. The lesser estimated weight was provided in case the tape measurement formula turns out to be way off the mark, and the fish ends up weighing considerably less when placed on the scale Sunday morning.

"You can also add that it's because some of us are a little bit superstitious about these things," Fleck joked.

The current International Game Fish Assn. all-tackle world record is a 405-pound yellowfin caught in 2010 by Mike Livingston aboard the Vagabond west of Baja California, off Magdalena Bay.

In September, Guy Yocom of Dana Point caught a yellowfin weighing 427.5 pounds while fishing out of Cabo San Lucas on Baja California's tip. That catch has yet to be approved by the IGFA as an all-tackle record.

Last April, Robert Pedigo caught a yellowfin weighing 427.9 pounds but it did not qualify for a record because a crew man had touched the rod during the fight.

Petruescu's tuna, likewise, cannot qualify as a world record because a deckhand briefly grabbed the rod at the bow to help manage the struggling tuna around the anchor. "Had we known how big it was obviously we would have let him try to do that himself," Fleck said.

But if the fish weighs 428 or more pounds it still will become the largest known yellowfin ever landed on rod and reel. (Petruescu, 33, used a live skipjack tuna and battled the yellowfin for two hours. It pulled him around the deck two times and was ultimately gaffed at the stern.)

That'll be a big deal among those in the saltwater big-game fishing circles. It almost certainly will weigh at least 400 pounds and that in itself is impressive, considering that before Livingston caught his behemoth the previous world record, involving the catch of a 388-pound 12-ounce tuna, had stood since 1977.

Yellowfin tuna caught off Mexico could be world-record size

It's safe to assume that John Petruescu has become a huge fan of long-range fishing, having caught a yellowfin tuna that could be one of the largest--or the largest--ever landed on rod and reel.

The angler, a first-time long-ranger aboard the Excel out of San Diego, used a live skipjack tuna to entice a yellowfin that taped out aboard the vessel at what its Facebook page is listing as 400 pounds.

I've been told by someone closely associated with the boat, however, that this is a very conservative round number, and that the actual weight of the behemoth probably is much heavier.

The fish was among many giant tuna caught at Hurricane Bank off Mexico, and will be weighed on a certified scale after the luxury sportfisher returns to port Saturday night or Sunday morning.

The current International Game Fish Assn. all-tackle world record is a 405-pound yellowfin caught in 2010 by Mike Livingston aboard the Vagabond west off Baja California, off Magdalena Bay.

In September, Guy Yocom of Dana Point caught a yellowfin weighing 427.5 pounds while fishing out of Cabo San Lucas on Baja California's tip.

That catch has yet to be approved by the IGFA as an all-tackle record.

"Taping out" is a measurement formula used by crew members on boats while they're still at sea, and the technique is generally pretty reliable. But the "400 pounds" figure appears to have been thrown out merely as a round number.

Petruescu's tuna required five gaffs just to steer it to the tuna gate, and it barely fit through the gate.

As viewers can tell by the accompanying image, this is an incredibly large specimen, and it will be interesting to a lot of people to learn what it really weighs.

--Pete Thomas

Great white sharks videotaped from outside the cage

This website recently featured a sampling of Daniel Botelho's stunning great white shark images, captured during an out-of-cage diving expedition to remote Guadalupe Island, west of Baja California.  More recently, Botelho has released video footage from his experience, and it provides viewers with an even better idea of what it's like to swim with these amazing predators.
 

Botelho's objective, in part, was to dispel the myth that great whites are man-eaters that will attack anyone who enters their realm.

That certainly was not the case for Botelho, who logged an incredible 24 hours in the water without cage protection, during his nearly two-week stay aboard a live-aboard charter vessel. Or for the others who can be seen in the video, photographing adult white sharks.

This practice, however, is controversial. And this type of experience, understandably, is not for everyone.

Said Botelho, who served as a safety diver on this excursion: "The sharks are like dogs; you need to keep them calm. As [with] dogs, they can get excited with wrong moves and unstable attitudes, so the trick is to keep the right attitude, transmitting tranquility and peace to the animal, so it can come really close but not try to touch the diver."

Botelho's images have been shared thousands of times on his Facebook page.

First-time marlin catch off Cabo San Lucas worth $2.4 million

Until arriving in Cabo San Lucas for last week's Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament, Dave Sanchez's most impressive catch was a largemouth bass caught in his home state of Missouri.

But on Thursday, the second day of the prestigious billfish competition off the Baja California resort city, Sanchez reeled in a 465-pound marlin that would earn $2,396,800 for his team aboard the yacht, Frantic Pace.

"I'm really starting to like this offshore fishing," Sanchez said at the awards ceremony on Saturday. "We had a lot of fun. It was a great team effort and I'm just glad we ran across that fish. We found one, caught it, and as luck would have it, that was all it took."

The payout was the second-largest in the tournament's 32-year history. The record year was 2006, when a $4,165,960 purse was up for grabs and the winner's share was $3.92 million.

At 465 pounds, the marlin Sanchez caught was not especially large. But it was the only marlin that met the 300-pound minimum qualifying weight, and because the team had been entered in all of the daily side jackpots, it claimed most of the overall purse.

Frantic Pace was one of 106 teams entered in the three-day competition, and it's probably the only team that's still celebrating.

As a side note, the marlin came within one ferocious lunge of escaping because the snap swivel connecting the reel's main line to the leader had opened toward the end of the battle. Only the quarter-inch bend in the swivel was holding the leader in place when the fish was reeled close to the boat. But crewman Josh Temple gently grabbed the leader and slowly pulled the weary marlin close enough to be gaffed, securing the million-dollar catch.

--Image shows Team Frantic Pace celebrating at the weigh-in of its 465-pound blue marlin

Diver's out-of-cage great white shark encounter is photo opportunity of a lifetime

When one of Daniel Botelho's images last appeared on this website it was a spectacular depiction of a giant mola mola, captured while searching for blue whales off San Diego.

(Editor's note: This is a reprint of a Pete Thomas post on the GrindTv Outdoor blog. All images are protected by copyright laws.)

More recently the photographer traveled to a remote island off Mexico to photograph great white sharks without cage protection, and returned with a series of captivating images he hopes will help dispel perceptions of white sharks as blood-thirsty killers.

Botelho was on an assignment for Disney but also served as safety diver during an odyssey to Guadalupe Island, during which passengers--only one at a time--were allowed to venture out of submerged cages and swim freely with full-grown white sharks.

"White sharks are like the Lion King," the photographer states on his Facebook page. "Predators, yes, but not psychopathic man killers."

Asked to provide more details, Botelho messaged back to say that he has been diving with white sharks since 2006, but this was his first time in the gin-clear waters of Guadalupe Island, which is located 165 miles west of Baja California.

Of his role as safety diver he said: "The safety diver is the guy that takes care of everybody in the water, a bodyguard of the guests, and that doesn't mean to be brave; not at all, it is much more about keeping a relaxed and peaceful interaction with the animals."

Three divers were outside of the cage at a time. Botelho, the expedition leader, and one guest. Botelho said he logged nearly 24 hours outside the cage during a two-week trip. He experienced no close calls with predators that can weigh up to 5,000 pounds and bite an elephant seal in half.

"The sharks are like dogs; you need to keep them calm," he said. "As dogs, they can get excited with wrong moves and unstable attitudes, so the trick is to keep the right attitude, transmitting tranquility and peace to the animal, so it can come really close but not try to touch the diver.

"This is the definitive proof that great white sharks are not man-eaters; people can live and interact with great white sharks, as long as they have the understanding of how the animal reacts and how to build a positive interaction with this magnificent creature!"

White sharks are specialized feeders and do not regard humans as prey, and most attacks on humans occur at the surface and are believed to have been cases of mistaken identity.

Still, they're wild and extremely powerful creatures, which is reason for pause when considering an out-of-cage experience.

Botelho said the divers sometimes had as many as six great whites around them at a time, all making close approaches, as if curious about the intruders.

"It was one of the best dives of my life and the experience as safety diver out of the cage was incredible," Botelho said. "It is much more than just taking photos; I learned so much more about how to 'read' and interact with those apex predators."

He labeled the 24 hours he logged outside of the cage during the final seven days of this odyssey as his own personal "Shark Week" and from now on for the photographer, the TV version will never quite compare.

--Pete Thomas

Hurricane Paul a major storm, may threaten Baja California

Hurricane Paul on Monday was upgraded to major hurricane status (Category 3), with sustained winds of 120 mph as the storm, which at 2 p.m. was located 415 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, plots toward the north-northeast.

Cabo San Lucas has received abundant rainfall, but is not in the path of the storm.

However, a hurricane warning has been issued by the government of Mexico from Santa Fe northward to Puerto San Andresito on the wast coast of the Baja California peninsula (just north of Magdalena Bay).

A tropical storm warning is in effect north of Puerto San Andresito to Punta Abreojos.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Paul will weaken as it approaches land but is expected to remain at hurricane strength until possibly making landfall early Wednesday morning.

--Graphic showing Paul's projected path is courtesy of the Weather Channel

Angler catches 722-pound blue marlin off Cabo San Lucas

A 722-pound blue marlin was caught Saturday off Cabo San Lucas, the latest in a series of huge game fish pulled from the waters off Baja California's tip.

Last week it was a 427-pound yellowfin tuna, which is expected to become an all-tackle world record. On Thursday a 75-pound roosterfish was caught just beyond the surf zone.

The marlin, believed to be the largest of the summer-fall season, was caught by Dave Smith of Atlanta, Ga., aboard Attitude Adjustment. The 46-foot yacht books through Pisces Sportfishing.

The catch is sure to pique the interest of big-money anglers entered in the Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Tournament, scheduled Oct. 23-27. A marlin of this size could be worth $1 million or more if caught during the competition.

Smith, 58, hooked the marlin on a Zuker lure about 11 miles straight out from Land's End, and his reel was almost spooled by the fleeing billfish.

He's quoted in a Pisces blog post as saying, "This fish came out of nowhere. It almost spooled us but we recovered line; it was a brute--every time we would get it as close as 20 feet, it would take off at full speed and rip off line."

Asked whether he considered releasing the marlin, Smith said the billfish turned sideways and died close to the end of the battle. "I think its heart exploded," the angler said.

Pisces also reports that a 600-pound marlin was caught off the Punta Lobos area a day earlier, by commercial fishermen aboard a panga.

Most billfish are released off Cabo, whenever possible, except during the tournaments, which require the release only of smaller marlin. The Bisbee's event penalizes anglers for bringing in fish weighing less than 300 pounds.

--Pete Thomas

--Image showing Smith with his catch is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing