Pete Thomas Outdoors

Angler pets mako shark as casually as one might pet a dog (video)

By Pete Thomas

Keith Poe spends much of his time offshore, trying to lure large sharks close enough to bait and tag for science.

What does the Southern California fisherman do with smaller sharks attracted by his chumming technique?

The accompanying footage shows Poe gently pulling a free-swimming mako shark by its dorsal fin and stroking its back as casually as one might stroke the back of a family pet.

“Come on, girl. Come here,” Poe says, reaching toward the 6-foot shark. “We’re gonna get you some pets. Come on, come on. Yeah, get you some pets.”

It’s a definite don’t-try-this-at-home moment, not advisable for anyone without vast experience in working with sharks.

Poe, who tags sharks for the Marine Conservation Science Institute, has caught an estimated 5,000 sharks and understands their behavior as well as anyone.

He said he was chumming in the San Pedro Channel off Los Angeles when the small mako shark appeared.

“She was just hanging out,” he said. “I was hand-feeding her and petting her for several hours while waiting for an adult shark to show up. I never [bait] them unless they’re mature females 9 feet and up.”

He said the shark was never aggressive, and that he shared the video because mako sharks “are always thought of as such vicious animals, and it’s just not true.

“They come up to the boat all excited ready to kill something because that's necessary to eat usually.
But after a while they calm down and you get to know their real personality.”

One of the largest mako sharks Poe has tagged is named Cinderella. Her movements can now be tracked via the MCSI’s Expedition White Shark app.

“When I tagged Cinderella, an 11-foot, 4-inch mako, I spent a long time with her, feeding her before I caught her,” Poe said. “It’s part of an effort to reduce capture shock.

“As a result, after I caught her, and tagged and released her, she stayed at the boat for an hour-and-a-half eating out of my hand.”

Poe, who recently had an 18- to 20-foot great white shark “hang out with me for five hours,” said he typically sends most of the sharks he tags to freedom with a stroke or pat to the head or back.

Call it a perk.

Man goes ice fishing with pitchfork, two pet sheep, and becomes Internet sensation

By Pete Thomas

Video showing a man ice fishing in Kazakhstan, exhibiting a style of catching that’d be illegal in the U.S., has gone viral on social media, perhaps because of its simplistic nature.

 

Зимняя рыбалка говоришь? Да что ты знаешь о ней?)) pic.twitter.com/BI2G5FY3mG

— Габит Рахимберлин (@Starshina73) January 12, 2020

The footage, shared Sunday by Twitter user Gabit Rahimberlin, has been viewed more than 7 million times.

The unidentified fisherman, accompanied by two white sheep, is the picture of confidence as he chops a hole in the ice, baits the water with pellets, and hurls his pitchfork through the hole to impale four hefty fish, one after the other.

The rest is a display of efficiency: The fish are quickly cleaned and hauled over the man’s shoulder, on the prongs of his pitchfork, back to the homestead. In his yard the fish are carefully seasoned, butterflied with twigs, and cooked over an open fire.

All in a day’s work, the fisherman gestures at the end, with two thumbs up and a broad smile.

–Image is a video screen grab

 

365-pound yellowfin tuna landed off Cabo San Lucas

By Pete Thomas

After hooking two giant yellowfin tuna and losing both – one after a 4-hour fight – a group of anglers out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, boated the catch of a lifetime.

Steve Hammerschmidt of Huntington Beach landed the 365-pound ‘super cow’ after a marathon struggle last Tuesday in the Pacific, 30 miles north of the resort city on Baja California’s tip.

Veteran anglers often refer to yellowfin tuna topping 200 pounds as “cows.” Tuna topping 300 pounds are “super cows,” and catches of these giants are quite rare.

However, even larger yellowfin tuna exist within their range in the eastern Pacific. The world record yellowfin – caught south of Cabo San Lucas in 2012 – stands at 427 pounds.

Hammerschmidt was fishing aboard Castigo with owner Larry Jacinto, Capt. Sean Sadler, and mate Adam Cargill.

According to Rebecca Ehrenberg of Pisces Sportfishing, which posted about the catch on Facebook, the anglers had received information about the presence of large tuna from the crew of the San Diego-based Red Rooster III.

After arriving at the spot, they hooked a tuna estimated to weigh 380 pounds and lost that fish after 4-1/2 hours, in the darkness, just 15 feet from the boat.

Cargill told Ehrenberg: “We were devastated after we lost this fish, but we were ready to get  right back on it first thing in the morning. The next day I rigged the line with a natural flying fish I had, and immediately had an explosion on it. Again, huge fish, but we missed it.”

Cargill then baited a line with a fresh sardine, handed the rod to Hammerschmidt, and the hookup was nearly instantaneous.  After 2 1/2  hours the fish was safely on board and the veteran anglers celebrated their largest catch to date.

The tuna measured 84 inches and had a girth of 59 inches, leaving the group with enough fresh ahi to feed a small community.

–Images are courtesy of Sean Sadler via Pisces Sportfishing

Yellowstone loses two wolf pups to vehicle strike

By Pete Thomas

Yellowstone National Park has confirmed that two wolf pups found dead on a park road last month perished as a result of an automobile strike.

The black male and female pups, which belonged to the Junction Butte Pack, were hit around sunset on the road between Tower Junction and the Northeast Entrance.

The park waited for necropsy results before making the announcement. The incident remains under investigation by Yellowstone law enforcement officials.

The Junction Butte Pack, whose territory spans from Tower Junction toward Lamar Valley, is frequently observed by tourists and its close proximity to people and roads makes the younger animals vulnerable.

The park explained in a news release that, during the summer, the pack and its pups inhabited a den near a popular hiking trail. A large area surrounding the den was made off-limits, but occasional encounters with pups occurred on the trail.

Park guidelines state that tourists must remain at least 100 yards from all wolves, but some tourists ignored the rule to get closeup photos of the pups. Others illegally entered the closed area in an attempt to view the pack, according to the park.

Some of the pups apparently became accustomed to people and began to approach them on the road.

Wildlife experts hazed the pups repeatedly over the next several months in an attempt to make them afraid of people and paved roads, but such attempts are not always successful after wild animals become habituated to humans.

“Having studied these pups since birth, I believe their exposure to, and fearlessness of people and roads could have been a factor in their death,” said Doug Smith, Yellowstone’s senior wolf biologist. “Visitors must protect wolves from becoming habituated to people and roads.

"Stay at least 100 yards from wolves, never enter a closed area, and notify a park ranger of others who are in violation of these rules.”

A park spokeswoman told For The Win Outdoors on Wednesday that the Junction Butte pack currently has 18 members: 10 adults and eight pups.

The number was 21 in early summer, but a yearling male disappeared right around the time the two pups were struck and killed.

–Images showing the Junction Butte wolf pack are courtesy of Yellowstone National Park

Great white shark tries to swim into divers' cage

*Click on this link to view an updated post with a second video and input from Mexico

By Pete Thomas

Disturbing video has surfaced showing a great white shark becoming stuck in a cage with divers inside at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. 

Mexican activist Arturo Islas Allende shared the video to his social media platforms under a title that translates to “Negligence kills white shark.” He implicated a Nautilus Dive Adventures vessel and complained that cage openings were not adjusted in a manner to keep sharks and divers safe.

 

The divers, who were clearly frightened as the massive predator writhed its head gets stuck in a cage opening, were not injured. It remains unclear whether the shark, in fact, perished after its ordeal.

Nautilus Liveaboards had not responded to inquiries about the incident, which occurred in October, at the time of this post.

Guadalupe Island is seasonal home to dozens of adult great white sharks, and regarded as one of the world’s premier shark-diving destinations. In typical situations, crews on the vessels will pull baits toward cages so divers in the cages can photograph the sharks in close quarters.

Crews are not allowed to feed the sharks, and cages must meet specifications set by Mexico.

Michael Domeier, president and executive director of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, has conducted extensive shark research at Guadalupe Island. Many sharks are identifiable based on distinctive markings and are part of an expansive database.

Domeier said the shark in the video is named Stouffer.

Domeier declined to guess why the shark tried to get inside the cage, but added: “It doesn't look to me like the bait was too close. For some reason that shark wanted what was in the cage. It hit the cage, backed up, then charged again. It could have turned and swam away.”

 

San Diego whale watchers encounter giant Mola mola

By Pete Thomas

For a group of San Diego whale watchers on Tuesday, the highlight did not involve whales or dolphins, but a bizarre-looking Mola mola.

The surprise encounter occurred 10 miles southwest of Mission Bay as Capt. Domenic Biagini, of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, was searching for cetaceans.

The Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, stood out because of its immense size and pale coloration as it lolled beneath the surface.

“It was really neat because most of the people on the boat specialized in diving, so this whole trip was something different for them,” Biagini said. “Right as they got on the boat they asked about molas, and I explained how we haven’t seen that many this year. So for this to have happened on this specific trip made it that much more special.”

Mola molas are the world’s largest bony fishes (these do not include sharks or rays) and can measure up to 14 feet and weigh 5,000 pounds. They inhabit tropical and temperate seas and feed primarily on sea jellies, squid, small fish, and crustaceans.

Because of their truncated bodies, the position of their fins, and their odd-shaped mouths, their appearance is otherworldly. Or, as the Monterey Bay Aquarium states on its website, “Ocean sunfish, or molas, look like the invention of a mad scientist.”

Biagini said most Mola molas encountered off Southern California measure 2 to 3 feet, but the sunfish that swam around his boat for 10 minutes on Tuesday measured at least 7 feet.

“It was by far the largest I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The divers on the boat were so impressed that some were tempted to jump in for a swim with the docile critter. “It was hard keeping them in the boat,” Biagini joked. “But everyone behaved.”

–Images courtesy of Gone Whale Watching San Diego

Great white shark examines Cape Cod researchers' video camera

By Pete Thomas

Researchers are busy studying great white sharks off Cape Cod, but sometimes the sharks conduct their own research.

The accompanying footage shows a fairly large white shark swimming close to a research boat off Chatham to inspect a GoPro camera used to capture footage of the apex predator.

The shark swims to within inches of the pole-camera early in the footage, captured last week along the coast, and bumps the device toward the end.

Scientists with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy have been tagging white sharks at a time when the sharks are preying on gray seals.

The seal population off Cape Cod has been growing, and white shark sightings have subsequently increased during summer months.

Several great white sharks have been sighted in recent days and Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has placed tags in three sharks so far this season.

–Image showing Greg Skomal tagging a great white shark off Nauset North Beach is courtesy of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy

Photographer captures close grizzly bear encounter in Glacier National Park

By Pete Thomas

Hikers in bear country should always pay close attention to their surroundings.

Joshua Wade Covill and his wife Stephanie were exploring Montana’s Glacier National Park recently when they spotted a grizzly bear following closely behind a hiker who seemed unaware of the looming threat.

The Covills were hiking Hidden Lake Trail on June 25, and were a quarter-mile away when they witnessed the close encounter.

Covill later wrote on Facebook, “We watched this young grizzly bear walk right up behind this guy and he HAD NO IDEA!”

The unidentified hiker probably was fortunate that this was not an adult grizzly bear. When the man finally turned around, he and the critter were startled.

“When he turned around, they both jumped backwards and the bear ran off downhill,” Covill wrote.

Covill updated his Facebook post this week to explain that the encounter ended before he had time to shout a warning to the hiker. “By the time I noticed the guy in the background when I was taking photos of the bear, it was over and the bear was going off down hill,” Covill wrote.

The National Park Service cautions hikers to “be alert while on the trail, and always be on the lookout for bears.”

The agency suggests hiking in groups and making noise while on trails to lessen the chance of a surprise encounter.

–Images used with permission of photographer Joshua Wade Covill 

Tagged great white shark returns from Hawaii, now off Santa Barbara

By Pete Thomas

Beachgoers north of Los Angeles might be interested in tracking the whereabouts of a tagged great white shark that has spent the past couple of weeks cruising parts of the coast.

The 15-foot female shark, nicknamed Murphy Jean, has returned to California after spending 100 days in Hawaiian waters.

She was detected off Santa Rosa Island on June 13. She was later tracked swimming along the Morro Bay breakwater, not far from a popular surf spot. She then cruised up and down the coast, likely feeding on seals and sea lions. Her position on Sunday night was just west of Santa Barbara.

Murphy Jean’s return to California culminates a round-trip odyssey that spanned more than 5,000 miles.

Michael Domeier, president and executive director of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, told For The Win Outdoors that Murphy Jean visited the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Lanai while on her tropical journey.

(Murphy Jean is one of more than 100 white sharks tagged by MCSI off Mexico and California, trackable via the group’s Expedition White Shark app.)

Adult white sharks from California and Mexico’s Guadalupe Island migrate to a vast offshore region between Baja California and Hawaii each winter.

A Stanford University/Monterey Bay Aquarium tagging program that focuses on white sharks from the Farallon Islands, west of San Francisco, has tracked sharks into Hawaiian waters. MCSI, likewise, has tracked tagged Guadalupe Island sharks to Hawaii.

Murphy Jean, who was tagged near Morro Bay last Nov. 13, is MCSI’s first California-tagged shark to have visited Hawaii.

Domeier said that while it’s not precisely clear why great white sharks migrate so far offshore, it’s likely for feeding purposes.

“From our 20 years of researching adult white sharks off Mexico and California, I am confident that the time they spend in the offshore region, including Hawaii, is strictly for feeding,” Domeier said. “Mating occurs when they are near the mainland. When they are offshore the sharks are widely dispersed and the males and females are not often in the same area.”

Murphy Jean was named by MCSI tagger Keith Poe after his grandniece, Murphy Jean Poe, who underwent heart surgery as an infant last December. Doctors repaired four holes in her heart and Poe said the girl is “doing great” and will be 17 months old on Tuesday.

–Images courtesy of Keith Poe (top photo) and the Marine Conservation Science Institute

 

Grizzly bear, cubs killed by trains near Glacier National Park

By Pete Thomas

A grizzly bear and her two yearling cubs were killed by train strikes earlier this month near Glacier National Park.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks explained in a news release issued Monday that the bears had been grazing alongside railroad tracks two miles east of Marias Pass, in Glacier County, when the first collision occurred at about 4:19 a.m. on June 6.

That claimed the life of the mother bear, a 232-pound animal that was captured and released 19 years ago as part of a Glacier National Park research effort.

Her two cubs, weighing about 65 pounds apiece, were struck later on June 6 by a different train in the same area.

FWP had been investigating the strikes and could not find evidence of attractants that might have lured the bears toward the tracks. The agency has been working with other agencies and railroad companies to try to minimize these types of incidents.

More than 1,000 grizzly bears reside within the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, a designated grizzly bear recovery zone that includes Glacier National Park, portions of five national forests, and parts of the Flathead and Blackfeet Indian Reservations.

–Generic grizzly bear image courtesy of ©Pete Thomas